1990 Topps Traded Baseball Set Review

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The box came a bit dinged up but the cards were in perfect condition.

Set: 1990 Tops Traded Baseball
How acquired: eBay for $6.35 after taxes
Pros: Iconic color scheme.
Cons: Not the best checklist.
Rating: Nostalgia is what drives this rating up but I have to say there is something fun about seeing legendary players on the teams you don’t associate them with like Keith Hernandez in Cleveland and Gary Carter in San Francisco. 3/5


I wrote previously that the 1992 Topps baseball set was the first one that I actively collected as a kid. My dad would pick me up a pack or two when he’d run to the local 7-11 so I acquired decent amount of that set in pretty short order.

But at some point early on I got my hands on a few dozen 1990 Topps baseball cards. How can I be so sure of that fact? Well, it’s hard to forget what this set looked like.

Need a refresher? Take a look at this beauty.

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There was some pretty interesting color schemes in the late 80s and early 90s but this 1990 Topps set is the one that sticks out the most to me. There is a love/hate relationship with this set among enthusiasts (mostly hate) but I choose to love it.

Today I’m focusing purely on the 1990 Topps Traded set. I know I had a few of these cards mixed in with my 1990 base set because young me was always very confused by the Dave Hollins card being labeled as 41T. I was six or seven and had no idea what a Traded set was.

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Why Dave Hollins? Well, the 1993 Philadelphia Phillies were my first real sports memory and he was a huge part of the squad as that was Hollins’ only All-Star appearance. I always thought it was pretty cool that I had this card in my burgeoning collection.

This card remained a constant as my collection expanded and contracted over the years mainly due to the fact that I tended to save any Phillies cards from the purges. So when the time came to make some eBay purchases I decided to focus in on 1990 Topps.

There seem to be a lot of these cards floating around on eBay in factory sealed and wax pack form. The 1990 Topps Traded set was the first was available in packs and as complete sets. There is a slight variation between the cards based on where you got them: cards from boxed sets were printed on a thin white card stock while the cards from packs were printed on the same gray stock as the regular set. Plus there was a glossy Tiffany set that was limited to 15,000 printings.

The factory sets and sealed boxes for the main set still go for a surprising amount of money even before shipping but the good ol’ Traded set that Hollins was apart of was easily acquirable as a price point that made sense to me – $5.99 with free shipping!

How much is the 1990 Topps Traded Baseball set worth?

You won’t be getting rich if you have this complete set tucked somewhere in the back of a basement closet. You could be a madman or woman and take the time to collect professionally graded cards 1T through 132T but that just doesn’t seem worth it. As a set it’s probably worth about what I paid for it. Any price point under $10 makes sense to me.

What are the best cards in the 1990 Topps Traded Baseball set?

The David Justice rookie card was the one that collectors coveted back then and the one that, if professionally graded, could fetch a few dollars these days. But if you’re like me and just like to collect cards regardless of grading then you can get it for, at most, a dollar.

There are a few other cards that stand out in the set, including:

Final thoughts

If you are someone who likes to collect sets from this era then I see no reason why you shouldn’t have this one – mainly because of the price point. Roughly five dollars for 132 gloriously colorful baseball cards works for me. Just don’t ever expect to get rich — or recoup your acquisition costs.

One thought on “1990 Topps Traded Baseball Set Review

  1. Pingback: Oh no, I’ve got the itch again – Heroes of the Junk Wax Era

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