2001 Donruss

Descrpition

In 1998 Pinnacle Brands, the owner of the Donruss and Leaf brand names, filed for bankruptcy protection and went out of business. It appeared that after an eighteen year run Donruss' flagship baseball set would come to an end. But then an unlikely savior appeared in the form of football card manufacturer Playoff, who purchased what was left of Pinnacle through a bankruptcy court.

Almost as soon as they bought Pinnacle, speculation immediately began as to Playoff's baseball card intentions. Although Playoff was given a temporary license in 1998 -- so that the 1998 Donruss Signature set could be released -- it appeared that Playoff's efforts to get into the baseball card business would never bear fruit.

Shortly after Pacific had its MLB Player's Association license revoked in November 2000 (partially due to the Manny Ramirez corked bat card incident) rumors of Playoff finally getting the licenses it had long coveted began to fly again. Those rumors came to fruition in February 2001 it was announced that Playoff -- now renamed "Donruss-Playoff" -- had at last received permission to produce Major League Baseball cards. They quickly announced that their first baseball card set (2001 Donruss) would be released that April.

With nearly three years of pent-up demand -- not the mention the novelty of it being the first completely original baseball card product from Playoff -- loyal Donruss collectors immediately began to place pre-sell orders with their local hobby dealers. (Many of those same dealers were disappointed to find out that they would be limited to only one six-box hobby case.) In April 2001 Donruss Baseball went live. The result: a big "thud."

In their haste to produce their first real baseball card product, Donruss-Playoff (D-P) essentially recycled the same formula that had successfully worked for them in football cards. In fact, the parallels between the 2001 Donruss Baseball and 2000 Donruss Football sets are uncanny to say the least. Both sets have roughly the same number of cards (220 in baseball versus 250 in football), and both had an MSRP of $1.99/pack. However, both products relied heavily on a gimmick that was becoming commonplace in football cards, but had never, ever, before appeared in a base level baseball brand.

2001 Donruss was the first entry level baseball trading card product to feature short-printed and serial-numbered rookie cards. While short-printing may have appealed to the football card audience, unfortunately, by limiting the production of each "Rated Rookie" to only 2001 copies (not including the Albert Pujols and Ben Sheets exchange cards -- each limited to 500), D-P made the decision, whether they knew it or not (and they probably didn't) to abandon the one segment of the market that traditionally purchases base level baseball card products. The segment that had been the cornerstone of the Donruss brand since 1981: Set builders.

In retrospect, D-P screwed up the comeback edition of Donruss baseball royally. As a result, many long-time Donruss baseball collectors, simply gave up after the fiasco that was 2001 Donruss Baseball. What D-P failed to realize, and never really quite understood, was that football card collectors and baseball card collectors are two completely different breeds of hobbyist. What works in football, may not (and usually does not) necessarily work in baseball.

Distribution

Hobby Wax: 5 cards, plus one individually wrapped "1999" Retroactive card per pack (MSRP $1.99).

24 packs plus a "Anniversary Originals" chiptopper per box.

Retail Wax: 5 cards, plus one individually wrapped "2000" Retroactive card per pack (MSRP $1.99).

17 packs per blaster box (MSRP $19.99).

The Anniversary Originals are prominent rookie cards from Donruss' past, that were bought back, submitted to BGS for grading, and seeded into each hobby wax box. Each card was given a "20th Anniversary Originals" notation on the slab's flip.

Checklist

Base Set

Short Set

1 Alex Rodriguez

2 Barry Bonds

3 Cal Ripken Jr.

4 Chipper Jones

5 Derek Jeter

6 Troy Glaus

7 Frank Thomas

8 Greg Maddux

9 Ivan Rodriguez

10 Jeff Bagwell

11 Jose Canseco

12 Todd Helton

13 Ken Griffey Jr.

14 Manny Ramirez

15 Mark McGwire

16 Mike Piazza

17 Nomar Garciaparra

18 Pedro Martinez

19 Randy Johnson

20 Rick Ankiel

21 Ricky Henderson

22 Roger Clemens

23 Sammy Sosa

24 Tony Gwynn

25 Vladimir Guerrero

26 Eric Davis

27 Roberto Alomar

28 Mark Mulder

29 Pat Burrell

30 Harold Baines

31 Carlos Delgado

32 J.D. Drew

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Darin Erstad

35 Jason Giambi

36 Tom Glavine

37 Juan Gonzalez

38 Mark Grace

39 Shawn Green

40 Tim Hudson

41 Andruw Jones

42 David Justice

43 Jeff Kent

44 Barry Larkin

45 Pokey Reese

46 Mike Mussina

47 Hideo Nomo

48 Rafael Palmeiro

49 Adam Piatt

50 Scott Rolen

51 Gary Sheffield

52 Bernie Williams

53 Bob Abreu

54 Edgardo Alfonso

55 Jermaine Clark (RC)

56 Albert Belle

57 Craig Biggio

58 Andres Galarraga

59 Edgar Martinez

60 Fred McGriff

61 Magglio Ordonez

62 Jim Thome

63 Matt Williams

64 Kerry Wood

65 Moises Alou

66 Brady Anderson

67 Garret Anderson

68 Tony Armas Jr.

69 Tony Batista

70 Jose Cruz Jr.

71 Carlos Beltran

72 Adrian Beltre

73 Kris Benson

74 Lance Berkman

75 Kevin Brown

76 Jay Buhner

77 Jeromy Burnitz

78 Ken Caminiti

79 Sean Casey

80 Luis Castillo

81 Eric Chavez

82 Jeff Cirillo

83 Bartolo Colon

84 David Cone

85 Freddy Garcia

86 Johnny Damon

87 Ray Durham

88 Jermaine Dye

89 Juan Encarnacion

90 Terrence Long

91 Carl Everett

92 Steve Finley

93 Cliff Floyd

94 Brad Fullmer

95 Brian Giles

96 Luis Gonzalez

97 Rusty Greer

98 Jeffrey Hammonds

99 Mike Hampton

100 Orlando Hernandez

101 Richard Hildalgo

102 Geoff Jenkins

103 Jacque Jones

104 Brian Jordan

105 Gabe Kaplar

106 Eric Karros

107 Jason Kendall

108 Adam Kennedy

109 Byung-Hung Kim

110 Ryan Klesko

111 Chuck Knoblauch

112 Paul Konerko

113 Carlos Lee

114 Kenny Lofton

115 Javy Lopez

116 Tino Martinez

117 Ruben Mateo

118 Kevin Millwood

119 Ben Molina

120 Raul Mondesi

121 Trot Nixon

122 John Olerud

123 Paul O'Neill

124 Chan Ho Park

125 Andy Pettitte

126 Jorge Posada

127 Mark Quinn

128 Aramis Ramirez

129 Mariano Rivera

130 Tim Salmon

131 Curt Schilling

132 Richie Sexson

133 John Smoltz

134 J.T. Snow

135 Jay Payton

136 Shannon Stewart

137 B.J. Surhoff

138 Mike Sweeney

139 Fernando Tatis

140 Miguel Tejada

141 Jason Varitek

142 Greg Vaughn

143 Mo Vaughn

144 Robin Ventura

145 Jose Vidro

146 Omar Vizquel

147 Larry Walker

148 David Wells

149 Rondell White

150 Preston Wilson

Rated Rookies

Note: All cards are serial numbered to 2001 copies, except cards #156 and #159. Card #156 was scheduled to be Brian Cole, but in early 2001 he was tragically killed in an automobile crash and Donruss pulled his card from production. It is unclear whose card #159 was supposed to be (probably C.C. Sabathia), but whoever he was, he was also pulled. Both Cole and mystery player #159 were replaced with exchange cards for Albert Pujols and Ben Sheets.

