Every collector has at some point seen a card that they wanted, couldn’t afford, and thought to themselves, “I’m going to own that card someday.”
I began collecting cards when I was five years old. It was 1986 and the middle of the junk wax era. Baseball cards were being printed at a rate that every person on Earth could be given 400 new cards every year without getting one duplicate.
I stopped collecting cards in high school and figured I would never get back into the hobby, but there were a few things that led me back to the hobby nearly a decade ago.
One of those things was a specific baseball card I had dreamed of owning since the first time I saw it. The problem was the card was selling for $70.00. Had I saved the requisite $70.00 that the card was being sold for at Pinch Hit Cards in North Jersey, I can almost guarantee my parents would not have allowed me to buy it. I would have hated my parents for stopping me, but they would have been right. I don’t recall the exact order of events, but it led me to a Google search that took me to eBay where I found that $70.00 baseball card I had long admired a few decades earlier.
And it cost $7.00.
I was baffled. Confused. Gobsmacked…or, maybe I wasn’t.
I hadn’t heard of the term junk wax era yet. I didn’t know that all those cards I had purchased in the 1980s and 1990s weren’t worth the cardboard they were printed on. Considering brick-and-mortar card shops had disappeared, maybe it wasn’t so surprising that the value had plummeted. Without another moment’s hesitation, I quickly paid the $7.00 for the baseball card that once was selling for $70.00 that I had dreamed of owning….
A 1984 Topps Traded Dwight Gooden Extended Rookie Card.
It’s an absolute beauty, in my mind. A white border with the back Topps logo in the top right of the card above the player picture, the team name is written vertically in blue along the left side of the card above a headshot of Gooden in his blue batting practice Mets pullover jersey with his name and position to the right of his picture.
Topps Traded cards in the 1980s were printed on a different type of cardboard stock than the base sets so that you could feel the difference in the cards. As if that wasn’t enough, the design on the back of the card, although the same as the base set, had brighter, sharper coloring and the card number ended with a letter “T”. Gooden’s youth, all of nineteen years at the time of his Major League debut, was evident as he stood on the Shea Stadium mound in the home pinstripe uniform with the orange and blue racing stripes and long sleeve blue shirt under his pullover jersey.
This card was one of the most sought-after baseball cards in the hobby in the 1980’s. Despite its precipitous decline in value, this card has been reprinted half a dozen times since its 1984 release, most recently in 2019. When the card was delivered, I stared at it for hours. I had finally become the owner of the baseball card I had always dreamed of owning. And then, a thought popped in my head. What about other cards I had dreamed of owning? I eventually started looking around and purchased about a dozen cards of Mets rookies and prospects from COMC and then began purchasing more cards. I already had the 1984 Topps Traded Gooden, so why not buy his other rookie cards? First came his 1985 Fleer rookie card.
A gray border around another orange border surrounding the player picture with the Mets logo in the top left with his name and position to the right of the team logo. Gooden appears in a posed position with his hand in his glove. Fleer’s 1985 design, although simple and unimaginative, is one of my favorite designs that Fleer had every used. I ended up buying the card again when I decided to purchase the Mets 1985 Fleer team set. Next came his 1985 Topps rookie card.
Easily the most recognizable of Gooden’s 1985 rookie cards, I purchased the card when I bought the 1985 Topps team set. A white border with the team name in an orange rectangle next to the team logo, with Gooden’s name and position below the logo.
Gooden is again in a posed position in the Mets blue batting practice jersey staring into the distance. This design was reused for an insert set in the 2020 Topps Baseball set to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the release of 1985 Topps. Although the 1985 Topps set is one of my least favorite card designs from Topps Baseball in the 1980s, I’ve come to like the design a bit more. Last, Gooden’s 1985 Donruss rookie card.
Usually an afterthought, Gooden’s 1985 Donruss rookie card again features Gooden in a posed picture in the Mets blue batting practice jersey. Collectors had to wait until the 1986 baseball card product releases to begin seeing Gooden in actual action on the mound.
The Donruss card design from 1985 was a bit boring with a black border with orange stripes near the bottom of the left and right sides of the card. Inside the black border was another white border with the player’s name and position at the bottom.
Like Gooden’s 1985 Topps rookie card, I purchased this card when buying the 1985 Donruss Mets team set.
Owning all of Dwight Gooden’s rookie cards, along with his 1984 Topps Traded card, was something I never thought would happen. It’s the 1984 Topps Traded card, though, that is most special to me. I remember being barely tall enough to look down on the card through the top of the glass display case. I remember so many of the other Mets cards that were kept in that display case.
Although I will probably never own the 1968 Topps Jerry Koosman–Nolan Ryan rookie card that sit near the Gooden 1984 Topps Traded card, I’ve managed to track down and purchase nearly every other Mets card in that case. Since purchasing Dwight Gooden’s 1984 Topps Traded Extended Rookie Card, the baseball card industry has changed significantly.
The global pandemic led many people to find their way back to the hobby. For some, this time became an introduction to the hobby. Card prices rose significantly and new card sales exceeded expectations as so many people found themselves with a bit more disposable income since they had begun working from home. The increase in card values saw some cards from the junk wax era suddenly start to rise in value again. Gooden’s 1984 Topps Traded card was one of them. Card values have mostly stabilized since the beginning of the pandemic.
I’ve seen Gooden’s 1984 Topps Traded card for as low as $19.00 and as high as $85.00. There are plenty of listings for the cards on COMC or eBay and it can be had at a reasonable price. I’ve considered purchasing another, but think it may be better to focus on finding Gooden’s 1984 Fleer Update rookie card at a more reasonable price first. This was the card that led me back to the hobby and is by far my favorite card in my collection. It’s not the most expensive, but it’s the card that evokes the most memories. For me, that’s what it is about. The memory of hoping to add them to my collection and the joy of actually doing it.
