1991 Donruss

Description

1991 Donruss was a dual-issue, 770-card set, featuring 386 cards in Series One and 384 cards in Series Two. This release marked the first time Donruss issued cards in multiple series and was notable for the introduction of its Elite Series insert. An estimated 3 million copies of each base card were printed.

Series One cards featured blue borders, red nameplate background, and multi-colored, accenting dots and stripes. Series Two cards featured green borders and a red nameplate background with similar dots and striped accents.

There were multiple subsets:

• Diamond Kings (1-27)
• Rated Rookies (28-47/413-432)
• AL All-Stars (48-56)
• MVP's (387-412)
• NL All-Stars (433-441).

There were also special cards to honor the 1990 Award Winners and top players from the World Series - specifically, on cards 60, 70, 127, 182, 239, 294, 355, 368, and 377, the border stripes are red and yellow.

There are no notable rookie cards in this set.

Distribution

Wax: 36 packs per box, 15 cards + one Willie Stargell puzzle panel per pack (MSRP: $0.50). 20 boxes per case.

Cello: 24 packs per box, 40 cards + two Willie Stargell puzzle panels per pack (MSRP: $1.99). 12 boxes per case.

Rack: 45 cards + three Willie Stargell puzzle panels per pack (MSRP: $1.99). 72 packs per case.

Blisters: 75 cards per blister (MSRP: $2.99). 48 blisters per case.

Factory Sets: 15 sets per case.

Holiday Treat Bags: 22, three-card packs per Treat Bag.

Additionally, 15-card wax packs were inserted into specially-marked 6- and 12-packs of Coca-Cola products on a regional basis.

Reviews

1991 Donruss was panned as “complacent” in the March 1991 issue of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly. The set was featured in the “Card Critic” column titled, “Opposites Don’t Always Attract”, where the author - Chuck Roethel - compared 1991 flagship sets of Donruss and Fleer. Roethel lamented, “In desperation, I sought something positive to say” as comments like “[the set] dampens my enthusiasm”, “predictable style”, “lackluster”, and "(No) stroke of genius” were littered throughout his review. Roethel was also frustrated by the idea that the inserts were “becoming more significant” than the set itself. This turned out to be a prophetic statement as 1991 - and this set in particular - was the inception of the insert card craze (AKA "Insert Mania") that exploded in the mid-to-late 1990s and reshaped The Hobby forever.

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds	Retail Odds
Base	770	-	?	?
Highlights	22	-	?	?
The Elite Series	8	10,000	?	?
Elite Legends	1	7,500	?	?
Grand Slammers	14	-	?	?
1991 Leaf Previews	26	-	?	?
1991 Studio Previews	18	-	?	?
Ryne Sandberg Elite Signature Series	1	5,000	?	?

Checklist

Promos

This 12-card, standard-sized set was issued by Donruss for hobby dealers to preview what the 1991 release would look like. These promotional cards featured the same design as the base set but differed on the back as there was text stating, "1991 Preview Card", the player's name, and his team.

• 1 Dave Justice
• 2 Doug Drabek
• 3 Scott Chiamparino
• 4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 5 Bob Welch
• 6 Tino Martinez
• 7 Nolan Ryan
• 8 Dwight Gooden
• 9 Ryne Sandberg
• 10 Barry Bonds
• 11 Jose Canseco
• 12 Eddie Murray

Base Set

Series One

Diamond Kings

• 1 Dave Stieb
• 2 Craig Biggio
• 3 Cecil Fielder
• 4 Barry Bonds
• 5 Barry Larkin
• 6 Dave Parker
• 7 Lenny Dykstra
• 8 Bobby Thigpen
• 9 Roger Clemens
• 10 Ron Gant
• 11 Delino DeShields
• 12 Roberto Alomar
• 13 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
• 14 Ryne Sandberg
• 15 Ramon Martinez
• 16 Edgar Martinez
• 17 Dave Magadan
• 18 Matt Williams
• 19 Rafael Palmeiro
• 20 Bob Welch
• 21 Dave Righetti
• 22 Brian Harper
• 23 Gregg Olson
• 24 Kurt Stillwell
• 25 Pedro Guerrero
• 26 Chuck Finley
• 27 Checklist