Although 500 copies of each redemption card were inserted into packs, and each Pujols and Sheets exchange card is serial numbered to 500, it is believed that only about half the Pujols cards were actually fulfilled. http://www.stalegum.com/2006/06/just-how-many-donruss-albert-pujols.html

151 Brent Abernathy

152 Cory Aldridge

153 Gene Altman

154 Josh Beckett

155 Wilson Betemit

156 Albert Pujols (RC) EXCH 500

157 Joe Crede

158 Jack Cust

159 Ben Sheets EXCH 500

160 Alex Escobar

161 Adrian Hernandez

162 Pedro Feliz

163 Nate Frese

164 Carlos Garcia

165 Marcus Giles

166 Alexis Gomez

167 Jason Hart

168 Eric Hinske

169 Cesar Izturis

170 Nick Johnson

171 Mike Young

172 Brian Lawrence

173 Steve Lomasney

174 Nick Maness

175 Jose Mieses

176 Greg Miller

177 Eric Munson

178 Xavier Nady

179 Blaine Neal

180 Abraham Nunez

181 Jose Ortiz

182 Jeremy Owens

183 Pablo Ozuna

184 Corey Patterson

185 Carlos Pena

186 Wily Mo Pena

187 Timo Perez

188 Adam Pettyjohn

189 Luis Rivas

190 Jackson Melian

191 Wilken Ruan

192 Duaner Sanchez

193 Alfonso Soriano

194 Rafael Soriano

195 Ichiro Suzuki (RC)

196 Billy Sylvester

197 Juan Uribe

198 Eric Valent

199 Carlos Valderrama

200 Matt White

Fan Club

Each Fan Club subset card was seeded into packs at the rate of 1:24. Although not serial-numbered, it is believed that 5000 copies of each were produced.

201 Alex Rodriguez

202 Barry Bonds

203 Cal Ripken, Jr.

204 Chipper Jones

205 Derek Jeter

206 Troy Glaus

207 Frank Thomas

208 Greg Maddux

209 Ivan Rodriguez

210 Jeff Bagwell

211 Todd Helton

212 Ken Griffey, Jr.

213 Manny Ramirez

214 Mark McGwire

215 Mike Piazza

216 Pedro Martinez

217 Sammy Sosa

218 Tony Gwynn

219 Vladimir Guerrero

220 Nomar Garciaparra

Parallels

Baseball's Best Factory Set

Similar to the Topps Tiffany sets of the 80s and 90s, Baseball's Best is a "high-end" factory set of the entire 220-card 2001 Donruss base set. In addition, the set also included the 105-card Donruss The Rookies set, and all five Rookie Diamond Kings.

Originally, the Baseball's Best set was only available through a redemption program that worked like this: Seeded into packs of 2001 Donruss baseball (at the rate of 1:720), were coupons that enabled the lucky collector to purchase one of 1000 Baseball's Best factory sets for $104.99. Unfortunately, Donruss printed more than the 1000 sets stated on the redemption card. Towards the end of 2001, Donruss solicited dealers to purchase the set without the redemption coupon. As a result, Donruss would up making 1597 sets (597 more than originally stated).

What's more, unbeknownst to collectors, Donruss made three different versions of the Baseball's Best set: Bronze (limited to 999 sets), Silver (499 sets), and Gold (99 sets). Because of this, some have deduced that those who purchased the set via the redemption card received a Bronze set, and dealers who bought direct got either a Silver or Gold. However, this conspiracy theory has never been proven.

All Baseball's Best cards are identical to their base set counterparts, with the addition of either a gold, silver, or bronze "Baseball's Best" stamp on each card's obverse.

Season Stat Line

Each card in this parallel is serial numbered to a specific season statistic.

Just like in the base set, the SSL's of cards #156 and #159 packed out as redemptions. Shortly after the product went live, Donruss publicly announced that only 17 copies of #156 and eight copies of #159 were to be produced. Unfortunately, Donruss wound up inserting more exchange cards than there were Season Stat Lines to go around.

To make it up to exchange card holders, Donruss printed up a special batch of SSL's and contracted with the two athletes in question to autograph these cards. The cards were Donruss' first to feature the now infamous "[Sticker Autograph]." Also, these autographed SSLs were not serial numbered.

