What Can Ken Griffey, Jr.'s Rookie Card Teach Us About Beer?

by Mike Pomranz, Posted Dec 8th 2008 @ 3:00PM

This morning, I was reading an article from DRAFT Magazine that ran over the summer. A quote from Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head really grabbed my attention. When asked why craft beer was currently booming, he replied:

"What [consumers] are seeing is that the world of beer offers a much more affordable connoisseurship than that of wine. The fact is you can go into a store with $10 and come out with a world-class six-pack of beer. Try and do that with a world-class bottle of wine. It's just not going to happen. That's what is, for me, really exciting, particularly in an economically challenging time like we have right now... [you] can go out tonight to Whole Foods and plunk down $10 and get the world's best something: really great, creative, and artisanal beer that fits into that price."

Oddly enough, this quote got me thinking about baseball cards.

Being a child of the 80's, around 1985, I started going crazy for baseball cards. Turns out I was just one of the sheep because so did the rest of the country. The number of companies selling MLB cards suddenly expanded and card speculation was at an all-time high (or at least it appeared so based on the knowledge I had amassed in the ten years I had been alive).

Eventually, in 1989, a "premium" baseball card company called Upper Deck entered the marketplace. The cards were of higher print quality and the packages didn't include gum (which I found disparaging). More worrisome, however, was a significant uptick in price. I forget exactly how much a pack of Upper Deck baseball cards cost, only recalling it being more than my preferred brand of Topps but far less than a copy of Baseball Stars for NES. I began to feel the squeeze.

As any collector from this era remembers, the card du jour quickly became Upper Deck's Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card which eventually was selling for a price a lot closer to that of the aforementioned NES game. What I immediately realized was that at those prices, compared to my current pre-adult income level, I would never be able to afford a 1989 Upper Deck complete set (which was generally the goal of most youthful collectors). That is, of course, unless I went out and got my first job.

Instead, I turned to drinking, and here we find ourselves today.

My point, Sam Calagione is right: One of beer's appeals has been its price point compared to other luxuries. Beer has always been a drink for the people. And the growth of small breweries has turned it once again into a drink by the people. By the people, for the people -- I feel like I've heard that before somewhere... [Writer's note: It's The Gettysburg Address, guys!]

But as Abraham Lincoln can also tell us: Success corrupts. (I don't know why Abraham Lincoln specifically would be the one telling us this, but I'm sure he would most likely agree with me.) We're definitely seeing our fair share of "Upper Deck" breweries coming along, but I'm also seeing some "Ken Griffey, Jr. rookie card" beers slipping their way onto store shelves.

Here's my plea to brewers: Let's try to keep quality beer quaffing an affordable luxury. The craft industry has appealed to a lot of new drinkers -- in the same manner baseball cards roped me in in the early 80's -- in part because it's an affordable hobby. Let's keep that enthusiasm and positive karma alive. Personally, I know I don't want to be priced out of drinking... Then I'd have to go back to collecting baseball cards.

...which is totally lame, dude.

Filed Under: Trends, Drink Recipes
Tags: beer, draft magazine, ken griffey jr, ken griffey jr rookie card, sam calagione, speakin suds, upper deck

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Reader comments (Page 1 of 1)

12-08-2008 @3:40PM Chris Wilkerson said... You probably were young and not realising what people wanted from the Card du Jour Ken Griffey Jr card.

The upper deck card you are speaking of was a misprint and was very limited in quantities, upper deck also funneled out enough correct prints to fill people's enjoyment.

That's why the card du jour was expensive, people wanted the misprint.

I too was young in the 80's, but probably a little older to read the price guides and understand what was going on, you'd always see in the "Beck's" price guide "Ken Griffey Jr. $3 followed by Ken Griffey Jr (error $50)"

Good article though, this touched base with some nostalgia of mine.

Chris
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12-08-2008 @3:36PM Jon said... A lot of breweries (such as Dogfish Head) make specialty beers which are extremely expensive. I saw a 12-oz bottle of World Wide Stout for $11 yesterday. These beers are expensive for a reason; they're made with weird ingredients in small batches, and are intended only for connoisseurs. The existence of these beers doesn't make beer-drinking in general more expensive.

