Card of the Day: Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Mother’s Cookies #3

Card of the Day: Cal Ripken Jr. 1994 Upper Deck Collector’s Choice #240

Card of the Day: Fernando Tatis Jr. 2019 Topps Chrome Sapphire Edition Green Refractor Auto

Card of the Day: Cal Ripken Jr. 1982 Topps Traded #98T

Card of the Day: Ken Griffey Jr. 2008 Topps Update #324

Card of the Day: Ken Griffey Jr. 1989 Donruss Rated Rookie #33

Card of the Day: Ken Griffey Jr. 1995 Pinnacle #128

Card of the Day: Cal Ripken Jr. 1993 Upper Deck #585

How To Spot A Fake Ken Griffey, Jr. 1988 ProCards Vermont Mariners Card

“The Kid” has one of the largest collecting bases in the hobby.  His rookies from Topps, Bowman, Donruss, and Upper Deck will always be at the core of any collection.

Before Ken Griffey, Jr. had rookie cards made by the major manufacturers in 1989, he had a handful of minor league cards issued first.  Some of these minor league “rookies” have more of a demand than any traditional rookie card featuring him in a Seattle Mariners uniform.  Like almost everything, it comes down to rarity and condition.

Although its not his most valuable minor league card, Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 1988 ProCards Vermont Mariners #NNO is still one collectors like to own.  This was his last minor league card.  ProCards made a 27-card set for the Vermont Mariners in 1988.  That set did not contain a Griffey.  A Ken Griffey, Jr. card was issued later on that year as a promotional piece.  Compared to the regular set, the Griffey card is basically the same except it has a very distinct red border, and doesn’t have a card number.  The main set has a silver border.

Ken Griffey, Jr.’s 1988 ProCards Vermont Mariners #NNO is one of his most affordable minor league cards.  But you still need to be careful when buying one.  Whether they were reissued a few years later or just straight up counterfeit, many non-authentic versions of this card exist.

To the untrained eye, its very easy to mistake a non-authentic card for the real thing.  Pictured above is an authentic card.  Below is a counterfeit.  Real examples have terrible centering.  Fake ones almost always have good centering.  Take a look at the text on the real card.  The words “KEN GRIFFEY OF” are printed in small/bold font.  Those same words on the fake card are printed using slightly larger font that isn’t bold.  Thicker font was also used on the fake card for the words “VERMONT MARINERS”.  The space between the bottom of the real card and the words “VERMONT MARINERS” is much larger too versus the fake one.

Card of the Day: Vladimir Guerrero Jr. 2016 Bowman Chrome Prospect Green Refractor Auto