1 Alex Rodriguez

2 Barry Bonds

3 Cal Ripken Jr.

4 Chipper Jones

5 Derek Jeter

6 Troy Glaus

7 Frank Thomas

8 Greg Maddux

9 Ivan Rodriguez

10 Jeff Bagwell

11 Jose Canseco

12 Todd Helton

13 Ken Griffey Jr.

14 Manny Ramirez

15 Mark McGwire

16 Mike Piazza

17 Nomar Garciaparra

18 Pedro Martinez

19 Randy Johnson

20 Rick Ankiel

21 Ricky Henderson

22 Roger Clemens

23 Sammy Sosa

24 Tony Gwynn

25 Vladimir Guerrero

26 Eric Davis

27 Roberto Alomar

28 Mark Mulder

29 Pat Burrell

30 Harold Baines

31 Carlos Delgado

32 J.D. Drew

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Darin Erstad

35 Jason Giambi

36 Tom Glavine

37 Juan Gonzalez

38 Mark Grace

39 Shawn Green 99

40 Tim Hudson

41 Andruw Jones

42 David Justice

43 Jeff Kent

44 Barry Larkin

45 Pokey Reese

46 Mike Mussina

47 Hideo Nomo

48 Rafael Palmeiro

49 Adam Piatt

50 Scott Rolen

51 Gary Sheffield

52 Bernie Williams

53 Bob Abreu

54 Edgardo Alfonso

55 Jermaine Clark

56 Albert Belle

57 Craig Biggio

58 Andres Galarraga

59 Edgar Martinez

60 Fred McGriff

61 Magglio Ordonez

62 Jim Thome

63 Matt Williams 102

64 Kerry Wood

65 Moises Alou

66 Brady Anderson

67 Garret Anderson

68 Tony Armas Jr.

69 Tony Batista

70 Jose Cruz Jr.

71 Carlos Beltran

72 Adrian Beltre

73 Kris Benson

74 Lance Berkman

75 Kevin Brown

76 Jay Buhner

77 Jeromy Burnitz

78 Ken Caminiti

79 Sean Casey

80 Luis Castillo

81 Eric Chavez

82 Jeff Cirillo

83 Bartolo Colon

84 David Cone

85 Freddy Garcia

86 Johnny Damon

87 Ray Durham

88 Jermaine Dye

89 Juan Encarnacion

90 Terrence Long

91 Carl Everett

92 Steve Finley

93 Cliff Floyd

94 Brad Fullmer

95 Brian Giles

96 Luis Gonzalez

97 Rusty Greer

98 Jeffrey Hammonds

99 Mike Hampton

100 Orlando Hernandez

101 Richard Hildalgo

102 Geoff Jenkins

103 Jacque Jones

104 Brian Jordan

105 Gabe Kaplar

106 Eric Karros

107 Jason Kendall

108 Adam Kennedy

109 Byung-Hung Kim

110 Ryan Klesko

111 Chuck Knoblauch

112 Paul Konerko

113 Carlos Lee

114 Kenny Lofton

115 Javy Lopez

116 Tino Martinez

117 Ruben Mateo

118 Kevin Millwood

119 Ben Molina

120 Raul Mondesi

121 Trot Nixon

122 John Olerud

123 Paul O'Neill

124 Chan Ho Park

125 Andy Pettitte

126 Jorge Posada

127 Mark Quinn

128 Aramis Ramirez

129 Mariano Rivera

130 Tim Salmon

131 Curt Schilling

132 Richie Sexson

133 John Smoltz

134 J.T. Snow

135 Jay Payton

136 Shannon Stewart

137 B.J. Surhoff

138 Mike Sweeney

139 Fernando Tatis

140 Miguel Tejada

141 Jason Varitek

142 Greg Vaughn

143 Mo Vaughn

144 Robin Ventura

145 Jose Vidro

146 Omar Vizquel

147 Larry Walker

148 David Wells

149 Rondell White

150 Preston Wilson

151 Brent Abernathy 130

152 Cory Aldridge 100

153 Gene Altman 6

154 Josh Beckett 61

155 Wilson Betemit 89

156 Albert Pujols 17

157 Joe Crede 5

158 Jack Cust 131

159 Ben Sheets 8

160 Alex Escobar 126

161 Adrian Hernandez 8

162 Pedro Feliz 2

163 Nate Frese 126

164 Carlos Garcia 14

165 Marcus Giles 133

166 Alexis Gomez 117

167 Jason Hart 31

168 Eric Hinske 20

169 Cesar Izturis 95

170 Nick Johnson 145

171 Mike Young 155

172 Brian Lawrence 165

173 Steve Lomasney 8

174 Nick Maness 127

175 Jose Mieses 17

176 Greg Miller 10

177 Eric Munson 1

178 Xavier Nady 1

179 Blaine Neal 65

180 Abraham Nunez 51

181 Jose Ortiz 2

182 Jeremy Owens 16

183 Pablo Ozuna 8

184 Corey Patterson 2

185 Carlos Pena 117

186 Wily Mo Pena 10

187 Timo Perez 14

188 Adam Pettyjohn 68

189 Luis Rivas 18

190 Jackson Melian 73

191 Wilken Ruan 165

192 Duaner Sanchez 121

193 Alfonso Soriano 2

194 Rafael Soriano 90

195 Ichiro Suzuki 153

196 Billy Sylvester 16

197 Juan Uribe 22

198 Eric Valent 22

199 Carlos Valderrama 137

200 Matt White 126

201 Alex Rodriguez

202 Barry Bonds

203 Cal Ripken, Jr.

204 Chipper Jones

205 Derek Jeter

206 Troy Glaus

207 Frank Thomas

208 Greg Maddux

209 Ivan Rodriguez

210 Jeff Bagwell

211 Todd Helton

212 Ken Griffey, Jr.

213 Manny Ramirez

214 Mark McGwire

215 Mike Piazza

216 Pedro Martinez

217 Sammy Sosa

218 Tony Gwynn

219 Vladimir Guerrero

220 Nomar Garciaparra

Career Stat Line

Similar to the Season Stat Lines, this time each is serial numbered to a specific career statistic. In most (but not all) instances, there are more copies of a player's Career Stat Line(CSL) than his Season Stat Line (SSL).

Again, the CSL's of cards #156 and #159 packed out as redemptions, with Donruss stating that only 154 copies of #156 and 159 copies of #159 were to be produced. But just like the SSL's, Donruss made more exchange cards than there were cards with the excess card holders getting an un-numbered CSL with a sticker autograph in exchange.

1 Alex Rodriguez

2 Barry Bonds

3 Cal Ripken Jr.

4 Chipper Jones

5 Derek Jeter

6 Troy Glaus

7 Frank Thomas

8 Greg Maddux

9 Ivan Rodriguez

10 Jeff Bagwell

11 Jose Canseco

12 Todd Helton

13 Ken Griffey Jr.

14 Manny Ramirez

15 Mark McGwire

16 Mike Piazza

17 Nomar Garciaparra

18 Pedro Martinez

19 Randy Johnson

20 Rick Ankiel

21 Ricky Henderson

22 Roger Clemens

23 Sammy Sosa

24 Tony Gwynn

25 Vladimir Guerrero

26 Eric Davis

27 Roberto Alomar

28 Mark Mulder

29 Pat Burrell

30 Harold Baines

31 Carlos Delgado

32 J.D. Drew

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Darin Erstad

35 Jason Giambi

36 Tom Glavine

37 Juan Gonzalez

38 Mark Grace

39 Shawn Green

40 Tim Hudson

41 Andruw Jones

42 David Justice 246

43 Jeff Kent

44 Barry Larkin

45 Pokey Reese

46 Mike Mussina

47 Hideo Nomo

48 Rafael Palmeiro

49 Adam Piatt

50 Scott Rolen

51 Gary Sheffield

52 Bernie Williams

53 Bob Abreu

54 Edgardo Alfonso

55 Jermaine Clark

56 Albert Belle

57 Craig Biggio

58 Andres Galarraga

59 Edgar Martinez

60 Fred McGriff

61 Magglio Ordonez

62 Jim Thome

63 Matt Williams

64 Kerry Wood

65 Moises Alou

66 Brady Anderson

67 Garret Anderson

68 Tony Armas Jr.

69 Tony Batista

70 Jose Cruz Jr.

71 Carlos Beltran

72 Adrian Beltre

73 Kris Benson

74 Lance Berkman

75 Kevin Brown

76 Jay Buhner

77 Jeromy Burnitz

78 Ken Caminiti

79 Sean Casey

80 Luis Castillo

81 Eric Chavez

82 Jeff Cirillo

83 Bartolo Colon

84 David Cone

85 Freddy Garcia

86 Johnny Damon

87 Ray Durham

88 Jermaine Dye

89 Juan Encarnacion

90 Terrence Long

91 Carl Everett

92 Steve Finley

93 Cliff Floyd

94 Brad Fullmer

95 Brian Giles

96 Luis Gonzalez

97 Rusty Greer

98 Jeffrey Hammonds

99 Mike Hampton

100 Orlando Hernandez

101 Richard Hildalgo

102 Geoff Jenkins

103 Jacque Jones

104 Brian Jordan

105 Gabe Kaplar

106 Eric Karros

107 Jason Kendall

108 Adam Kennedy

109 Byung-Hung Kim

110 Ryan Klesko

111 Chuck Knoblauch

112 Paul Konerko

113 Carlos Lee

114 Kenny Lofton

115 Javy Lopez

116 Tino Martinez

117 Ruben Mateo

118 Kevin Millwood

119 Ben Molina

120 Raul Mondesi

121 Trot Nixon

122 John Olerud

123 Paul O'Neill

124 Chan Ho Park

125 Andy Pettitte

126 Jorge Posada

127 Mark Quinn

128 Aramis Ramirez

129 Mariano Rivera

130 Tim Salmon

131 Curt Schilling

132 Richie Sexson

133 John Smoltz

134 J.T. Snow

135 Jay Payton

136 Shannon Stewart

137 B.J. Surhoff

138 Mike Sweeney

139 Fernando Tatis

140 Miguel Tejada

141 Jason Varitek

142 Greg Vaughn

143 Mo Vaughn

144 Robin Ventura

145 Jose Vidro

146 Omar Vizquel

147 Larry Walker 271

148 David Wells

149 Rondell White

150 Preston Wilson

151 Brent Abernathy 22

152 Cory Aldridge 33

153 Gene Altman 351

154 Josh Beckett 212

155 Wilson Betemit 15

156 Albert Pujols 154

157 Joe Crede 357

158 Jack Cust 66

159 Ben Sheets 159

160 Alex Escobar 45

161 Adrian Hernandez 86

162 Pedro Feliz 286

163 Nate Frese 119

164 Carlos Garcia 106

165 Marcus Giles 320

166 Alexis Gomez 34

167 Jason Hart 303

168 Eric Hinske 332

169 Cesar Izturis 60

170 Nick Johnson 308

171 Mike Young 37

172 Brian Lawrence 281

173 Steve Lomasney 229

174 Nick Maness 25

175 Jose Mieses 265

176 Greg Miller 328

177 Eric Munson 3

178 Xavier Nady 1

179 Blaine Neal 296

180 Abraham Nunez 38

181 Jose Ortiz 7

182 Jeremy Owens 273

183 Pablo Ozuna 333

184 Corey Patterson 11

185 Carlos Pena 52

186 Wily Mo Pena 114

187 Timo Perez 49

188 Adam Pettyjohn 20

189 Luis Rivas 310

190 Jackson Melian 26

191 Wilken Ruan 215

192 Duaner Sanchez 19

193 Alfonso Soriano 50

194 Rafael Soriano 13

195 Ichiro Suzuki 106

196 Billy Sylvester 11

197 Juan Uribe 157

198 Eric Valent 342

199 Carlos Valderrama 13

200 Matt White 31

201 Alex Rodriguez

202 Barry Bonds 289

203 Cal Ripken, Jr.

204 Chipper Jones

205 Derek Jeter

206 Troy Glaus

207 Frank Thomas

208 Greg Maddux

209 Ivan Rodriguez

210 Jeff Bagwell

211 Todd Helton

212 Ken Griffey, Jr.

213 Manny Ramirez 313

214 Mark McGwire

215 Mike Piazza

216 Pedro Martinez

217 Sammy Sosa

218 Tony Gwynn

219 Vladimir Guerrero

220 Nomar Garciaparra

Inserts

Expired Set Redemption Cards

Donruss inserted into packs two cards that allowed collectors the right to purchase one of two special factory sets. One card enabled the collector to purchase the 2001 Donruss The Rookies Baseball factory set for $24.99. The other card allowed the holder to buy of one 1000 "Baseball's Best" factory sets for $104.99. As previously mentioned, Donruss proceeded to print more than 1000 Baseball's Best sets.

