15 Most Valuable 1992 Score Baseball Cards
In an era of market saturation known as the “junk wax era,” the 1992 Score baseball card set was one of the junkieSt. The checklist was extensive at 893 cards, the print runs were massive, and the set was littered with subsets…
One of those subsets even consists of “memorabilia” cards that show images of baseball cards on them (I’ll show you what I mean later).
That’s how junky it got with this set.
But I still like this set quite a bit…
And don’t forget, this set also helped usher in the era of autographed cards as collectors could hunt for randomly inserted cards signed by Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Carl Yastrzemski.
Those cards are hardly junk.
And in this guide, I’ll run through the 15 most valuable.
Let’s jump right in!
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Ross Uitts – Owner
- #1
1992 Score #2 Nolan Ryan
PSA 10 Value $130Total PSA Population 299PSA 10 Population 150PSA 10 Grade Rate 50.2% (Set Avg: 51.4%)If you’re unaware of the impact that the Ryan Express had on the Texas Rangers’ franchise during his five-year swan song with the team from 1989-1993, just look at the gate receipts.
The Refugio, Texas native instantly became the most popular player in franchise history when he left the Houston Astros for Arlington following the 1988 campaign at the tender age of 41.
By 1992, Ryan was 45 years old and still looked pretty dang spry.
His 5-9 record in 27 starts was misleading, as he still posted nearly a strikeout per inning (157 Ks in 157.1 innings pitched) and a solid 3.72 ERA.
Ryan’s most significant contribution to the team was the credibility and financial stability he brought to the franchise.
In his first season with the team in 1989, the Texas Rangers drew over 2 million fans for the first time.
They’d continue to do so through 1992 and beyond, with Ryan’s home starts regularly drawing 8,000 or more fans than those where he didn’t pitch.
Pulling the Rangers from the depths of obscurity, Ryan’s late-career renaissance with Texas was pivotal for the team securing a new stadium with The Ballpark in Arlington beginning construction in 1991.
- #2
1992 Score #436 Ken Griffey Jr. All-Star
PSA 10 Value $75Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)The Kid’s second appearance on this list tells you all you need to know about his popularity in this hobby.
I remember opening packs of 1992 Score and seeing these All-Star cards with cartoonish big heads of many of my favorite superstars and thinking they were pretty neat and funny at the time.
And I still do.
It wasn’t the first time a card company had used cartoon images of players (1938 Goudey is probably the most well-known), but still, it was a creative way to change things up a bit.
- #3
1992 Score #1 Ken Griffey Jr.
PSA 10 Value $50Total PSA Population 326PSA 10 Population 88PSA 10 Grade Rate 27.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)Entering his fourth MLB season, Ken Griffey Jr. was the unquestioned face of the Seattle Mariners and one of the most recognizable and beloved figures in all of baseball.
However, it was a tricky time in Seattle with ownership playing a game of chicken with the city.
Amidst repeated threats of relocation and constant tumult, a notably sensitive Griffey Jr. worked hard to put all of the noise out of earshot.
He did just that, earning his third-straight Gold Glove and All-Star nod with a .308/.361/.535 stat line, 27 home runs, and 103 RBIs in 617 plate appearances (565 at-bats).
The 22-year-old phenom also put on an absolute clinic in the 1992 MLB All-Star Game, finishing a triple short of the cycle and earning MVP honors.
Despite an uncertain future for his Seattle baseball and having to wrestle with the weight of an entire franchise on his shoulders, Griffey held his own and continued his meteoric rise to superstardom.
Griffey remains incredibly popular in the hobby and you’ll see his name at or near the top of the list of key cards in just about every set in which he appeared.
- #4
1992 Score #425 Nolan Ryan No Hit Club
PSA 10 Value $40Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)Like Griffey Jr., Nolan Ryan’s popularity can result in his name appearing multiple times on lists like these.
On this card, Score paid tribute to Ryan’s record-breaking seventh no-hitter that he tossed against the Blue Jays on May 1, 1991.
The reverse of the card is great because it provides all the evidence with the box score.
That 1991 Blue Jays team was no joke as they’d go on to finish the season as the AL runners-up to the Minnesota Twins.
And many of those guys would be back on the Blue Jays team that won the World Series the following year.
Blanking a team with guys on it like Roberto Alomar, Joe Carter, Kelly Gruber, and John Olerud was no easy task, let alone doing so at the age of 44.
- #5
1992 Score #361 Bo Jackson
PSA 10 Value $35Total PSA Population 138PSA 10 Population 70PSA 10 Grade Rate 50.7% (Set Avg: 51.4%)During the Los Angeles Raiders’ 20-10 playoff victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on January 13, 1991, Bo Jackson suffered a hip injury that would ultimately derail his dominance as a two-sport superstar.
Despite all this bad injury news, the Chicago White Sox took a low-risk flier on Jackson before the 1991 MLB Season, swooping up his rights with a three-year, $8.15 million deal with just $700,000 guaranteed.