Rated Rookies

• 28 Tino Martinez RR
• 29 Mark Lewis RR
• 30 Bernard Gilkey RR
• 31 Hensley Meulens RR
• 32 Derek Bell RR
• 33 Jose Offerman RR
• 34 Terry Bross RR
• 35 Leo Gomez RR
• 36 Derrick May RR
• 37 Kevin Morton RR
• 38 Moises Alou RR
• 39 Julio Valera RR
• 40 Milt Cuyler RR
• 41 Phil Plantier RR RC
• 42 Scott Chiamparino RR
• 44 Mickey Morandini RR
• 43 Ray Lankford RR
• 45 Dave Hansen RR
• 46 Kevin Belcher RR
• 47 Darrin Fletcher RR

American League All-Stars

• 48 Steve Sax AS
• 49 Ken Griffey, Jr. AS
• 50 Jose Canseco AS (A's statline on back)
• 50 Jose Canseco AS (AL statline on back)
• 51 Sandy Alomar, Jr. AS
• 52 Cal Ripken, Jr. AS
• 53 Rickey Henderson AS
• 54 Bob Welch AS
• 55 Wade Boggs AS
• 56 Mark McGwire AS

• 57 Jack McDowell
• 57 Jack McDowell ERR
• 58 Jose Lind
• 59 Alex Fernandez
• 60 Pat Combs
• 61 Mike Walker
• 62 Juan Samuel
• 63 Mike Blowers
• 64 Mark Guthrie
• 65 Mark Salas
• 66 Tim Jones
• 67 Tim Leary
• 68 Andres Galarraga
• 69 Bob Milacki
• 70 Tim Belcher
• 71 Todd Zeile
• 72 Jerome Walton
• 73 Kevin Seitzer
• 74 Jerald Clark
• 75 John Smoltz
• 76 Mike Henneman
• 77 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 78 Jim Abbott
• 79 Gregg Jefferies
• 80 Kevin Reimer
• 81 Roger Clemens
• 82 Mike Fitzgerald
• 83 Bruce Hurst
• 84 Eric Davis
• 85 Paul Molitor
• 86 Will Clark
• 87 Mike Bielecki
• 88 Bret Saberhagen
• 89 Nolan Ryan
• 90 Bobby Thigpen
• 91 Dickie Thon
• 92 Duane Ward
• 93 Luis Polonia
• 94 Terry Kennedy
• 95 Kent Hrbek
• 96 Danny Jackson
• 97 Sid Fernandez
• 98 Jimmy Key
• 99 Franklin Stubbs
• 100 Checklist CL 28-103
• 101 R.J. Reynolds
• 102 Dave Stewart
• 103 Dan Pasqua
• 104 Dan Plesac
• 105 Mark McGwire
• 106 John Farrell
• 107 Don Mattingly
• 108 Carlton Fisk
• 109 Ken Oberkfell
• 110 Darrel Akerfelds
• 111 Gregg Olson
• 112 Mike Scioscia
• 113 Bryn Smith
• 114 Bob Geren
• 115 Tom Candiotti
• 116 Kevin Tapani
• 117 Jeff Treadway
• 118 Alan Trammell
• 119 Pete O'Brien
• 120 Joel Skinner
• 121 Mike LaValliere
• 122 Dwight Evans
• 123 Jody Reed
• 124 Lee Guetterman
• 125 Tim Burke
• 126 Dave Johnson
• 127 Fernando Valenzuela
• 128 Jose DeLeon
• 129 Andre Dawson
• 130 Gerald Perry
• 131 Greg W. Harris
• 132 Tom Glavine
• 133 Lance McCullers
• 134 Randy Johnson
• 135 Lance Parrish
• 136 Mackey Sasser
• 137 Geno Petralli
• 138 Dennis Lamp
• 139 Dennis Martinez