The stated odds of finding the Donruss The Rookies redemption card was 1:72/packs, while the odds of pulling the Baseball's Best card: 1:720 and was exclusive to Hobby packs.

Retroactive

These two sets were designed to simulate what a 1999 and 2000 Donruss set would have looked like, if they had been released. The design is based on the respective year's Donruss Football set, and the player's are shown in the uniforms of the team the played for in that particular year.

The "1999" Retroactives were inserted into hobby packs and the "2000s" in retail. Both sets are 100 cards with eighty veterans and 20 serial-numbered "Rated Rookies." In addition, there are a slew of Stat Line parallels, and five additional Diamond King Inserts. Unfortunately, rather than simply including it with the other 2001 cards, the Retroactive card was wrapped separately in it's own one-card "pack." These single-card packs were extremely difficult to open, and as a result, many of the Retroactives were damaged coming out of the pack.

"1999" Retroactive

Overall odds of finding a "1999" Retroactive short set card, Rated Rookie, Stat Line, or "1999" Diamond King: one-per hobby pack.

Short Set

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Nomar Garciaparra

3 Alex Rodriguez

4 Mark McGwire

5 Sammy Sosa

6 Chipper Jones

7 Mike Piazza

8 Barry Larkin

9 Andruw Jones

10 Albert Belle

11 Jeff Bagwell

12 Tony Gwynn

13 Manny Ramirez

14 Mo Vaughn

15 Barry Bonds

16 Frank Thomas

17 Vladimir Guerrero

18 Derek Jeter

19 Randy Johnson

20 Greg Maddux

21 Pedro Martinez

22 Cal Ripken Jr.

23 Ivan Rodriguez

24 Matt Williams

25 Javy Lopez

26 Tim Salmon

27 Raul Mondesi

28 Todd Helton

29 Magglio Ordonez

30 Sean Casey

31 Jeromy Burnitz

32 Jeff Kent

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Jim Thome

35 Dante Bichette

36 Larry Walker

37 Will Clark

38 Omar Vizquel

39 Mike Mussina

40 Eric Karros

41 Kenny Lofton

42 David Justice

43 Craig Biggio

44 J.D. Drew

45 Rickey Henderson

46 Bernie Williams

47 Brian Giles

48 Paul O'Neill

49 Orlando Hernandez

50 Jason Giambi

51 Curt Schilling

52 Scott Rolen

53 Mark Grace

54 Moises Alou

55 Jason Kendall

56 Ray Lankford

57 Kerry Wood

58 Gary Sheffield

59 Ruben Mateo

60 Darin Erstad

61 Troy Glaus

62 Jose Canseco

63 Wade Boggs

64 Tom Glavine

65 Gabe Kapler

66 Juan Gonzalez

67 Rafael Palmeiro

68 Richie Sexson

69 Carl Everett

70 David Wells

71 Carlos Delgado

72 Eric Davis

73 Shawn Green

74 Andres Galarraga

75 Edgar Martinez

76 Roberto Alomar

77 John Olerud

78 Luis Gonzalez

79 Kevin Brown

80 Roger Clemens

Rated Rookies

Cards 81-100 make up a "Rated Rookies" subset and are numbered to 1999 copies. Although the exact insertion ratio was not listed, it is believed that the Rated Rookies were inserted at the rate of 1:24/hobby packs.

81 Josh Beckett

82 Alfonso Soriano

83 Alex Escobar

84 Pat Burrell

85 Eric Chavez

86 Erubiel Durazo

87 Abraham Nunez

88 Carlos Pena

89 Nick Johnson

90 Eric Munson

91 Corey Patterson

92 Wily Mo Pena

93 Rafael Furcal

94 Eric Valent

95 Mark Mulder

96 Chad Hutchinson

97 Freddy Garcia

98 Tim Hudson

99 Rick Ankiel

100 Kip Wells

"1999" Retroactive Career Stat Lines

The concept is similar to the Career Stat Line and Season Stat Line cards in the base set. It is believed that the odds of finding either a "1999" CSL or SSL was one in 1:24/hobby packs.

