Welcome to The Athletic Collectibles Staff’s Sports Card of the Week! Here we spotlight a notable, attention-grabbing, or simply plain enjoyable sports activities card. This week, we return to the late ‘80s and spotlight one of the most controversial error cards of the junk wax era.
The 1989 Fleer Baseball set contains 660 cards and includes one of the most controversial cards in hobby history — the Bill Ripken “F— Face” error card. On certain copies of the card, if you look closely at the knob of the bat Ripken is holding in the card’s picture, you’ll discover a sure four-letter curse phrase written in black marker.
When collectors started discovering the notorious card in 1989 Fleer packs, it sparked huge demand, with some paying a whole lot of {dollars} to get their fingers on it. Following its launch, Fleer acknowledged that the error card was by chance included in packs after the phrase went unnoticed throughout the manufacturing course of. Its widespread notoriety and outrage from involved dad and mom led Fleer to recall the error card and problem a number of censored variations with the profanity coated.
When first requested about the card, Ripken insisted that he didn’t write the phrase on the bat, blaming an unnamed teammate pulling a prank. But 20 years following its launch, he ultimately confessed to being the one who scribbled the phrase on the bat knob. Ripken defined that he marked the knob with the phrase as a technique to distinguish his batting apply bats from the ones he utilized in video games. He additionally expressed his skepticism about the error card’s inception and urged that Fleer might need deliberately launched it for publicity.
Other notable playing cards in the set embody rookie playing cards of Hall of Famers Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Craig Biggio. Another memorable error card from the set is that Johnson #381 card, which reveals him pictured in entrance of Veterans Stadium’s Marlboro cigarette commercial — one other no-no for a product marketed to youngsters that underwent multiple attempts to obscure the offending portion of the picture.
Why It Matters
Ripken’s ‘89 Fleer card is arguably the king of error cards because of how shocking it was at the time and its lasting impact on the sports card hobby. Not only did it inspire card manufacturers to purposefully produce creative “error” cards, but it also sparked interest in controversial cards from collectors and paved the way for the niche market of error card collecting.
Bill Ripken wasn’t an all-star caliber participant or favourite amongst collectors like his brother Cal, however the distinctive story behind his ‘89 Fleer card has driven sustained demand and value over the decades since its release. In 2024, Topps even paid tribute to it by producing a short-print rookie card of Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday holding a bat with the phrase “fun face” written on the knob and variations that mimicked the original’s. Topps then put the knob of that bat itself into a 1/1 card in a subsequent set. Collectors have lengthy dreamed of the similar being carried out with the Ripken bat knob (custom imitations have been produced), and if that authentic bat ever did resurface, it might be price a considerable sum.
PSA Graded Population and Current Market Value
Although this iconic error card is extraordinarily in style amongst collectors, it’s not essentially uncommon in graded situation. PSA (Professional Sports Authenticator) has graded it greater than 21,000 instances, and almost 3,000 examples have acquired a Gem Mint 10 grade.
The most typical grade is PSA 9 (9,127 copies) and at the moment sells on eBay for round $180 (ungraded examples of the card promote for round $70), whereas PSA 10s are valued round $900. Since 2020, PSA 10 graded examples have elevated in worth by over 500 % as demand for the card has climbed together with the resurgence of the total sports activities card market. Last yr, an autographed instance of the card in a PSA 10 grade bought for $5,600, setting a document excessive for the card in any of its kinds.
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(Card photos: eBay)