1991 Topps Baseball Cards Most Valuable: Top 25 and Errors

The most valuable regular 1991 Topps baseball card is #790 Ken Griffey Jr., at $200 to $225 in PSA 10, but the whole set is worth far more in its scarce Desert Shield version. Old Sports Cards' PSA 10 values, updated Sept. 2, 2026, with how many copies PSA has graded:

• #790 Ken Griffey Jr.: $200–$225 (3,020 graded).
• #588 Mark Whiten, hand-over-border variation: $175–$200 (142 graded).
• #42 Chris Hoiles, white inner frame variation: $175–$200 (30 graded).
• #1 Nolan Ryan: $175–$185 (2,238 graded).
• #333 Chipper Jones rookie: $145–$155 (5,784 PSA 10s; the most graded card in the set).
• #392 Ken Griffey Jr. All-Star: $85–$95.
• #180 Tony Gwynn and #200 Darryl Strawberry: $85–$90 each.
• #100 Don Mattingly: $75–$85.
• #570 Barry Bonds: $75–$80.
• #740 Ryne Sandberg: $70–$75.
• #540 George Brett: $65–$70.
• #398 Sandberg All-Star, #79 Frank Thomas, #130 Ozzie Smith: $60–$65 each.
• #270 Mark McGwire, '618' error: $55–$60.
• #670 Rickey Henderson, #6 Nolan Ryan Record Breaker, #150 Cal Ripken Jr., #600 Bo Jackson, #5 Ripken Record Breaker: $50–$55 each.
• #530 Roger Clemens and #391 Henderson All-Star: $45–$50.
• #300 Kirby Puckett and #450 Wade Boggs: $40–$45.

These are PSA 10 prices. The same cards ungraded or in lower grades usually sell for a small fraction of them.

Cardboard Connection reports that about 6,500 to 7,000 complete sets were printed with a foil shield at the top of the card and given to troops in the first Gulf War. The checklist is the same 792 cards, and the packs had no special markings. Old Sports Cards says the Desert Shield Chipper Jones can sell for thousands of dollars and only 32 have been graded PSA 10.

How to tell a real Desert Shield stamp from a fake, per Cardboard Connection:

• The bottom of the shield is flat or slightly rounded on real cards; fakes are more pointed.
• The stars on the flag look like dots on real cards.
• The palm leaves do not touch the border of the shield.
• Counterfeit foil is often larger or brighter.

Because the stamp is the only difference, a fake stamp on a regular card is the main risk. For any Desert Shield card worth more than a few hundred dollars, buy it graded or have it authenticated.

Cardboard Connection notes that 1991 Topps has an unusual number of errors, mostly in the statistics, with some wrong photos or wrong teams. The ones that sell for more, per Old Sports Cards:

• #588 Mark Whiten: the scarce version shows his hand extending over the border; the corrected version is common. 142 graded.
• #42 Chris Hoiles: the scarce version has a white inner frame instead of the usual dark gray. Only 30 graded.
• #270 Mark McGwire: the slugging percentage reads '618' with the decimal point missing. 58 graded.
• #100 Don Mattingly: a variation reads '10 hits in 1990' on the back.

Check the back and the frame against a common copy of the same card; a scan of both side by side makes the difference easy to see.

1991 was Topps' 40th anniversary of making baseball cards. Old Sports Cards says Topps randomly inserted a copy of every card it had ever made into packs, and collectors chased the 1952 Topps Mickey Mantle. Cardboard Connection adds that the inserts were buybacks and buyback redemptions of Topps baseball cards from 1952 to 1990, and one collector received a complete run of base sets from every year. The cards carry a 40th anniversary logo on the regular 1991 design. Old Sports Cards also notes this was the last Topps set with gum in wax packs.

1991 Bowman is a 704-card set with rookies of Chipper Jones, Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, Jim Thome, Mike Mussina and Kenny Lofton. Old Sports Cards' PSA 10 values, updated June 18, 2026:

• #183 Jeff Bagwell, #272 Ivan Rodriguez, #280 Nolan Ryan: $200 each.
• #565 Kenny Lofton: $165.
• #97 Mike Mussina: $140.
• #569 Chipper Jones: $125.
• #68 Jim Thome and #246 Ken Griffey Jr.: $85 each.
• #104 Cal Ripken Jr., #178 Don Mattingly, #213 Rickey Henderson: $40 each.

PSA has graded 36,496 copies from the set, 8,971 of them PSA 10, a 24.6% rate.

Most are worth very little on their own. The top PSA 10 values in both 1991 Topps and 1991 Bowman are around $200, and a PSA 10 is common for these sets: 35.9% of graded 1991 Topps cards and 24.6% of graded 1991 Bowman cards reached it (Old Sports Cards). A 1991 card is usually worth more than a dollar or two only if it is:

• a star or Hall of Fame player in a grade that can reach PSA 10,
• one of the scarce variations listed above, or
• a Desert Shield version.

Grading a $200 PSA 10 candidate costs $59.99 at PSA's Standard tier as of September 2026 (SI, Sept. 9, 2026), plus shipping, so only send cards you are confident about. Our grade-it-yourself checklist shows how to check centering and corners first.

Take one straight photo of the front and one of the back, so the year, set and card number are readable. StarLens reads the player, set and number from the photo. Then match the result against the checks on this page before you trust any price.

Research and drafting for this page were assisted by AI and checked line by line against the sources listed below. Every price names its source and date. Some sites we wanted to cite (PSA, SportsCardsPro product pages, eBay, GameStop) refused automated access on Sept. 25, 2026; where that left a gap, the page says so instead of guessing. If you find an error, tell us and we will correct it.