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Nomar Garciaparra

3 Alex Rodriguez

4 Mark McGwire

5 Sammy Sosa

6 Chipper Jones

7 Mike Piazza

8 Barry Larkin

9 Andruw Jones

10 Albert Belle

11 Jeff Bagwell

12 Tony Gwynn

13 Manny Ramirez

14 Mo Vaughn

15 Barry Bonds

16 Frank Thomas

17 Vladimir Guerrero

18 Derek Jeter

19 Randy Johnson

20 Greg Maddux

21 Pedro Martinez

22 Cal Ripken Jr.

23 Ivan Rodriguez

24 Matt Williams

25 Javy Lopez

26 Tim Salmon

27 Raul Mondesi

28 Todd Helton

29 Magglio Ordonez

30 Sean Casey

31 Jeromy Burnitz

32 Jeff Kent

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Jim Thome

35 Dante Bichette

36 Larry Walker

37 Will Clark

38 Omar Vizquel

39 Mike Mussina

40 Eric Karros

41 Kenny Lofton

42 David Justice

43 Craig Biggio

44 J.D. Drew

45 Rickey Henderson

46 Bernie Williams

47 Brian Giles

48 Paul O'Neill

49 Orlando Hernandez

50 Jason Giambi

51 Curt Schilling

52 Scott Rolen

53 Mark Grace

54 Moises Alou

55 Jason Kendall

56 Ray Lankford

57 Kerry Wood

58 Gary Sheffield

59 Ruben Mateo

60 Darin Erstad

61 Troy Glaus

62 Jose Canseco

63 Wade Boggs

64 Tom Glavine

65 Gabe Kapler

66 Juan Gonzalez

67 Rafael Palmeiro

68 Richie Sexson

69 Carl Everett

70 David Wells

71 Carlos Delgado

72 Eric Davis

73 Shawn Green

74 Andres Galarraga

75 Edgar Martinez

76 Roberto Alomar

77 John Olerud

78 Luis Gonzalez

79 Kevin Brown

80 Roger Clemens

81 Josh Beckett 13

82 Alfonso Soriano 113

83 Alex Escobar 181

84 Pat Burrell 303

85 Eric Chavez 314

86 Erubiel Durazo 147

87 Abraham Nunez 106

88 Carlos Pena 46

89 Nick Johnson 259

90 Eric Munson 392

91 Corey Patterson 117

92 Wily Mo Pena 347

93 Rafael Furcal 137

94 Eric Valent 53

95 Mark Mulder 340

96 Chad Hutchinson 2

97 Freddy Garcia 397

98 Tim Hudson 17

99 Rick Ankiel 222

100 Kip Wells 371

"1999" Retroactive Season Stat Lines

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Nomar Garciaparra

3 Alex Rodriguez

4 Mark McGwire

5 Sammy Sosa

6 Chipper Jones

7 Mike Piazza

8 Barry Larkin

9 Andruw Jones

10 Albert Belle

11 Jeff Bagwell

12 Tony Gwynn

13 Manny Ramirez

14 Mo Vaughn

15 Barry Bonds

16 Frank Thomas

17 Vladimir Guerrero

18 Derek Jeter

19 Randy Johnson

20 Greg Maddux

21 Pedro Martinez

22 Cal Ripken Jr.

23 Ivan Rodriguez

24 Matt Williams

25 Javy Lopez

26 Tim Salmon

27 Raul Mondesi

28 Todd Helton

29 Magglio Ordonez

30 Sean Casey

31 Jeromy Burnitz

32 Jeff Kent

33 Jim Edmonds

34 Jim Thome

35 Dante Bichette

36 Larry Walker

37 Will Clark

38 Omar Vizquel

39 Mike Mussina

40 Eric Karros

41 Kenny Lofton

42 David Justice

43 Craig Biggio

44 J.D. Drew

45 Rickey Henderson

46 Bernie Williams

47 Brian Giles

48 Paul O'Neill

49 Orlando Hernandez

50 Jason Giambi

51 Curt Schilling

52 Scott Rolen

53 Mark Grace

54 Moises Alou

55 Jason Kendall

56 Ray Lankford

57 Kerry Wood

58 Gary Sheffield

59 Ruben Mateo

60 Darin Erstad

61 Troy Glaus

62 Jose Canseco

63 Wade Boggs

64 Tom Glavine

65 Gabe Kapler

66 Juan Gonzalez

67 Rafael Palmeiro

68 Richie Sexson

69 Carl Everett

70 David Wells

71 Carlos Delgado

72 Eric Davis

73 Shawn Green

74 Andres Galarraga

75 Edgar Martinez

76 Roberto Alomar

77 John Olerud

78 Luis Gonzalez

79 Kevin Brown

80 Roger Clemens

81 Josh Beckett 178

82 Alfonso Soriano 7

83 Alex Escobar 27

84 Pat Burrell 7

85 Eric Chavez 33

86 Erubiel Durazo 19

87 Abraham Nunez 95

88 Carlos Pena 319

89 Nick Johnson 17

90 Eric Munson 16

91 Corey Patterson 22

92 Wily Mo Pena 7

93 Rafael Furcal 88

94 Eric Valent 13

95 Mark Mulder 113

96 Chad Hutchinson 51

97 Freddy Garcia 10

98 Tim Hudson 152

99 Rick Ankiel 12

100 Kip Wells 135

"1999" Retroactive Diamond Kings

This five-card set features Diamond King cards that Donruss would have produced had they been around 1999. The design is based on the "Gridiron Kings" insert from 1999 Donruss Football. Each card is serial numbered to 2500 copies, with a "Studio Series" version (complete with faux canvas fronts) numbered to 250.

The insertion ratio was not listed, but on average every fifth hobby box (1:120/hobby packs)yielded a DK.

1 Scott Rolen

2 Sammy Sosa

3 Juan Gonzalez

4 Ken Griffey, Jr.

5 Derek Jeter

"2000" Retroactive

Overall odds of finding a "2000" Retroactive short set card, Rated Rookie, Stat Line, or "2000" Diamond King: one-per retail pack.

Short Set

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Alex Rodriguez

3 Ken Griffey Jr.

4 Nomar Garciaparra

5 Mike Piazza

6 Mark McGwire

7 Sammy Sosa

8 Chipper Jones

9 Jim Edmonds

10 Tony Gwynn

11 Andruw Jones

12 Albert Belle

13 Jeff Bagwell

14 Manny Ramierez

15 Mo Vaughn

16 Barry Bonds

17 Frank Thomas

18 Ivan Rodriguez

19 Derek Jeter

20 Randy Johnson

21 Greg Maddux

22 Pedro Martinez

23 Cal Ripken Jr.

24 Mark Grace

25 Javy Lopez

26 Ray Durham

27 Todd Helton

28 Magglio Ordonez

29 Sean Casey

30 Darin Erstad

31 Barry Larkin

32 Will Clark

33 Jim Thome

34 Dante Bichette

35 Larry Walker

36 Ken Caminiti

37 Omar Vizquel

38 Miguel Tejada

39 Eric Karros

40 Gary Sheffield

41 Jeff Cirillo

42 Rondell White

43 Rickey Henderson

44 Bernie Williams

45 Brian Giles

46 Paul O'Neill

47 Orlando Hernandez

48 Ben Grieve

49 Jason Giambi

50 Curt Schilling

51 Scott Rolen

52 Bobby Abreu

53 Jason Kendall

54 Fernando Tatis

55 Jeff Kent

56 Mike Mussina

57 Troy Glaus

58 Jose Canseco

59 Wade Boggs

60 Fred McGriff

61 Juan Gonzalez

62 Rafael Palmeiro

63 Rusty Greer

64 Carl Everett

65 David Wells

66 Carlos Delgado

67 Shawn Green

68 David Justice

69 Edgar Martinez

70 Andres Galarraga

71 Roberto Alomar

72 Jermaine Dye

73 John Olerud

74 Luis Gonzalez

75 Craig Biggio

76 Kevin Millwood

77 Kevin Brown

78 John Smoltz

79 Roger Clemens

80 Mike Hampton

Rated Rookies

Cards 81-100 make up a "Rated Rookies" subset and are numbered to 2000 copies. Although the exact insertion ratio was not listed, it is believed that the Rated Rookies were inserted at the rate of 1:24/retail packs.

Cards #82 and #95 -- originally scheduled to be Brian Cole and Ben Sheets -- packed out as redemptions. Cole was pulled from the set due to his untimely death during the 2000-2001 off-season, and Sheets was yanked as he had been dropped from the Brewers' 40-man roster. Originally Cole was to be replaced by C.C. Sabathia, and Sheets with Ichiro Suzuki. Sabathia had to be pulled for the same reason Sheets was: he was moved off of Cleveland's 40-man roster. The choice of replacing Sheets with Ichiro was curious to say the least, as he had played the 2000 season in Japan.

By the time the product went live, Sheets was put back on the 40-man roster and allowed to be included. So the redemption for card #82 (originally Cole, then Sabathia) was fufilled with Sheets, and Sheets' original card (#95) was fufilled by Suzuki. Confused yet? Well both the Sheets and Suzuki exchange cards -- the ones mailed back to collectors -- were numbered as "95." It is unknown exactly how many Ichiro and Sheets exchange cards were actually fulfilled.

In 2007, The Cardboard Junkie (http://cardjunk.blogspot.com/2007/11/2007-cy-young-award-winners.html) scanned a "2000" Retroactive Rated Rookie of C.C. Sabathia to his popular baseball card blog. When inquired about it, he claims that he received it from Donruss-Playoff as a bonus after sending an unrelated redemption card. Although the Junkie's "2000" Sabathia is serial numbered "247/500," it is unclear just how many Sabathia's are on the market.

81 Tomas De La Rosa

82 C.C. Sabathia EXCH 500

83 Ryan Christenson

84 Pedro Feliz

85 Jose Ortiz

86 Xavier Nady

87 Julio Zuleta

88 Jason Hart

89 Keith Ginter

90 Brent Abernathy

91 Timo Perez

92 Juan Pierre

93 Tike Redman

94 Mike Lamb

95a Ben Sheets EXCH

95b Ichiro Suzuki EXCH

96 Kazuhiro Sasaki

97 Barry Zito

98 Adam Bernero

99 Chad Durbin

100 Matt Ginter

"2000" Retroactive Career Stat Lines

It is believed that the odds of finding either a "2000" CSL or SSL was one in 1:24/retail packs. Again, cards #82 and #95 packed out as redemptions. But for some strange reason, C.C. Sabathia (who was pulled from the regular "2000" Retroactive set) was included in both the CSLs and SSLs as card #82 -- even though he should have been pulled. Card #95 was fulfilled with Ichiro Suzuki. Ben Sheets, who was one of the two card #95s in the base set, is not included in either the CSL or SSL parallel sets.

