Manufacturer: Upper Deck
Set: 1990 Upper Deck Baseball ➡️
Player Name: Ben McDonald
Position/Team: Pitcher for Orioles
Card #: 54
Card Size: 2-1/2” x 3-1/2”
Card Values: See Pricing Table Below
Before he was a pro, McDonald was arguably the most dominant force in college baseball history. At LSU, he wasn’t just a pitcher; he was a two-sport star who also played basketball for Dale Brown.
He won the Golden Spikes Award (the Heisman of baseball) and led Team USA to an Olympic Gold Medal in 1988.
McDonald was the #1 overall pick in the 1989 MLB Draft by the Baltimore Orioles. To this day, he is often cited as one of the “most polished” pitching prospects ever to enter the league. He made his debut just weeks after being drafted. His best season came in 1993, where he threw 220 innings with a 3.39 ERA.
He pitched well for Milwaukee, including a 1996 season where he posted a 5.4 WAR (Wins Above Replacement), proving he was still an elite arm when healthy. His career was unfortunately cut short by nagging shoulder and arm injuries. He retired at just 29 years old with a career record of 78–70 and a 3.91 ERA.
If you watch baseball today, you likely know him as a broadcaster. He has become a fan favorite for his work with the Baltimore Orioles (MASN) and ESPN’s college baseball coverage. He’s known for his “Big Ben” personality—heavy on the Louisiana accent, full of “country-isms,” and deeply knowledgeable about the mechanics of pitching.
He was inducted into the College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2008, cementing his status as one of the greatest to ever play at the amateur level.
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Pricing Data For This Rookie Card
➡️ See All 1990 Upper Deck Rookie Card Prices
Pricing chart includes raw card price & some graded card value estimates.
These values are collated from a variety of resources including recently sold listings, sales averages and a variety of other sports card pricing data sources. Please see full disclaimer on “Terms Page” for more information. (Rookiecardprices.com only shows values for regular base set cards. No prices are shown for errors, parallels, subsets, misprints or other cards unless noted.)
DISCLAIMER: This data is not intended as financial advice and should not be used as such. Please do your own research before making any investment or selling/buying decisions.
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