• 140 Mike Pagliarulo
• 141 Hal Morris
• 142 Dave Parker
• 143 Brett Butler
• 144 Paul Assenmacher
• 145 Mark Gubicza
• 146 Charlie Hough
• 147 Sammy Sosa
• 148 Randy Ready
• 149 Kelly Gruber
• 150 Devon White
• 151 Gary Carter
• 152 Gene Larkin
• 153 Chris Sabo
• 154 David Cone
• 155 Todd Stottlemyre
• 156 Glenn Wilson
• 157 Bob Walk
• 158 Mike Gallego
• 159 Greg Hibbard
• 160 Chris Bosio
• 161 Mike Moore
• 162 Jerry Browne
• 163 Steve Sax
• 164 Melido Perez
• 165 Danny Darwin
• 166 Roger McDowell
• 167 Bill Ripken
• 168 Mike Sharperson
• 169 Lee Smith
• 170 Matt Nokes
• 171 Jesse Orosco
• 172 Rick Aguilera
• 173 Jim Presley
• 174 Lou Whitaker
• 175 Harold Reynolds
• 176 Brook Jacoby
• 177 Wally Backman
• 178 Wade Boggs
• 179 Chuck Cary
• 180 Tom Foley
• 181 Pete Harnisch
• 182 Mike Morgan
• 183 Bob Tewksbury
• 184 Joe Girardi
• 185 Storm Davis
• 186 Ed Whitson
• 187 Steve Avery
• 188 Lloyd Moseby
• 189 Scott Bankhead
• 190 Mark Langston
• 191 Kevin McReynolds
• 192 Julio Franco
• 193 John Dopson
• 194 Dennis Boyd
• 195 Bip Roberts
• 196 Billy Hatcher
• 197 Edgar Diaz
• 198 Greg Litton
• 199 Mark Grace
• 200 Checklist CL 104-179
• 201 George Brett
• 202 Jeff Russell
• 203 Ivan Calderon
• 204 Ken Howell
• 205 Tom Henke
• 206 Bryan Harvey
• 207 Steve Bedrosian
• 208 Al Newman
• 209 Randy Myers
• 210 Daryl Boston
• 211 Manny Lee
• 212 Dave Smith
• 213 Don Slaught
• 214 Walt Weiss
• 215 Donn Pall
• 216 Jaime Navarro
• 217 Willie Randolph
• 218 Rudy Seanez
• 219 Jim Leyritz
• 220 Ron Karkovice
• 221 Ken Caminiti
• 222 Von Hayes
• 223 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 224 Lenny Harris
• 225 Milt Thompson
• 226 Alvaro Espinoza
• 227 Chris James
• 228 Dan Gladden
• 229 Jeff Blauser
• 230 Mike Heath
• 231 Omar Vizquel
• 232 Doug Jones
• 233 Jeff King
• 234 Luis Rivera
• 235 Ellis Burks
• 236 Greg Cadaret
• 237 Dave Martinez
• 238 Mark Williamson
• 239 Stan Javier
• 240 Ozzie Smith
• 241 Shawn Boskie
• 242 Tom Gordon
• 243 Tony Gwynn
• 244 Tommy Gregg
• 245 Jeff M. Robinson
• 246 Keith Comstock
• 247 Jack Howell
• 248 Keith Miller
• 249 Bobby Witt
• 250 Rob Murphy
• 251 Spike Owen
• 252 Garry Templeton
• 253 Glenn Braggs
• 254 Ron Robinson
• 255 Kevin Mitchell
• 256 Les Lancaster
• 257 Mel Stottlemyre
• 258 Kenny Rogers
• 259 Lance Johnson
• 260 John Kruk
• 261 Fred McGriff
• 262 Dick Schofield
• 263 Trevor Wilson
