Upper Deck Low Series Vs. High Series: Best Cards & Differences

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Upper Deck Low Series contains the first 700 cards of the 1989 set, while the High Number Series includes the remaining 100 cards. One of Upper Deck’s most valuable cards, the Ken Griffey Jr. is card #1 in the set, and is thus part of the Low Series. In the High Series, the best cards include Nolan Ryan (#774), Eddie Murray (#763), Edgar Martinez ((#768), and Rafael Palmeiro (#772), but none nearly as valuable as the Ken Griffey Jr. RC.

1989 Upper Deck Products

Knowing the difference between the Low Series and High Series is especially important when buying 1989 Upper Deck boxes, packs, and complete sets.

1989 Upper Deck Wax Boxes

When looking to purchase a sealed 1989 Upper Deck box of cards, you’re going to see two different options. One that is branded as the “1989 Edition” with the “NEW” in the bottom right hand corner – as shown above – and another that instead of “NEW” says “INCLUDES High Number Series” as shown below.

And not to be overlooked, in the image above, see the “Baseball Card Exchange” wrap? That’s the industry leader in unopened vintage sports cards. When buying sealed and unopened boxes, it’s always a good idea to make sure they’re authenticated before doing so.

You might see both advertised as possibly containing the Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card, which is technically true, but here is the difference. The “Low Series” box (the one that says “NEW”) will only contain Low Series cards, that is #1-#700. The “High Series” box will offer all 800 cards in the set.

Both boxes have 36 packs with 15 cards per pack, for a total of 540 cards. If a “Low Series” box has random cards from #1-#700 and a “High Series” box has random cards from #1-#800,

So, this brings us to opening a Low Series box of 540 cards that range from #1-#700 or a High Series Box of 540 cards that range from #1-#800. It’s for that reason that you’ll see “Low Series” boxes sell for more than “High Series” boxes.

1989 Upper Deck Complete Sets

Thankfully things aren’t as complicated when you’re dealing with complete sets. That’s because, well, they are “complete” and thus contain every card in the set. That is, if the set is still sealed and hasn’t been picked through.

In addition to the complete set, though, you might see sealed packages of 1989 Upper Deck High Series. They look like this:

Whoa—$4.99? While the High Series wax boxes contain both High and Low Series cards, these “High Series” factory boxes only contain cards #701-800, and thus, no Ken Griffey Jr., and that’s guaranteed.

In the end, when it comes to buying 1989 Upper Deck in hopes of hitting a Ken Griffey Jr., the sealed complete set is guaranteed to have one, but only one. On the other hand, Low and High Series wax boxes aren’t guaranteed to have Ken Griffey Jr., but that also means you can hit more than one! And then, again, the High Series factory box is guaranteed to not have a Ken Griffey Jr.