Ken Griffey Jr.

Ken Griffey Jr. — “The Kid,” “Junior” — is the defining baseball card player of his generation. The Seattle Mariners made him the #1 overall pick in the 1987 draft, and he went on to hit 630 career home runs, make 13 All-Star teams, win 10 Gold Gloves and the 1997 AL MVP, then enter the Hall of Fame in the class of 2016 with 99.32% of the vote. He played for Seattle (1989–1999 and 2009–2010), Cincinnati (2000–2008) and briefly the Chicago White Sox (2008) — and on the 1990 Mariners he shared the field with his father, Ken Griffey Sr.

His card market is anchored by his 1989 rookie year, which gave him cards in every major set of the season: the iconic 1989 Upper Deck #1, 1989 Bowman #220 (plus #259, shared with his father), the 1989 Donruss #33 Rated Rookie, 1989 Fleer #548, the factory-set 1989 Topps Traded #41T and 1989 Score Rookie/Traded #100T.

Sources: card numbers agreed by Old Sports Cards, CGC and Baseball Almanac; career facts per Ken Griffey Jr. on Wikipedia.

Where to go next:

• Ken Griffey Jr. trading cards: the complete guide — his whole card universe in one place.
• Ken Griffey Jr. rookie cards — all six 1989 rookies with live listings.
• Father-son Griffey cards — the cards he shares with Ken Griffey Sr.
• Mariners vs Reds-era cards — how his cards split by team.
• How to research a Griffey card’s value — the sold-listings method.
• The most valuable Griffey cards — his marquee cards from the top down.
• Seattle Mariners cards — the team he’s most associated with.