• 264 Dave West
• 265 Scott Scudder
• 266 Dwight Gooden
• 267 Willie Blair
• 268 Mark Portugal
• 269 Doug Drabek
• 270 Dennis Eckersley
• 271 Eric King
• 272 Robin Yount
• 273 Carney Lansford
• 274 Carlos Baerga
• 275 Dave Righetti
• 276 Scott Fletcher
• 277 Eric Yelding
• 278 Charlie Hayes
• 279 Jeff Ballard
• 280 Orel Hershiser
• 281 Jose Oquendo
• 282 Mike Witt
• 283 Mitch Webster
• 284 Greg Gagne
• 285 Greg Olson
• 286 Tony Phillips
• 287 Scott Bradley
• 288 Cory Snyder
• 289 Jay Bell
• 290 Kevin Romine
• 291 Jeff D. Robinson
• 292 Steve Frey
• 293 Craig Worthington
• 294 Tim Crews
• 295 Joe Magrane
• 296 Hector Villanueva
• 297 Terry Shumpert
• 298 Joe Carter
• 299 Kent Mercker
• 300 Checklist CL 180-255
• 301 Chet Lemon
• 302 Mike Schooler
• 303 Dante Bichette
• 304 Kevin Elster
• 305 Jeff Huson
• 306 Greg A. Harris
• 307 Marquis Grissom
• 308 Calvin Schiraldi
• 309 Mariano Duncan
• 310 Bill Spiers
• 311 Scott Garrelts
• 312 Mitch Williams
• 313 Mike Macfarlane
• 314 Kevin Brown
• 315 Robin Ventura
• 316 Darren Daulton
• 317 Pat Borders
• 318 Mark Eichhorn
• 319 Jeff Brantley
• 320 Shane Mack
• 321 Rob Dibble
• 322 John Franco
• 323 Junior Felix
• 324 Casey Candaele
• 325 Bobby Bonilla
• 326 Dave Henderson
• 327 Wayne Edwards
• 328 Mark Knudson
• 329 Terry Steinbach
• 330 Colby Ward
• 331 Oscar Azocar
• 332 Scott Radinsky
• 333 Eric Anthony
• 334 Steve Lake
• 335 Bob Melvin
• 336 Kal Daniels
• 337 Tom Pagnozzi
• 338 Alan Mills
• 339 Steve Olin
• 340 Juan Berenguer
• 341 Francisco Cabrera
• 342 Dave Bergman
• 343 Henry Cotto
• 344 Sergio Valdez
• 345 Bob Patterson
• 346 John Marzano
• 347 Dana Kiecker
• 348 Dion James
• 349 Hubie Brooks
• 350 Bill Landrum
• 351 Bill Sampen
• 352 Greg Briley
• 353 Paul Gibson
• 354 Dave Eiland
• 355 Steve Finley
• 356 Bob Boone
• 357 Steve Buechele
• 358 Chris Hoiles
• 359 Larry Walker
• 360 Frank DiPino
• 361 Mark Grant
• 362 Dave Magadan
• 363 Robby Thompson
• 364 Lonnie Smith
• 365 Steve Farr
• 366 Dave Valle
• 367 Tim Naehring
• 368 Jim Acker
• 369 Jeff Reardon
• 370 Tim Teufel
• 371 Juan Gonzalez
• 372 Luis Salazar
• 373 Rick Honeycutt
• 374 Greg Maddux
• 375 Jose Uribe
• 376 Donnie Hill
• 377 Don Carman
• 378 Craig Grebeck
• 379 Willie Fraser
• 380 Glenallen Hill
• 381 Joe Oliver
• 382 Randy Bush
• 383 Alex Cole
• 384 Norm Charlton
• 385 Gene Nelson
• 386 Checklist CL 256-331

