Card of the Week

1989 Upper Deck baseball #1 Ken Griffey, Jr.

Twenty years ago Upper Deck enter the sports card hobby with this grand baseball set. It became huge hit among the hobby and easily one of the best product of that year. The set revolutionize and changed the landscape of the hobby with superb photography and glossy anti-counterfeit picture cards along with over-abundance of rookies. One of the rookies in this sit is Ken Griffey, Jr. which Upper Deck banked on as the "face" of the company. It was worth a gamble as his rookie card was huge hit among the hobby and became Upper Deck signature card in the hobby.

It helped the fact he quickly busted on the major league baseball scene. As 19-year old he quickly made the Seattle Mariners team as non-roster player in spring training that year and the rest is history. His nasty homerun shots and his defensive play dazzled fans. He was one the key main players as the Mariners rose to powerhouse threat from 1995-1999 before getting traded to the Reds in 2000 spending 8 1/2 seasons there before spending 1/2 the season with the White Sox. He returned back "home" signing with the Mariners in the offseason. The future Hall of Famer currently has 612 homeruns with 1773 runs batted in.

Here we are 20 years later. Ken Griffey, Jr., at 39, still has the nasty pop while Upper Deck trying to retain MLB license to produce 2010 cards. If Upper Deck loses their license just remember their amazing debut baseball set back in 1989 especially Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card.