1989 Topps Traded #41T: Griffey's Factory-Set Topps Rookie

The 1989 Topps Traded #41T is Ken Griffey Jr.’s Topps rookie card. It shows the young Mariner with a bat on his shoulder in the classic Topps design of the year, and it came from a set you couldn’t buy by the pack. Among his six core 1989 rookies, it’s the one many collectors call the best-looking after the Upper Deck #1.

The set in brief

Topps Traded was Topps’ end-of-season set for players who had changed teams or debuted after the main set was printed. The 1989 Topps Traded set has 132 cards, and it was distributed only as a boxed factory set through hobby dealers — no wax packs. A premium Tiffany version, with glossier, whiter-looking stock, was produced alongside it.

Source: 1989 Topps Traded at Baseball Card Pedia and Old Sports Cards’ 1989 Topps Traded guide, which agree on the 132-card count, factory-set-only distribution and the Tiffany edition.

Why factory-set distribution matters

Cards that never went through a pack — no wax, no gum, no rubber bands in a shoebox — tend to survive in better shape. That’s good news for a buyer: clean raw copies of #41T are easier to find than clean raw copies of, say, the 1989 Donruss #33, whose dark borders show every chip.

It does not mean every copy is sharp. Check:

1. Centering — measure it with the card centering calculator.
2. Corners and surface — look at full-size photos, front and back.
3. Which version it is — regular or Tiffany. Listings mix them up in both directions.

Tiffany #41T

The Tiffany #41T is the premium edition of this card, with a glossy front. Two practical rules:

• Buy it graded. Premium versions of famous rookies are what counterfeiters target, and a slab with a certification number you can look up is the simplest protection.
• Search it by name. Put “Tiffany” in the search so the results don’t fill up with regular #41T copies — the rail below does this for you.

Card numbers: Old Sports Cards, CGC and Baseball Almanac agree on #41T and Tiffany #41T.

Where #41T fits among his rookies

His six core 1989 rookies are the Upper Deck #1, Bowman #220, Donruss #33, Fleer #548, this Topps Traded #41T and Score Rookie/Traded #100T — the last two of which are both boxed traded-set cards; see the Fleer and Score Traded rookies. For all six with live eBay rails, see the rookie cards guide.

How to buy the right copy

• Graded copies on Amazon: there are PSA-graded #41T listings in our catalogue, such as this PSA 9 #41T. Match the certification number to the photos either way.
• Raw: a good display card, thanks to the factory-set origin. Sleeve and top-load it on arrival.
• Complete factory sets are another route in — you get #41T plus the rest of the set. Check that a “sealed” set is actually sealed in the original packaging.

We don’t quote prices, and nothing here tells you what your copy is worth. To see what the exact card and grade have actually sold for, the Ken Griffey Jr. card value checker opens eBay’s own sold listings; the card values guide explains the method.

Where to go next

Live listings for #41T, Tiffany #41T, graded copies and factory sets open from the eBay rails below. From there:

• Compare it with his other top cards in the most valuable Ken Griffey Jr. cards.
• Weigh grading a raw copy with the PSA 10 vs raw guide.
• Start from the Ken Griffey Jr. trading cards hub.