Series Two

MVPs

• 387 Rickey Henderson
• 388 Lance Parrish
• 389 Fred McGriff
• 390 Dave Parker
• 391 Candy Maldonado
• 392 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 393 Gregg Olson
• 394 Rafael Palmeiro
• 395 Roger Clemens
• 396 George Brett
• 397 Cecil Fielder
• 398 Brian Harper
• 399 Bobby Thigpen
• 400 Roberto Kelly
• 401 Danny Darwin
• 402 Dave Justice
• 403 Lee Smith
• 404 Ryne Sandberg
• 405 Eddie Murray
• 406 Tim Wallach
• 407 Kevin Mitchell
• 408 Darryl Strawberry
• 409 Joe Carter
• 410 Lenny Dykstra
• 411 Doug Drabek
• 412 Chris Sabo

Rated Rookies

• 413 Paul Marak RR
• 414 Tim McIntosh RR
• 415 Brian Barnes RR
• 416 Eric Gunderson RR
• 417 Mike Gardiner RR
• 418 Steve Carter RR
• 419 Gerald Alexander RR
• 420 Rich Garces RR RC
• 421 Chuck Knoblauch RR
• 422 Scott Aldred RR
• 423 Wes Chamberlain RR RC
• 424 Lance Dickson RR RC
• 425 Greg Colbrunn RR RC
• 426 Rich DeLucia RR RR
• 427 Jeff Conine RR RC
• 428 Steve Decker RR RC
• 429 Turner Ward RR RC
• 430 Mo Vaughn RR
• 431 Steve Chitren RR
• 432 Mike Benjamin RR

National League All-Stars

• 433 Ryne Sandberg AS
• 434 Lenny Dykstra AS
• 435 Andre Dawson AS
• 436 Mike Scioscia AS (White star by name)
• 436 Mike Scioscia AS (Yellow star by name)
• 437 Ozzie Smith AS
• 438 Kevin Mitchell AS
• 439 Jack Armstrong AS
• 440 Chris Sabo AS
• 441 Will Clark AS

