Alright, so the other day I was digging through some old boxes up in the attic. You know how it goes, looking for one thing and finding something else entirely. Stumbled upon a small stack of baseball cards, and right on top was a bunch from the 1990 Score set. Seeing that bright green border really took me back!
My first thought, probably like a lot of folks, was “Hey, these are over 30 years old, maybe they’re worth something now?” Had these visions of uncovering a hidden gem, you know? So, I decided to actually figure it out instead of just wondering.
Starting the Search
First thing I did was grab my phone. Just typed in the basics, something like “1990 score baseball card value”. Man, a ton of stuff popped up right away. Lots of different websites, some looking kinda professional, others maybe less so. It was a bit overwhelming at first.
I quickly realized just searching for the set wasn’t enough. There are hundreds of cards in that set! It really depends on the specific player and, as I learned pretty fast, the card’s condition.
Digging Deeper
So, I started looking for info on specific players. I remember guys like Ken Griffey Jr., Bo Jackson, Frank Thomas were huge back then. I pulled out a few cards featuring big names and tried searching for them specifically, like “1990 Score Frank Thomas rookie value”.
This got me better results. I started seeing actual prices people were asking or, more importantly, what cards had actually sold for. I spent some time looking through completed listings on those big online auction sites. That seemed like the best way to see what people were really willing to pay, not just what sellers were hoping to get.
- Checked star players first.
- Looked at recently sold items specifically.
- Compared prices across a couple of different platforms.
The Reality Check: The “Junk Wax Era”
Pretty quickly, a theme started showing up in my searches. Kept seeing the phrase “Junk Wax Era”. Turns out, cards from the late 80s and early 90s, including the 1990 Score set, were printed in massive, massive quantities. Like, millions of ’em. Supply way outstripped demand, even back then, and definitely now.
This was the big key. Because there are just so many of these cards floating around, most of them, even the stars, aren’t worth much in just regular, circulated condition.
Condition is Everything
That led me to the next step: looking really closely at the cards I had. I learned you gotta check a few things:
- Corners: Are they sharp or rounded/dinged up?
- Edges: Any chips or whitening?
- Surface: Scratches, print spots, stains?
- Centering: Is the border even on all sides?
My cards? Well, they looked okay to my untrained eye, but definitely not perfect. They’d been handled, stored in a simple box, not sealed away in protective cases since day one. I realized that for these 1990 Score cards to have any real value, they usually need to be professionally graded – you know, sent off to a company like PSA or BGS – and get a really high score, like a 9 or a perfect 10. Getting that kind of grade on a card from this era that wasn’t perfectly preserved is tough.
For example, I looked up that famous Bo Jackson card, the black and white one where he’s holding a bat behind his back (#697). Found out an ungraded one, like mine, might sell for just a buck or two, maybe less. But a perfect PSA 10 graded version? Yeah, that could fetch a decent bit more, maybe $50-$100 or sometimes even higher depending on the market mood. But mine was definitely not a PSA 10 candidate.
My Final Takeaway
So, after poking around online for maybe an hour or so, looking at price guides, checking sold listings, and learning about grading and the Junk Wax Era, I got my answer. My stack of 1990 Score cards wasn’t going to fund my retirement. In fact, most were worth very little, maybe a few cents each for the common players, and maybe a couple of bucks for the ungraded stars if I found the right buyer.
Honestly, it wasn’t really disappointing. The process of investigating was kind of fun, a little trip down memory lane. And you know what? I’m just gonna keep the cards. They’re a neat reminder of being a kid, collecting cards back then. Not everything needs to be about money, right? Sometimes the memory is value enough. Put ’em back in the box, maybe in slightly better sleeves this time, and back up they went.
