Junk Wax Journey 1989 — The Hobby Goes Mainstream

By 1989, the hobby had exploded. The shelves were overflowing, rookies were becoming legends overnight, and a new company called Upper Deck changed everything. Holograms, glossy stock, tamper-proof packs… the junk wax era suddenly had a premium edge. 1989 was the year of Griffey, the year of Marlboro advertisements, the year of error cards that became folklore. Every kid with a binder was chasing cardboard gold, and every collector thought they’d found the next big thing. For the Junk Wax Journey, 1989 marks the moment when the hobby truly went mainstream. The year Wax became Wild.

What’s in this Break?

The Rookie level break is a balanced mix of flagship fun and oddball flair!

The Chase Box:

• The Rookie level Chase Box for 1987 will have a MASSIVE 50-pack makeup consisting of the following products:

  • 1989 Bowman (BBCE)

  • 1989 Donruss (BBCE)

  • 1989 Donruss All-Stars

  • 1989 Score 

  • 1989 Star Minors Series 1 and 2 

  • 1989 Topps

  • 1989 Topps Mini League Leaders

  • 1989 Topps UK Minis (aka Topps American baseball)

  • 1989 Topps Big Series 1 / 2 / 3

  • 1989 Upper Deck High Series

Bonus Rips (we may or may not access all of these, depending on which activators we hit):

• Classic Light Blue / Classic Orange / Classic Purple

• Donruss Baseball’s Best

• Donruss The Rookies

• Donruss Traded

• Fleer Oddball and Retail Exclusive Sets

• Fleer Update

• Score Hottest Rookies / Score Hottest Stars

• Score Rookie & Traded

• Score Young Superstars Series 1 / 2

• Scoremasters

• Topps Retailer Exclusives

• Topps Traded

• Various Food-Issue hand collated sets

• Nostalgia Rips Mystery Packs

Wax Bounties!

• Wax Bounties are the biggest hits of the year. We allocate Wax Bounties using randomization, so no matter your team, you’ve got a shot at the year’s crown jewels. Keep in mind the Wax Bounties when your choose your team! For 1988, our bounties and related bonus rips will be: 

  • Let the Kid Play → Pull a 1989 Ken Griffey Jr RC

  • Big Unit Bonus → Pull a 1989 Randy Johnson RC

  • Censored! → Pull a 1989 Billy Ripken

  • Sheff’s Special → Pull a 1989 Gary Sheffield RC

Junk Wax Jokers!

• Junk Wax Jokers are surprise cards that trigger chaos. The Jokers keep everyone on their toes and make sure no break is ever predictable. Junk Wax Jokers also trigger a bonus rip, but they are not allocated randomly. Our 1988 Jokers and their bonus rips will be:

  • Schmidt Happens III

  • Overrated Rookies III

  • Future Fame

  • Killer B’s Debut

  • Bash Brothers II