• 442 Mel Hall
• 443 Mark Gardner
• 444 Mike Devereaux
• 445 Kirk Gibson
• 446 Terry Pendleton
• 447 Mike Harkey
• 448 Jim Eisenreich
• 449 Benito Santiago
• 450 Oddibe McDowell
• 451 Cecil Fielder
• 452 Ken Griffey, Sr.
• 453 Bert Blyleven
• 454 Howard Johnson
• 455 Monty Fariss
• 456 Tony Pena
• 457 Tim Raines
• 458 Dennis Rasmussen
• 459 Luis Quinones
• 460 B.J. Surhoff
• 461 Ernest Riles
• 462 Rick Sutcliffe
• 463 Danny Tartabull
• 464 Pete Incaviglia
• 465 Carlos Martinez
• 466 Ricky Jordan
• 467 John Cerutti
• 468 Dave Winfield
• 469 Francisco Oliveras
• 470 Roy Smith
• 471 Barry Larkin
• 472 Ron Darling
• 473 David Wells
• 474 Glenn Davis
• 475 Neal Heaton
• 476 Ron Hassey
• 477 Frank Thomas
• 478 Greg Vaughn
• 479 Todd Burns
• 480 Candy Maldonado
• 481 Dave LaPoint
• 482 Alvin Davis
• 483 Mike Scott
• 484 Dale Murphy
• 485 Ben McDonald
• 486 Jay Howell
• 487 Vince Coleman
• 488 Alfredo Griffin
• 489 Sandy Alomar
• 490 Kirby Puckett
• 491 Andres Thomas
• 492 Jack Morris
• 493 Matt Young
• 494 Greg Myers
• 495 Barry Bonds
• 496 Scott Cooper
• 497 Dan Schatzeder
• 498 Jesse Barfield
• 499 Jerry Goff
• 500 Checklist CL 332-408
• 501 Anthony Telford RC
• 502 Eddie Murray
• 503 Omar Olivares
• 504 Ryne Sandberg
• 505 Jeff Montgomery
• 506 Mark Parent
• 507 Ron Gant
• 508 Frank Tanana
• 509 Jay Buhner
• 510 Max Venable
• 511 Wally Whitehurst
• 512 Gary Pettis
• 513 Tom Brunansky
• 514 Tim Wallach
• 515 Craig Lefferts
• 516 Tim Layana
• 517 Darryl Hamilton
• 518 Rick Reuschel
• 519 Steve Wilson
• 520 Kurt Stillwell
• 521 Rafael Palmeiro
• 522 Ken Patterson
• 523 Lenny Dykstra
• 524 Tony Fernandez
• 525 Kent Anderson
• 526 Mark Leonard
• 527 Allan Anderson
• 528 Tom Browning
• 529 Frank Viola
• 530 John Olerud
• 531 Juan Agosto
• 532 Zane Smith
• 533 Scott Sanderson
• 534 Barry Jones
• 535 Mike Felder
• 536 Jose Canseco
• 537 Felix Fermin
• 538 Roberto Kelly
• 539 Brian Holman
• 540 Mark Davidson
• 541 Terry Mulholland
• 542 Randy Milligan
• 543 Jose Gonzalez
• 544 Craig Wilson RC
• 545 Mike Hartley
• 546 Greg Swindell
• 547 Gary Gaetti
• 548 Dave Justice
• 549 Steve Searcy
• 550 Erik Hanson
• 551 Dave Stieb
• 552 Andy Van Slyke
• 553 Mike Greenwell
• 554 Kevin Maas
• 555 Delino DeShields
• 556 Curt Schilling
• 557 Ramon Martinez
• 558 Pedro Guerrero
• 559 Dwight Smith
• 560 Mark Davis
• 561 Shawn Abner
• 562 Charlie Leibrandt
• 563 John Shelby
• 564 Bill Swift
• 565 Mike Fetters
• 566 Alejandro Pena
• 567 Ruben Sierra
• 568 Carlos Quintana
• 569 Kevin Gross
• 570 Derek Lilliquist
• 571 Jack Armstrong
• 572 Greg Brock
• 573 Mike Kingery
• 574 Greg Smith
• 575 Brian McRae RC
• 576 Jack Daugherty
• 577 Ozzie Guillen
• 578 Joe Boever
• 579 Luis Sojo
• 580 Chili Davis
• 581 Don Robinson
• 582 Brian Harper
• 583 Paul O'Neill
• 584 Bob Ojeda
• 585 Mookie Wilson
• 586 Rafael Ramirez
• 587 Gary Redus
• 588 Jamie Quirk
• 589 Shawn Hillegas
• 590 Tom Edens
• 591 Joe Klink
• 592 Charles Nagy
• 593 Eric Plunk