After rehabbing under Chicago’s medical staff’s supervision, Jackson played 23 games as the team’s designated hitter for the 1991 season.
Yet, things went sour from there.
While attempting a return to the gridiron, Jackson failed a physical with the Los Angeles Raiders on October 10, 1991, effectively ending his football career.
And on April 4, 1992, he underwent hip replacement surgery and missed the entire 1992 MLB season.
Even in his absence, Bo Jackson’s considerable shadow made for a riveting storyline throughout the entire 1992 Major League Baseball season.
Questions lingered as to whether he’d be able to perform at an adequate level when he returned to the field for the White Sox in 1993.
Within two years or so, Jackson would be out of baseball and professional sports entirely.
Although his career came to a disappointing close, Bo Jackson remains incredibly popular in the sports card community.
- #6
1992 Score #859 Jim Thome Rookie Prospect
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)At 21 years old, future MLB Hall-of-Famer and generational slugger Jim Thome was still figuring out what he had to offer at the professional level in 1992.
In each of his first three MLB seasons from 1991 to 1993, the Illinois native earned a late-season call-up to the Cleveland Indians after spending most of the year in the Minors.
Thome’s second call-up in 1992 wasn’t a complete disaster, especially considering he earned 40 valuable games of experience at the game’s highest level.
However, he looked very little like the feared home run hitter he’d become by the middle of the decade, turning in an abysmal line of .205/.275/.299 with just two home runs and 12 RBIs in 131 plate appearances (117 at-bats).
His 26% strikeout percentage was the most telling statistic of all, although his legendary all-or-nothing plate approach would eventually lead to much bigger and better things once he got his swing in order.
1992 was a learning experience for Thome, and virtually no one could foresee the sharp upward trajectory to come within the next half-decade.
- #7
1992 Score #800 Manny Ramirez Rookie Card
Rookie CardPSA 10 Value $30Total PSA Population 1,178PSA 10 Population 471PSA 10 Grade Rate 40.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)One of the most intriguing players in the 1991 MLB June Amateur Draft class, Manny Ramirez was a hot-button topic for many team executives and scouts right from the start.
His raw talent and high ceiling were undeniable, but questions remained about whether he could put those skills into action and make a name for himself at the MLB level.
Nevertheless, the Cleveland Indians were willing to take a chance on Ramirez with the 13th overall pick, giving him a $250,000 bonus following his selection.
After dominating rookie ball in 1991 in the Appalachian League, Ramirez moved on as a member of the Class-A Carolina League’s Kinston Indians in 1992.
Ramirez caught fire in June and early July but finished the season early with a .278 average across 81 games after breaking the hamate bone in his left hand.
Worries again mounted as to whether he’d be able to justify Cleveland’s first-round investment going forward, but those worries would seem ludicrous in retrospect by the middle of the decade.
If Ramirez ever makes it into Cooperstown, this card will see a boost in value.
But because of his connection to PED, the likelihood of that happening remains doubtful.
- #8
1992 Score #430 Rickey Henderson Highlight
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)You could almost say this image of Bonds leaping for a fly ball symbolized his leap from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Francisco Giants following the 1992 season.
The early 90s saw Bonds find his power stroke and he quickly transformed into one of the game’s biggest superstars, winning MVP honors in 1990, finishing as runner-up in voting in 1991, and again taking home MVP honors in 1992.
But, although Bonds dominated as a member of the Pirates, he wasn’t exactly well-liked in Pittsburgh and the clock was ticking on his time in the Steel City.
Free agency loomed at the end of the 1992 season and by 1993, Bonds chose to leave for San Francisco, signing a six-year deal worth $43.75 million, the largest contract in MLB history at the time.
Bonds was more than excited to play for the Giants as he’d finally get the chance to follow in the footsteps of both his father, Bobby, and godfather, Willie Mays.
- #9
1992 Score #555 Barry Bonds
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA Population 86PSA 10 Population 59PSA 10 Grade Rate 68.6% (Set Avg: 51.4%)You could almost say this image of Bonds leaping for a fly ball symbolized his leap from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the San Francisco Giants following the 1992 season.
The early 90s saw Bonds find his power stroke and he quickly transformed into one of the game’s biggest superstars, winning MVP honors in 1990, finishing as runner-up in voting in 1991, and again taking home MVP honors in 1992.
But, although Bonds dominated as a member of the Pirates, he wasn’t exactly well-liked in Pittsburgh and the clock was ticking on his time in the Steel City.
Free agency loomed at the end of the 1992 season and by 1993, Bonds chose to leave for San Francisco, signing a six-year deal worth $43.75 million, the largest contract in MLB history at the time.
Bonds was more than excited to play for the Giants as he’d finally get the chance to follow in the footsteps of both his father, Bobby, and godfather, Willie Mays.
