Topps printed its 1989 set without Ken Griffey Jr. in it. His first Topps card came in the Traded set instead, 132 cards numbered with a T, and collectors have long called #41T his true Topps rookie.
He wasn't in the 1989 Topps set. This is where Topps put him.
The Traded set was not sold in packs. It came only as a complete boxed set, on whiter stock than the regular cards, and there was a glossy Tiffany version besides, made in far smaller numbers. The card pictured here is the regular one.
The design is the base set's: a white border, the photograph inside a rounded blue frame, the Topps logo in the upper corner. Griffey stands in the Mariners' gray uniform and blue cap, a bat resting on his shoulder, looking off past the camera, with Mariners in yellow script and KEN GRIFFEY, JR. on a blue banner along the bottom.
He made his debut that April, at nineteen. He hit .264 that first season, with 16 home runs, and finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting, though a broken hand cost him nearly a month that summer.
The next year he was in the main Topps set.
