Baseball

The Driving Force Behind the 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn Rookie Card

The 1980s marked a new and strange decade in the world of sports collectibles. After Topps lost its exclusivity, the rise of Fleer, Donruss and then Upper Deck led to the Junk Wax era. And just like that, all these wax-pack heroes saw the value of their cards plummet even faster than they initially rose. The modern card era has seen some rekindled interest in many of the top 1980s rookie cards. The 1980s Topps Rickey Henderson was the top card of the 1980s, with a few arguments by Ken Griffey Jr. fans. One card that keeps turning in solid auction price attention is the 1983 Topps Tony Gwynn #482 rookie card.

To prove the point, examples of PSA 10 rookie Tony Gwynn cards keep selling for well over $2,000.00 at a time when so many 1980s cards are currently worth the same or less than they sold for coming fresh out of their packs nearly 40 years later.

Tony Gwynn is considered to be one of baseball’s most consistent hitters, and his popularity among San Diego Padre fans will likely be extreme for years after his life was cut short after losing his battle against cancer at the age of 54. Tony Gwynn won eight National League batting titles with a .338 career batting average. There was also a chance that he could have broken the drought of .400 single-season averages had the 1994 MLB season not ended after a baseball strike. Gwynn also managed to steal 319 bases and as a fielder he even managed to win 5 Gold Gloves awards.

What is hard to imagine is how good Gwynn’s stats would have been had he played more games during the 20 years he was in the MLB. Gwynn retired after 20 seasons in 2001 and he averaged only 122 games a year. He still managed to end his career with an impressive 3,141 hits, as well as 1,383 runs, and 1,138 RBI. Gwynn also commanded a .987 fielding percentage in right field to round out his prowess for an easy admission into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2007.

Gwynn does have rookie cards from Fleer and Donruss, but the 1983 Topps set is by far the most desirable of his cards for collectors (so long as we skip the prized O-Pee-Chee card — see below). Even the image (this image below by Heritage Auctions) sets the stage for what would become a great Padres career. One issue that dogs the 1983 Topps issue is that Gwynn’s cards are frequently off-center. Another issue is that the paper stock from the 1983 Topps set can come with some very rough edges right out of packs and right out of set-breaks. This particular set is also known for an ability to make any imperfections stand out with the darker stock paper if the card’s white borders have any blemishes at all.

As with most 1980s cards, anything short of a perfect PSA 10 will just not command a high price. A PSA 8 example will routinely sell for under $50, with some exceptions. That means that a PSA 8 will barely cover the grading fee. PSA 9 examples will still fetch $200.00 or less if the centering isn’t nearly perfect — but check out the most recent PSA 10 sales tracked at the PSA site and other auction sites:

  • 5/30/2022 for $2,848.08 (eBay)
  • 5/22/2022 for $3,120.00 (PWCC Marketplace)
  • 5/08/2022 for $3,000.00 (PWCC Marketplace)
  • 1/28/2022 for $3,720.00 (Heritage Auctions)
  • 12/31/2021 for $2,800.00 (eBay)
  • 12/20/2021 for $2,851.00 (eBay)
  • 12/19/2021 for $2,605.00 (eBay)
  • 12/7/2021 for $2,326.00 (eBay)
  • 10/5/2021 for $3,075.00 (eBay)
  • 9/4/2021 for $2,600.00 (eBay)
  • 9/1/2021 for $2,650.00 (eBay)
  • 8/15/2021 for $2,325.00 (eBay)

At the time this article was being edited, an eBay auction was shown for a PSA 10 with 2 hours and 40 minutes remaining at $2,801.99 after 42 bids. That was even after $35.00 shipping.

What about scarcity? Having a graded population of 24,134 cards by PSA alone without even considering 233 “+” graded and without considering 1,360 “Q” grades may not seem that scarce. The difference here is that there are just 691 of these cards in the perfect PSA 10 category. Here are the other grades without adding in “+” and without the “Q” designations:

  • 3,417 in straight PSA 7
  • 13,484 in straight PSA 8
  • and 4,798 in straight PSA 9.

To prove how strong Gwynn’s bat was, 1994 was no fluke. His .294 batting average had been a hot .358 a year earlier — and Gwynn’s seasons were as follows:

  • .368 in 1995
  • .353 in 1996
  • .372 in 1997

And to make Gwynn’s career standout even more is that he hardly struck out. He struck out a mere 434 times in his career. So what if he also managed to lead the National League in hits in 7 different seasons, five seasons of which were 200+ hits!

As for the 1983 Fleer and 1983 Donruss rookie cards of Tony Gwynn, the race isn’t even close as PSA 10 examples generally sell for under $500.00 for cards that are visually not that desirable compared to the great Topps image.

Lastly, one “Tony Gwynn rookie” card that is even more solid than the Topps rookie card is the 1983 O-Pee-Chee #143 rookie card. An example of this card was sold for a whopping $11,400.00 after 29 bids in a Goldin.co sale. (Image below by Goldin.co) With just 1,134 PSA graded examples without the 8 “+” grades and without the 140 “Q” graded examples, there are currently only 32 with the perfect PSA 10 grade.

Categories: Baseball, Sports

Tagged as: ,