1989 Donruss

Description

1989 Donruss is a 660-card set. One of Donruss' nicer offerings, its long-run value has been depressed by its rampant overproduction. The cards feature a distinctive black side border with an alternating stripe on the side. Subsets include Diamond Kings (1-27) and Rated Rookies (28-47). There are two variations that occur throughout most of the set. On the card backs "Denotes Led League" can be found with or without a second asterisk on the right side. On the card fronts the horizontal stripes on the left and right borders can be either light or dark. Since both of these variation types are relatively minor and seem equally common, there is no premium value for either type.

Rather than short-printing 26 cards in order to make room for printing the Bonus MVP insert, Donruss apparently chose to double print 106 cards. These double prints are listed below by DP.

Rookie Cards in this set include Ken Griffey, Jr., Randy Johnson, Craig Biggio, Gary Sheffield and John Smoltz as well as the only rookie card of Curt Schilling.

Despite the overproduction, or perhaps because of it, the aforementioned rookie cards have been submitted in mass quantities to professional grading services.

Distribution

Wax: 36 packs per box, 15 cards + one, three-piece puzzle panel per pack (MSRP: $0.50/pack) 20 boxes per case.

Canadian Wax: 36 packs per box, 10 cards + one, three-piece puzzle panel per pack

Cello: 24 packs per box, 39 cards + 1 Grand Slammers card + 2 three-piece puzzle panels per pack (MSRP: $1.29/pack)

Rack: 45 cards per pack + three, three-piece puzzle panels per pack. 72 rack packs per case.

Blister: 75 and 100-card blister packs.

Factory Sets

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds	Retail Odds
Base	660	-	?	?
Bonus Cards	26	-	?	?

Checklist

Base Set

Diamond Kings

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Rated Rookies

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Veterans

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Errors

NOTE: Card #600C was inserted only in factory sets. It makes no mention of the 26 Bonus MVP's inserts which were only available in packs.

600B Checklist 578-660 + Bonus MVP's. Card #635 misspelled "Kurt Schilling"

600C Checklist 578-660, no Bonus MVP's listed (factory sets only)

Parallels

Super Diamond Kings

This 26-card partial-parallel was only available as a set through a mail-in offer detailed on the wax packs. The set was sent in return for $8.00 and three wrappers plus $2.00 postage and handling. The set features the popular Diamond Kings in large (approximately 4 7/8" X 6 13/16") form.

Inserts

Bonus MVPs

Numbered with the prefix "BC" for bonus card, this 26-card set featuring the most valuable player from each of the 26 teams was randomly inserted in the wax and rack packs. Because these cards were printed on the same sheets are the base cards, four cards were double-printed cards are denoted by "DP" in the checklist below.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1989) AND (setname = 'Donruss Bonus MVPs') </sql2wiki>

Grand Slammers

This 12-card set features players who hit at least one grand slam during the 1988 baseball season. The cards were distributed in cello packs at the rate of one-per-pack and as a complete set in each factory set. Each card in the set can be found with five different colored gradient border combinations (yellow/green, blue/purple, red/yellow, green/blue, and purple/red), but no color combination of borders appears to be scarcer than any other. The blue/purple cards were only available in factory sets.

<sql2wiki database="carddb"> SELECT num,player,info FROM cards WHERE (year = 1989) AND (setname = 'Donruss Grand Slammers') </sql2wiki>

1 Jose Canseco

2 Mike Marshall

3 Walt Weiss

4 Kevin McReynolds

5 Mike Greenwell

6 Dave Winfield

7 Mark McGwire

8 Keith Hernandez

9 Franklin Stubbs

10 Danny Tartabull

11 Jesse Barfield

12 Ellis Burks

Jose Canseco Blister Pack card

This special card was issued on blister packs, and features the card number as "Bonus Card"

BC Jose Canseco

Blue Chips

This 12-card set was never intended for public release. According to the website "Wax Heaven"

"Eventually (Blue Chips) was scrapped in exchange for the Grandslammers (sic) set…these Blue chip cards were to be destroyed but the guy in charge of the press saw a huge monetary potential and snuck out some sets….he held on to them without telling anyone in fear that it would cost him his job….he died before he could capitalize…they were part of an estate sale…..upon reaching the public no one had ever heard of them so at first they were not seen as valuable….then once the story came out, the sets had been broken and only singles have surfaced since…I know of 1 person that has all but the (Franklin) Stubbs and the (Kevin) McReynolds…."

1 Jose Canseco

2 Mike Marshall

3 Walt Weiss

4 Kevin McReynolds

5 Mike Greenwell

6 Dave Winfield

7 Mark McGwire

8 Keith Hernandez

9 Franklin Stubbs

10 Danny Tartabull

11 Jesse Barfield

12 Ellis Burks