Top 5 Alternative 1990s Rookie Cards

The Big Hurt’s 1990 Leaf RC is one of those “iconic” rookie cards of the era.  It wasn’t his only rookie card, but the rest of them were all from grossly over-produced “junk wax” products.  With that said, you’d think that his best alternative rookie would have been his Upper Deck card, and you would be right.  That is, if there was a Frank Thomas card in 1990 Upper Deck Baseball.

For some strange reason UD didn’t produce a Frank Thomas rookie card, all of which leaves Big Hurt collectors looking for an alternative to his Leaf rookie having to settle for a junk wax card.  There is his Topps error card, but good luck actually trying to find one, much less one for under $1000.  The Bowman Tiffany and Topps Tiffany sets are scarcer; but are technically parallels and not “true” rookies.

Of those left, Thomas’s rookie card from Score looks the nicest, and probably his best – which, granted, isn’t exactly saying much.  Click the title of each to see them on eBay.

Mike Piazza: Hall of Famer?  Let the debate begin.  No doubt that he, along with Ivan Rodriguez (another border-line Hall of Famer), were the two best catchers of their generation; but unlike Pudge, Piazza’s two RCs (1992 Bowman and Fleer Update) have actually retained much of their value.

In addition to his rookies, Piazza did have a third card released in his rookie card year: A “Phenoms” insert from 1992 Donruss The Rookies.  Why Donruss decided not to include Piazza in the Donruss The Rookies base set remains a mystery, and one can only imagine what that rookie card would be worth.

But if you think he’s a Hall of Famer and can’t afford his Bowman or can’t find his Fleer Update, you might as well grab his Phenoms card.

The foil-fronts, low production, and the status as Upper Deck’s first “super premium” card set all combine to make Derek Jeter’s 1993 SP card another icon of the era.  But if you can’t afford a couple thousand dollars for a PSA 10, well you’re in luck.

His card from the Stadium Club Jack Murphy set is Jeter’s second-most valuable RC, but if you’re looking for a rookie that’s just as condition-sensitive as his SP, look no further than his black-bordered rookie from 1993 Pinnacle Series Two.  You can pick them up raw for about $20-$25.

When Topps unveiled Bowman Chrome in 1997, it caused a sensation.  Packed with superstar rookies like Jose Cruz, Jr., Travis Lee, and Kerry Wood, low production, and the Finest-style chromium-stock collectors went crazy over, ‘97 BowChro was truly a landmark product.  It may seem laughable now, but at one time Kerry Wood’s BowChro RC was a $70 card, with his Internationals and Refractor parallels selling for hundreds – a seemingly laughable sum now.

Of course the best rookie to come out of the 1997 RC class, Roy Halladay, spent much of the first decade of his career under The Hobby radar in Canada.  While “Doc” was racking up strikeouts, wins, and a Cy Young award in the Great White North, you could get plenty of his RCs on the cheap.  A trade to a big-market team, perfect game, post-season no-hitter, and another Cy Young Award later, and those days are over.

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your view), the introduction of BowChro had the unintended consequence of cannibalizing Topps’ established Bowman and Bowman’s Best sets.  Fortunately, you can get Halladay’s Bowman’s Best RC for the price of his BowChro AND still have enough left over to get his 1997 Bowman card.