The impact that a small California company had on the baseball card market in 1989 was remarkable. Upper Deck was the first of the major card companies in 1989 to make a premium card product and it happened to contain a rookie card of a then top prospect and former number one pick overall in 1987, Ken Griffey Jr., as the first card in the set.

The premium set contained numerous rookie cards as well as popular cards including Nolan Ryan holding a football (Texas Connection) and a Jim Abbott card where one could see the full windup as there were three pictures on the card. As collectors ripped open packs, they also noticed some other things about the cards that came out of the packs. Some of the cards had no hologram on the back while others mispelled team names on the back.

In particular, collectors noticed that there were two Dale Murphy cards. The braves star had one card like all the other cards in the set and another was a reverse negative of the same card (the picture on the front was the opposite). Apparently, this card was somewhat common and was put in packs of 89 Upper Deck. Unlike most error cards however, this card was corrected. The hype for this card was phenomenal and it was listed in card price guides reaching at times over $120. This cards popularity even prompted Upper Deck to make a tribute to this card by making a set in 2002 featuring a "reverse negative" version for all the standard cards in the set.

In todays card market, its unlikely that an regular error card (only a reverse negative) will ever have the popularity that it did in 1989. A large part of the popularity of this card came from the small scope collectors put on the 89 Upper Deck. In 1989, there were only five major sets and Upper Deck was the only premium one and was by far the most popular. Every collector opened 89 Upper Deck packs. In todays card market there are over 35 sets and at least 80% are considered premium.

The range of collectors to focus on just one set will most likely never be the same. Similar to the 80s when there was only one video game system; everyone knew how to beat Zelda, Super Mario Bros. and knew what 007 373 5963 stood for! Today, there are 5 systems with all different games and although there are certain popular games within the systems, kids can't go over a buddys house as much anymore and say "I played this part, this is what you do" because most likely they own a different system. It's just not like "The Wizard" anymore.