What collector or investor wouldn’t want a time machine? Just imagine setting the dial for September 1952, scooping up all the 1952 Topps Baseball packs you could (for a nickel!), and pulling Mantle after Mantle! Or better yet, at least for the investor crowd, not opening the packs! Or if the 1950s isn’t your thing, how about bringing all your 1990 Upper Deck Kevin Maas and Ben McDonald cards back to 1990 and selling them when they topped the Beckett Hot List? Now there’s a small fortune to be recouped!
RELATED: What are your old baseball cards worth?
At least $30 worth of Kevin Maas baseball cards back in 1990 | Author’s personal collection
Then again, why stick to baseball cards? Have you seen what gold has done over the last 20 years? Back in 2005, an ounce of gold could be had for around $400. Today, that same ounce is worth about $4200, more than ten times the original purchase price. That’s a level of performance unmatched over the same period by the Dow Jones, the S&P 500, crude oil, and however many Dionys Cesar rookie cards you were hoarding back then.
RELATED: 1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr Rookie cards explode in price
Price of an ounce of gold, 2025 to present | APMEX (click image for source page)
Still, that’s not to say gold was the best you could have done. Forget bitcoin since it wasn’t even around back then. Plus, who wants to be a crypto-bro when they can be a cardboard-bro, particularly one with a beautifully undiversified portfolio consisting of nothing but PSA 10 Upper Deck Ken Griffey rookie cards!
1989 Upper Deck Ken Griffey Jr. | Author’s Collection
Okay, so Junior has more home runs than gold, made more highlight reels than gold (CNBC viewers notwithstanding), and wore his baseball cap backward with more swag than gold. But did his rookie card really outperform gold as an investment too? According to data from trading card sales tracking side Card Ladder, the answer is most definitely yes!
1989 Upper Deck Griffey PSA 10 sales since 2005 | CardLadder.com (click image for source page)
Turning back the clock 20 years to October 2005, a PSA 10 Upper Deck rookie card of the Kid could be had for $270. Today that same gem mint Junior has been selling for between $4100 and $4700, well above that 10.5x return on your 2005 ounce of gold. Doing the math, the return on those gem mint Griffey cards is between 15x and 17x. Not only that, but the Griffey cards are a lot more fun to show your friends (and easier on the neck!) than that stash of gold bullion bars under your pillow.
Oct 10, 2025; Seattle, Washington, USA; Former Seattle Mariners player Ken Griffey Jr. arrives in a Chevrolet Camaro prior to game five of the ALDS round between the Detroit Tigers and the Seattle Mariners for the 2025 MLB playoffs at T-Mobile Park. | Steven Bisig-Imagn Images
Naturally, past performance is no guarantee of future success, as today’s New York Yankees fans know all too well. Still, it’s remarkable to think that the hottest baseball card of 1989, issued during the peak of the Junk Wax era, not only lived up to the hype but even fulfilled the most outlandish fever dreams of the era’s bullish collector-investors: that baseball cards—or at least this baseball card—in gem mint anyhow, was not just good as gold but better!
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