- #10
1992 Score #845 Kenny Lofton Rookie Prospect
PSA 10 Value $30Total PSA PopulationPSA 10 PopulationPSA 10 Grade Rate 0.0% (Set Avg: 51.4%)After being traded from the Houston Astros to the Cleveland Indians following the 1991 MLB season, Kenny Lofton went into his rookie year in 1992 with a renewed sense of purpose.
Spending countless hours with Cleveland’s first base coach Dave Nelson, Lofton retooled his approach to baserunning and fine-tuned his bunting technique.
All this hard work paid huge dividends, resulting in one of the most celebrated rookie seasons in Cleveland’s franchise history.
Lofton slashed a very respectable .285/.362/.365 with five home runs and 42 RBIs in 651 plate appearances (576 at-bats).
But it was his efforts on the base paths which turned heads across the baseball world.
The 25-year-old Indiana native stole 66 bases in 1992, leading the American League while setting a new franchise record and American League rookie record in the process.
It also marked the most stolen bases by any MLB rookie since Vince Coleman stole 110 in 1985.
He’d finish second in American League Rookie of the Year balloting behind Milwaukee’s Pat Listach and would go on to earn six All-Star appearances and four Gold Gloves over his outstanding career.
- #11
1992 Score #480 Rickey Henderson
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA Population 72PSA 10 Population 50PSA 10 Grade Rate 69.4% (Set Avg: 51.4%)Two years removed from his ridiculous American League MVP season during the Oakland Athletics’ dominant surge to the 1990 AL pennant, Henderson’s career began to shift into a new, lower gear in his age-33 season.
Henderson made two trips to the disabled list in 1992 and missed the MLB All-Star Game for just the second time since 1982 (1989).
However, he was still a force to be reckoned with in 117 games for the AL West champions, slashing a robust .283/.432/.474 with 15 home runs and 46 RBIs in 500 plate appearances (396 at-bats).
His 48 stolen bases marked his lowest output since 1987, but his 81.4% success rate was still better than his All-Star campaign the year prior.
The Athletics traded Henderson to the Toronto Blue Jays before the trade deadline in 1993, but he later returned to Oakland for his third of four stints in 1994-1995.
He’d play parts of 11 seasons after the 1992 campaign, never reaching an All-Star Game again as injuries piled up and his explosiveness diminished.
- #12
1992 Score #540 Cal Ripken Jr.
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA Population 114PSA 10 Population 81PSA 10 Grade Rate 71.1% (Set Avg: 51.4%)What a difference a year makes.
In 1991, Cal Ripken Jr. had the best year of his career en route to his second American League MVP award.
However, the Baltimore Orioles centerpiece and future baseball Ironman was under a constant cloud of doubt during the 1992 MLB season.
The Orioles star shortstop suffered through multiple slumps at the plate during the season, which didn’t help contract negotiations from seemingly going in circles as free agency loomed.
Despite all that tension, Ripken and the Orioles finally reached an agreement on a five-year, $30.5 million pact on August 22, 1992, making it the largest contract received by an MLB player to that point.
However, Ripken continued to struggle after signing on the dotted line and was even the target of loud boos by Orioles fans late in the year.
He finished with an uncharacteristically modest .251/.323/.366 slash line and career lows in home runs (14) and RBIs (72) for an Orioles team that remained in contention late into September.
Even with such a bumpy season, Ripken Jr. was still named to his tenth-straight All-Star team and earned the second and final Gold Glove of his Hall-of-Fame career.
- #13
1992 Score #23 Don Mattingly
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA Population 111PSA 10 Population 88PSA 10 Grade Rate 79.3% (Set Avg: 51.4%) - #14
1992 Score #600 Kirby Puckett
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA Population 76PSA 10 Population 71PSA 10 Grade Rate 93.4% (Set Avg: 51.4%) - #15
1992 Score #625 Tony Gwynn
PSA 10 Value $25Total PSA Population 62PSA 10 Population 53PSA 10 Grade Rate 85.5% (Set Avg: 51.4%)
Ross’s Take
Distributed in two series of 441 and 452 cards each, the 893-card checklist was large and noticeably filled with subsets.
I mentioned in the intro that some of those subsets even contained cards with baseball cards on them.
I’m specifically referring to the five-card “Memorabilia” subset that featured memorabilia of Satchel Paige, Ty Cobb, Honus Wagner, Babe Ruth, and Lou Gehrig from famed collector Barry Halper’s personal collection.
On the Ruth and Gehrig cards shown here, you can see Leaf and Goudey cards laying atop old jerseys.
Perhaps one of the most notable things about this set, though, was its contribution to the proliferation of autographed cards in the hobby.
Inserted into Series One packs, collectors lucky enough could pull one of 2,500 cards signed by “Joltin’ Joe” himself.
If you didn’t pull a DiMaggio auto, you still had a shot at one of 2,000 cards individually signed by Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski and one of 2,000 signed by all three Hall of Famers.
1992 Score baseball cards are proof that collectors shouldn’t sleep on “the junk wax era” as there can still be plenty of hobby gold to be found within packs of this often overlooked set.
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Ross Uitts – Owner