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Alex Rodriguez

3 Ken Griffey Jr.

4 Nomar Garciaparra

5 Mike Piazza

6 Mark McGwire

7 Sammy Sosa

8 Chipper Jones

9 Jim Edmonds

10 Tony Gwynn

11 Andruw Jones

12 Albert Belle

13 Jeff Bagwell

14 Manny Ramierez

15 Mo Vaughn

16 Barry Bonds

17 Frank Thomas

18 Ivan Rodriguez

19 Derek Jeter

20 Randy Johnson

21 Greg Maddux

22 Pedro Martinez

23 Cal Ripken Jr.

24 Mark Grace

25 Javy Lopez

26 Ray Durham

27 Todd Helton

28 Magglio Ordonez

29 Sean Casey

30 Darin Erstad

31 Barry Larkin

32 Will Clark

33 Jim Thome

34 Dante Bichette

35 Larry Walker

36 Ken Caminiti

37 Omar Vizquel

38 Miguel Tejada

39 Eric Karros

40 Gary Sheffield

41 Jeff Cirillo

42 Rondell White

43 Rickey Henderson

44 Bernie Williams

45 Brian Giles

46 Paul O'Neill

47 Orlando Hernandez

48 Ben Grieve

49 Jason Giambi

50 Curt Schilling

51 Scott Rolen

52 Bobby Abreu

53 Jason Kendall

54 Fernando Tatis

55 Jeff Kent

56 Mike Mussina

57 Troy Glaus

58 Jose Canseco

59 Wade Boggs

60 Fred McGriff

61 Juan Gonzalez

62 Rafael Palmeiro

63 Rusty Greer

64 Carl Everett

65 David Wells

66 Carlos Delgado

67 Shawn Green

68 David Justice

69 Edgar Martinez

70 Andres Galarraga

71 Roberto Alomar

72 Jermaine Dye

73 John Olerud

74 Luis Gonzalez

75 Craig Biggio

76 Kevin Millwood

77 Kevin Brown

78 John Smoltz

79 Roger Clemens

80 Mike Hampton

81 Tomas De La Rosa 76

82 C.C. Sabathia EXCH 6

83 Ryan Christenson 9

84 Pedro Feliz 45

85 Jose Ortiz 90

86 Xavier Nady 175

87 Julio Zuleta 295

88 Jason Hart 19

89 Keith Ginter 188

90 Brent Abernathy 254

91 Timo Perez 5

92 Juan Pierre 104

93 Tike Redman 151

94 Mike Lamb 240

95 Ichiro Suzuki EXCH 159

96 Kazuhiro Sasaki 229

97 Barry Zito 6

98 Adam Bernero 254

99 Chad Durbin 3

100 Matt Ginter 300

"2000" Retroactive Season Stat Lines

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Alex Rodriguez

3 Ken Griffey Jr.

4 Nomar Garciaparra

5 Mike Piazza

6 Mark McGwire

7 Sammy Sosa

8 Chipper Jones

9 Jim Edmonds

10 Tony Gwynn

11 Andruw Jones

12 Albert Belle

13 Jeff Bagwell

14 Manny Ramierez

15 Mo Vaughn

16 Barry Bonds

17 Frank Thomas

18 Ivan Rodriguez

19 Derek Jeter

20 Randy Johnson

21 Greg Maddux

22 Pedro Martinez

23 Cal Ripken Jr.

24 Mark Grace

25 Javy Lopez

26 Ray Durham

27 Todd Helton

28 Magglio Ordonez

29 Sean Casey

30 Darin Erstad

31 Barry Larkin

32 Will Clark

33 Jim Thome

34 Dante Bichette

35 Larry Walker

36 Ken Caminiti

37 Omar Vizquel

38 Miguel Tejada

39 Eric Karros

40 Gary Sheffield

41 Jeff Cirillo

42 Rondell White

43 Rickey Henderson

44 Bernie Williams

45 Brian Giles

46 Paul O'Neill

47 Orlando Hernandez

48 Ben Grieve

49 Jason Giambi

50 Curt Schilling

51 Scott Rolen

52 Bobby Abreu

53 Jason Kendall

54 Fernando Tatis

55 Jeff Kent

56 Mike Mussina

57 Troy Glaus

58 Jose Canseco

59 Wade Boggs

60 Fred McGriff

61 Juan Gonzalez

62 Rafael Palmeiro

63 Rusty Greer

64 Carl Everett

65 David Wells

66 Carlos Delgado

67 Shawn Green

68 David Justice

69 Edgar Martinez

70 Andres Galarraga

71 Roberto Alomar

72 Jermaine Dye

73 John Olerud

74 Luis Gonzalez

75 Craig Biggio

76 Kevin Millwood

77 Kevin Brown

78 John Smoltz

79 Roger Clemens

80 Mike Hampton

81 Tomas De La Rosa 122

82 C.C. Sabathia EXCH 76

83 Ryan Christenson 56

84 Pedro Feliz 13

85 Jose Ortiz 107

86 Xavier Nady 23

87 Julio Zuleta 21

88 Jason Hart 168

89 Keith Ginter 13

90 Brent Abernathy 168

91 Timo Perez 4

92 Juan Pierre 187

93 Tike Redman 143

94 Mike Lamb 177

95 Ichiro Suzuki EXCH 8

96 Kazuhiro Sasaki 34

97 Barry Zito 97

98 Adam Bernero 80

99 Chad Durbin 3

100 Matt Ginter 66

"2000" Retroactive Diamond Kings

This five-card set features Diamond King cards that Donruss would have produced had they been around in 2000. The design is based on the "Gridiron Kings" from 2000 Donruss Football. Each card is serial numbered to 2500 copies, with a "Studio Series" version (complete with faux canvas fronts) numbered to 250. The insertion ratio was not listed, but on average every seventh retail blaster box (1:119/retail packs)yielded a DK.

DK1 Frank Thomas

DK2 Greg Maddux

DK3 Alex Rodriguez

DK4 Jeff Bagwell

DK5 Manny Ramirez

All-Time Diamond Kings

A Diamond Kings set featuring ten Hall of Famers. What's not to like? Each card is serial numbered to 2500 copies, with a Studio Series parallel version numbered to 250, with the first fifty copies autographed.

Both Willie Mays and Hank Aaron's cards packed out as redemptions. On the provisional checklist, Mays was scheduled to be card #ATDK9. However the exchange card was numbered as ATDK1. Therefore, this set is skip-numbered.

ATDK1a Frank Robinson

ATDK1b Willie Mays EXCH

ATDK2 Harmon Killebrew

ATDK3 Mike Schmidt

ATDK4 Reggie Jackson

ATDK5 Nolan Ryan

ATDK6 George Brett

ATDK7 Tom Seaver

ATDK8 Hank Aaron EXCH

ATDK9 NOT ISSUED

ATDK10 Stan Musial

Diamond Kings

The first new Diamond Kings in three years. All cards in this twenty-card set are numbered to 2500, with a Studio Series parallel numbered to 250. Donruss got some players to autograph the first fifty copies of their Studio Series DK, but not all. Therefore, there are some SSDK's that are limited to 200 copies, and other to 250. Those players who did not sign are desginated with an asterix (See Below).

DK1 Alex Rodriguez

DK2 Cal Ripken, Jr.

DK3 Mark McGwire*

DK4 Ken Griffey, Jr.*

DK5 Derek Jeter*

DK6 Nomar Garciaparra*

DK7 Mike Piazza*

DK8 Roger Clemens

DK9 Greg Maddux

DK10 Chipper Jones

DK11 Tony Gwynn

DK12 Barry Bonds

DK13 Sammy Sosa*

DK14 Vladimir Guerrero

DK15 Frank Thomas*

DK16 Troy Glaus

DK17 Todd Helton

DK18 Ivan Rodriguez

DK19 Pedro Martinez*

DK20 Carlos Delgado*

Diamond King Reprints

This set reprints twenty Diamond Kings from previous Donruss sets. Each is serial numbered to the year in which the original Diamond King was produced.

In addition, all of the players -- except Griffey, Jr. -- signed for set. The Autographed Diamond King Reprints are discussed in the "Autograph and Game Used" section.

Griffey, Jr's. card is an uncorrected error. Since Griffey, Jr's. card is a reprint of his 1990 Donruss Diamond King, it should have been serial numbered to 1990 copies instead of 1989.