Beer-drinking is getting more expensive, though, because the brewers' costs are going up. Grain prices skyrocketed last year, and there was a hops shortage, and energy prices went up (though they've mostly come back down). These factors raise the price of beer; it's unavoidable.
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12-08-2008 @3:46PM Mike Pomranz said... Hey Chris, unfortunately, I can't find any evidence to back up your assertions about there being a "misprint" version of the Griffey card. I think you might be confusing this card with other misprint cards. Though I'd be happy to be introduced to evidence to the contrary.

Also, much has been written about the enduring legacy of the Griffy card. Here is one recent article I just found: http://www.slate.com/id/2191533/
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12-09-2008 @2:37PM Mike Pomranz said... Hey, Jon, thanks for your thoughtful comment.

I'm not asking beer prices to not match the cost of inflation or other general economic factors: That's near impossible. And I'm not asking brewers not to experiment on occasion. That's the livelihood of the industry.

What I am saying, however, is that craft brewers have proved they can produce excellent products at reasonable prices and earned a lot of patronage because of it; Now's not the time to alienate your base and make fancy, expensive beers for the sake of fancy, expensive beers. A couple upmarket $12 beers may seem harmless now, but if that market continues to expand, it could definitely shift brewery resources away from making the affordable and already excellent products we love. In the long run, losing that base could damage industry expansion.

I hate the idea of "slippery slopes" but they can and do exist.
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12-08-2008 @4:10PM Alex said... I agree. I just spent $20 on a bottle of Firestone-Walker 12. Although it is 13% for a 750mL. This is still an exceptional price point (compared to wine) but pretty high for an eXtReMe domestic beer.
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12-08-2008 @5:11PM Chuck said... Mike-

Pretty sure Chris has the Griffey RC mixed up with the famous Dale Murphy Reverse Negative card (#357). Murphy's card had the error with the large price tag in Beckett and CCP at the time. Here's a webpage with a picture of it:

http://mybaseballcardcollection.com/v/80s/1989/upper/1989+Upper+Deck+Dale+Murphy+Rev+Neg+%23357A.JPG.html

The Griffey RC (#1) was always the top dollar card in that set though.

Chuck
www.DaleMurphy.com
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12-08-2008 @6:55PM Jason Harris said... The error card of the time (which was when I was big on cards) was the Bill Ripkin card with the profanity on it. You could get one where his bat said "fuck you", one where there was a cut out on the card, to block it, and i think a fixed printing.

See here: http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ripken.asp

re: beer prices...honestly, they're not bad. I still don't see 6 packs over $10 hardly ever. You have specialty beers up around $10 each, but those are hardcore beers for hardcore beer drinkers, as elaborated much better than I could say in the first reply.
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12-09-2008 @12:49AM Simon said... Re Jon: The worldwide stout was perhaps a bad choice for an example. You do realize that it's 18% abv don't you? There's probably as much malt that goes into that one 12oz. beer as an entire six pack of many normal beers. Probably double what goes into a six pack of Bud as they use corn/rice/whatever they find laying around on the floor.
It's also exceedingly difficult to get yeast to keep fermenting up to that point.
I think that particular beer is as much to show people that they can do it as to get people to buy it.
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12-09-2008 @8:52AM STEVE B said... Because beer is more expensive doesnt mean they are all good, just that they are in vogue.If I pay 8 or 9 bucks a six pack I'm gonna get something good like Stella instead of someones home brewed pumpkin or fruity tasting foo foo beer.Its the same people that pay 4 bucks for a cup of starbucks sweet tasting crap cause its the "in"thing to do
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12-09-2008 @9:35AM Jon said... Simon: That was my point. World Wide Stout is expensive, but not because Dogfish Head is trying to rip people off. It's expensive for a good reason, and it isn't evidence that beer prices are going up in general.
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