DKR1 Rod Carew 1982

DKR2 Nolan Ryan 1982

DKR3 Tom Seaver 1982

DKR4 Carlton Fisk 1982

DKR5 Reggie Jackson 1983

DKR6 Steve Carlton 1983

DKR7 Johnny Bench 1983

DKR8 Joe Morgan 1983

DKR9 Mike Schmidt 1984

DKR10 Wade Boggs 1984

DKR11 Cal Ripken, Jr. 1985

DKR12 Tony Gwynn 1985

DKR13 Andre Dawson 1986

DKR14 Ozzie Smith 1987

DKR15 George Brett 1987

DKR16 Dave Winfield 1987

DKR17 Paul Molitor 1988

DKR18 Will Clark 1988

DKR19 Robin Yount 1989

DKR20 Ken Griffey, Jr. 1989

Elite Series

The twenty most "l33t" players in the game. All the usual suspects are included. Each is numbered to 2500, with an Elite Dominators parallel numbered to 25.

ES1 Vladimir Guerrero

ES2 Cal Ripken, Jr.

ES3 Greg Maddux

ES4 Alex Rodriguez

ES5 Barry Bonds

ES6 Chipper Jones

ES7 Derek Jeter

ES8 Ivan Rodriguez

ES9 Ken Griffey, Jr.

ES10 Mark McGwire

ES11 Mike Piazza

ES12 Nomar Garciaparra

ES13 Pedro Martinez

ES14 Randy Johnson

ES15 Roger Clemens

ES16 Sammy Sosa

ES17 Tony Gwynn

ES18 Darin Erstad

ES19 Andruw Jones

ES20 Bernie Williams

Longball Leaders

Set features the twenty top homerun hitters from the 2000 season. Each is numbered to 1000 copies, with a die-cut Season Production parallel serial numbered to the number of home runs the player hit in the 2000 season.

LL1 Vladimir Guerrero

LL2 Alex Rodriguez

LL3 Barry Bonds

LL4 Troy Glaus

LL5 Frank Thomas

LL6 Jeff Bagwell

LL7 Todd Helton

LL8 Ken Griffey Jr.

LL9 Manny Ramirez

LL10 Mike Piazza

LL11 Sammy Sosa

LL12 Carlos Delgado

LL13 Jim Edmonds

LL14 Jason Giambi

LL15 David Justice

LL16 Rafael Palmeiro

LL17 Gary Sheffield

LL18 Jim Thome

LL19 Tony Batista

LL20 Richard Hidalgo

Production Line

This massive sixty-card set features 2000's league leaders in three offensive statistics. Cards 1-20 are the leaders in on-base percentage, 21-40 in slugging percentage, and 41-60 in the power index -- a stat more commonly referred to as "on-base plus slugging," and even more commonly referred to as simply "OPS." Each card is serial numbered to the player's respective 2000 stat in that category multiplied by 1000.

For example, Todd Helton's on-base percentage in 2000 was .463; therefore, his Production Line insert (card #PL3) is numbered to 463 copies. In addition, the first 100 copies of each card are die-cut. So, using the Helton example, there are 100 die-cuts and the remaining 363 are not.

PL1 Jason Giambi 476

PL2 Carlos Delgado 470

PL3 Todd Helton 463

PL4 Manny Ramirez 457

PL5 Barry Bonds 440

PL6 Gary Sheffield 438

PL7 Frank Thomas 436

PL8 Nomar Garciaparra 434

PL9 Brian Giles 432

PL10 Edgardo Alfonzo 425

PL11 Jeff Kent 424

PL12 Jeff Bagwell 424

PL13 Edgar Martinez 423

PL14 Alex Rodriguez 420

PL15 Luis Castillo 418

PL16 Will Clark 418

PL17 Jorge Posada 417

PL18 Derek Jeter 416

PL19 Bob Abreu 416

PL20 Moises Alou 416

PL21 Todd Helton 698

PL22 Manny Ramirez 697

PL23 Barry Bonds 688

PL24 Carlos Delgado 664

PL25 Vladimir Guerrero 664

PL26 Jason Giambi 647

PL27 Gary Sheffield 643

PL28 Richard Hidalgo 636

PL29 Sammy Sosa 634

PL30 Frank Thomas 625

PL31 Moises Alou 623

PL32 Jeff Bagwell 615

PL33 Mike Piazza 614

PL34 Alex Rodriguez 606

PL35 Troy Glaus 604

PL36 Nomar Garciaparra 599

PL37 Jeff Kent 596

PL38 Brian Giles 594

PL39 Geoff Jenkins 588

PL40 Carl Everett 587

PL41 Todd Helton 1161

PL42 Manny Ramirez 1154

PL43 Carlos Delgado 1134

PL44 Barry Bonds 1128

PL45 Jason Giambi 1123

PL46 Gary Sheffield 1081

PL47 Vladimir Guerrero 1074

PL48 Frank Thomas 1061

PL49 Sammy Sosa 1040

PL50 Moises Alou 1039

PL51 Jeff Bagwell 1039

PL52 Nomar Garciaparra 1033

PL53 Richard Hidalgo 1027

PL54 Alex Rodriguez 1026

PL55 Brian Giles 1026

PL56 Jeff Kent 1020

PL57 Mike Piazza 1012

PL58 Troy Glaus 1008

PL59 Edgar Martinez 1002

PL60 Jim Edmonds 994

Rookie Reprints

Similar in concept to the Diamond King Reprints, just subsitute "Rookie Cards" for "Diamond Kings" and you get the idea here. Please note as there are two cards numbered RR39, as Jeff Kent -- who is on the checklist as card #RR40 -- was erroneously printed as card #RR39.

RR1 Cal Ripken, Jr. 1982

RR2 Wade Boggs 1983

RR3 Tony Gwynn 1983

RR4 Ryne Sandberg 1983

RR5 Don Mattingly 1984

RR6 Joe Carter 1984

RR7 Roger Clemens 1985

RR8 Kirby Puckett 1985

RR9 Orel Hershiser 1985

RR10 Andres Galarraga 1986

RR11 Jose Canseco 1986

RR12 Fred McGriff 1986

RR13 Paul O'Neill 1986

RR14 Mark McGwire 1987

RR15 Barry Bonds 1987

RR16 Kevin Brown 1987

RR17 David Cone 1987

RR18 Rafael Palmeiro 1987

RR19 Barry Larkin 1987

RR20 Bo Jackson 1987

RR21 Greg Maddux 1987

RR22 Roberto Alomar 1988

RR23 Mark Grace 1988

RR24 David Wells 1988

RR25 Tom Glavine 1988

RR26 Matt Williams 1988

RR27 Ken Griffey, Jr. 1989

RR28 Randy Johnson 1989

RR29 Gary Sheffield 1989

RR30 Craig Biggio 1989

RR31 Curt Schilling 1989

RR32 Larry Walker 1990

RR33 Bernie Williams 1990

RR34 Sammy Sosa 1990

RR35 Juan Gonzalez 1990

RR36 Dave Justice 1990

RR37 Ivan Rodriguez 1991

RR38 Jeff Bagwell 1991

RR39a Manny Ramirez 1991

RR39b Jeff Kent 1992

Autographs and Game Used

Autographed "2000" Retroactive Studio Series Diamond Kings

Alex Rodriguez signed the first fifty copies of his "2000" SSDK for random insertion into 2001 Donruss retail packs.

Autographed Studio Series All-Time Diamond Kings

This is an autographed parallel of the Studio Series All-Time Diamond Kings, which itself is a parallel of the All-Time Diamond Kings. Each SSATDK was numbered to 250 copies, with the first 50 signed by the player. In other words, SSATDK's numbered 1 through 50 are autographed, 51 through 250 are not.

Cards numbered ATDK5, 8, and 9 packed out as redemptions. And just like in the regular ATDK set, Willie Mays' exchange card (originally #ATDK9) was numbered as #ATDK1.

ATDK1a        Frank Robinson        

ATDK1b        Willie Mays        EXCH

ATDK2        Harmon Killebrew        

ATDK3        Mike Schmidt        

ATDK4        Reggie Jackson        

ATDK5        Nolan Ryan        EXCH

ATDK6        George Brett        

ATDK7        Tom Seaver        

ATDK8        Hank Aaron        EXCH

ATDK9        NOT ISSUED        

ATDK10        Stan Musial

Autographed Anniversary Originals

Each hobby box of 2001 Donruss came with a classic Donruss card that was re-purchased by Playoff and graded by BGS. In addition, twelve players agreed to autograph some of their cards before submission. Unfortunately, only three cards were available for packout, which led Donruss to include slabbed redemption cards for the other nine players. I'm not making that up. Donruss actually had BGS slab frickin' redemption cards!

1982        Cal Ripken, Jr.        EXCH        23

1983        Ryne Sandberg        EXCH        24

1983        Cal Ripken, Jr.        EXCH        2

1983        Wade Boggs        EXCH        25

1983        Tony Gwynn        EXCH        24

1984        Don Mattingly        EXCH        25

1987        Greg Maddux        EXCH        25

1987        Rafael Palmeiro                250

1987        Barry Bonds        EXCH        25

1988        Roberto Alomar                250

1988        Tom Glavine                250

1989        Randy Johnson        EXCH        25

1990        David Justice        EXCH        24

Bat Kings/Autographed Bat Kings

This set features five players from the regular Diamond Kings and five from the All-Time Diamond Kings. The cards have a reprint of their Diamond King next to an oval shaped splinter of one of their game-used bats. Each is serial numbered to 250 copies.

The first fifty copies of each were due to have an autograph; however, four players did not submit their Autographed Bat Kings in time, and Donruss was forced to replace them with redemption cards. Three of the four players (I. Rodriguez, T. Helton, and T. Glaus) eventually did send in their autographs, but Donruss was unable to get Barry Bonds to send his in. To make it up to collectors, each Barry Bonds Autographed Bat King redemption was fulfilled with an un-autographed Bat King card and an autographed Barry Bonds Recollection Collection autograph (see below).

BK1        Ivan Rodriguez AU EXCH

BK2        Tony Gwynn

BK3        Barry Bonds    NO AU

BK4        Todd Helton    AU EXCH

BK5        Troy Glaus     AU EXCH

BK6        Mike Schmidt

BK7        Reggie Jackson

BK8        Harmon Killebrew

BK9        Frank Robinson

BK10        Hank Aaron

Autographed Studio Series Diamond Kings

Same deal as the Autographed Studio Series All-Time Diamond Kings, except that only 11 of the 20 players agreed to sign. for all 20 players, each SSDK was numbered to 250 copies. For the eleven players who signed, the first fifty copies of each SSDK are autographed and the remaining 200 are un-signed. Nine of the twelve cards packed out as redemptions.

DK1        Alex Rodriguez         EXCH

DK2        Cal Ripken, Jr.        

DK8        Roger Clemens         EXCH

DK9        Greg Maddux        

DK10        Chipper Jones         EXCH

DK11        Tony Gwynn        

DK12        Barry Bonds         EXCH

DK14        Vladimir Guerrero  EXCH

DK16        Troy Glaus         EXCH

DK17        Todd Helton         EXCH

DK18        Ivan Rodriguez         EXCH

Autographed Diamond Kings Reprints

This set is an autographed parallel of the Diamond Kings Reprints. Each card is serial numbered to the year the card made its appearance in the Donruss set, minus 1900. Eleven of the nineteen autographees packed out as redemptions.

Since Ken Griffey, Jr. was under an exclusive autograph contract to Upper Deck, Donruss was unable to have him autograph any of his DKR cards. Since he was the only player unable to sign, Donruss simply made a special un-autographed parallel numbered to only 89 copies, to round out the set. As mentioned in the listing for the regular DKR's, the Griffey, Jr. is an un-corrected error, as the card reprinted was in the 1990 Donruss set, not the '89 one.

DKR1        Rod Carew          EXCH        82

DKR2        Nolan Ryan        EXCH        82

DKR3        Tom Seaver                82

DKR4        Carlton Fisk        EXCH        82

DKR5        Reggie Jackson                83

DKR6        Steve Carlton        EXCH        83

DKR7        Johnny Bench                83

DLR8        Joe Morgan                83

DKR9        Mike Schmidt                84

DKR10        Wade Boggs        EXCH        84

DKR11        Cal Ripken, Jr.        EXCH        85

DKR12        Tony Gwynn                85

DLR13        Andre Dawson        EXCH        86

DLR14        Ozzie Smith        EXCH        87

DLR15        George Brett                87

DLR16        Dave Winfield        EXCH        87

DLR17        Paul Molitor                88

DKR18        Will Clark        EXCH        88

DKR19        Robin Yount        EXCH        89

DKR20        Ken Griffey, Jr.NO AU        89

Jersey Kings/Autographed Jersey Kings

Same concept as the Bat Kings, only with different players and a different piece of game used material. Each card is numbered to 250 copies, with the first 50 autographed.

Cards #JK4 and JK10 were listed on the checklist as "To Be Determined." Therefore all 250 copies (50 autographed and 200 unautographed) packed out as redemptions. Only later, months after 2001 Donruss went live, did Donruss reveal who those players were (Chipper Jones and Ozzie Smith respectively). In addition, the autographed cards of four players did not arrive in time for inclusion in the product, so Donruss went the redemption route.

JK1        Vladimir Guerrero  AU EXCH

JK2        Cal Ripken, Jr.         AU EXCH

JK3        Greg Maddux        

JK4        Chipper Jones         ALL EXCH

JK5        Roger Clemens         AU EXCH

JK6        George Brett        

JK7        Tom Seaver        

JK8        Nolan Ryan         AU EXCH

JK9        Stan Musial        

JK10        Ozzie Smith         ALL EXCH

Recollection Collection

Both Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds each signed 100 cards for random inclusion in the 2001 Donruss set. All of A-Rod's cards packed out as exchange cards, which makes sense since 70 of the 100 cards he signed were 2001 Donruss cards. (For the record, he signed 30 "2000" Retroactive inserts and 40 '01 base cards). 50 of the 100 cards Barry Bonds signed were sent to collectors who pulled a redemption card for an autographed Bat King. Since there were only 50 redemption cards, it is unclear what happened to the other 50 cards Donruss said Bonds signed.

'88    Barry Bonds      25

'89    Barry Bonds      25

'90    Barry Bonds      50

'97    Alex Rodriguez   10

'98    Alex Rodriguez   20

'00Ret Alex Rodriguez   30

'01    Alex Rodriguez   40

Autographed Rookie Reprints

Much like the Autographed Diamond King Reprints, this 26-card set partially parallels the Rookie Reprint set. All cards are serial numbered to the year of the player's rookie card, minus 1900.

21 of the 26 cards packed out as redemptions, one of which was redeemable for an autograph of a player not represented in the Rookie Reprint set. Donruss was unable to get David Wells to sign, so redemption card #RR24 was fulfilled with an autographed reprint of Luis Gonzalez's 1991 Donruss card (numbered to 91 copies). Since there were only 88 redemption cards, it is unclear what happened to the three extra cards Gonzalez signed -- if he signed them at all.

RR1        Cal Ripken, Jr.                82

RR2        Wade Boggs        EXCH        83

RR3        Tony Gwynn                83

RR4        Ryne Sandberg                83

RR5        Don Mattingly        EXCH        84

RR6        Joe Carter                84

RR7        Roger Clemens        EXCH        85

RR8        Kirby Puckett        EXCH        85

RR9        Orel Hershiser        EXCH        85

RR10        Andres Galarraga  EXCH        86

RR15        Barry Bonds        EXCH        87

RR16        Kevin Brown        EXCH        87

RR17        David Cone        EXCH        87

RR18        Rafael Palmeiro        EXCH        87

RR20        Bo Jackson        EXCH        87

RR21        Greg Maddux                87

RR22        Roberto Alomar        EXCH        88

RR24        Luis Gonzalez        EXCH        91

RR25        Tom Glavine        EXCH        88

RR28        Randy Johnson        EXCH        89 

RR29        Gary Sheffield        EXCH        89

RR31        Curt Schilling        EXCH        89

RR35        Juan Gonzalez        EXCH        90

RR36        Dave Justice                90

RR37        Ivan Rodriguez        EXCH        91

RR39        Manny Ramirez        EXCH        92