• 594 Tracy Jones
• 595 Craig Biggio
• 596 Jose DeJesus
• 597 Mickey Tettleton
• 598 Chris Gwynn
• 599 Rex Hudler
• 600 Checklist CL 409-506
• 601 Jim Gott
• 602 Jeff Manto
• 603 Nelson Liriano
• 604 Mark Lemke
• 605 Clay Parker
• 606 Edgar Martinez
• 607 Mark Whiten
• 608 Ted Power
• 609 Tom Bolton
• 610 Tom Herr
• 611 Andy Hawkins
• 612 Scott Ruskin
• 613 Ron Kittle
• 614 John Wetteland
• 615 Mike Perez
• 616 Dave Clark
• 617 Brent Mayne
• 618 Jack Clark
• 619 Marvin Freeman
• 620 Edwin Nunez
• 621 Russ Swan
• 622 Johnny Ray
• 623 Charlie O'Brien
• 624 Joe Bitker
• 625 Mike Marshall
• 626 Otis Nixon
• 627 Andy Benes
• 628 Ron Oester
• 629 Ted Higuera
• 630 Kevin Bass
• 631 Damon Berryhill
• 632 Bo Jackson
• 633 Brad Arnsberg
• 634 Jerry Willard
• 635 Tommy Greene
• 636 Bob MacDonald RC
• 637 Kirk McCaskill
• 638 John Burkett
• 639 Paul Abbott
• 640 Todd Benzinger
• 641 Todd Hundley
• 642 George Bell
• 643 Javier Ortiz
• 644 Sid Bream
• 645 Bob Welch
• 646 Phil Bradley
• 647 Bill Krueger
• 648 Rickey Henderson
• 649 Kevin Wickander
• 650 Steve Balboni
• 651 Gene Harris
• 652 Jim Deshaies
• 653 Jason Grimsley
• 654 Joe Orsulak
• 655 Jim Poole
• 656 Felix Jose
• 657 Denis Cook
• 658 Tom Brookens
• 659 Junior Ortiz
• 660 Jeff Parrett
• 661 Jerry Don Gleaton
• 662 Brent Knackert
• 663 Rance Mulliniks
• 664 John Smiley
• 665 Larry Andersen
• 666 Willie McGee
• 667 Chris Nabholz
• 668 Brady Anderson
• 669 Darren Holmes
• 670 Ken Hill
• 671 Gary Varsho
• 672 Bill Pecota
• 673 Fred Lynn
• 674 Kevin D. Brown
• 675 Dan Petry
• 676 Mike Jackson
• 677 Wally Joyner
• 678 Danny Jackson
• 679 Bill Haselman
• 680 Mike Boddicker
• 681 Mel Rojas
• 682 Roberto Alomar
• 683 Dave Justice NL ROY
• 684 Chuck Crim
• 685 Matt Williams
• 686 Shawon Dunston
• 687 Jeff Schulz
• 688 John Barfield
• 689 Gerald Young
• 690 Luis Gonzalez RC
• 691 Frank Wills
• 692 Chuck Finley
• 693 Sandy Alomar, Jr. AL ROY
• 694 Tim Drummond
• 695 Herm Winningham
• 696 Darryl Strawberry
• 697 Al Leiter
• 698 Karl Rhodes
• 699 Stan Belinda
• 700 Checklist CL 507-604
• 701 Lance Blankenship
• 702 Willie Stargell
• 703 Jim Gantner
• 704 Reggie Harris
• 705 Rob Ducey
• 706 Tim Hulett
• 707 Charlie Haag
• 708 Xavier Hernandez
• 709 Chuck McElroy
• 710 John Mitchell
• 711 Carlos Hernandez
• 712 Geronimo Pena
• 713 Jim Neidlinger
• 714 John Orton
• 715 Terry Leach
• 716 Mike Stanton
• 717 Walt Terrell
• 718 Luis Aquino
• 719 Bud Black
• 720 Bob Kipper
• 721 Jeff Gray RC
• 722 Jose Rijo
• 723 Curt Young
• 724 Jose Vizcaino
• 725 Randy Tomlin RC
• 726 Junior Noboa
• 727 Bob Welch AL CY
• 728 Gary Ward
• 729 Rob Deer
• 730 David Segui
• 731 Mark Carreon
• 732 Vicente Palacios
• 733 Sam Horn
• 734 Howard Farmer
• 735 Ken Dayley
• 736 Kelly Mann
• 737 Joe Grahe RC
• 738 Kelly Downs
• 739 Jimmy Kremers
• 740 Kevin Appier
• 741 Jeff Reed
• 742 Jose Rijo WS
• 743 Dave Rohde
• 744 Lenny Dykstra / Dale Murphy "Dr Dirt and Mr Clean"
• 745 Paul Sorrento
• 746 Thomas Howard
• 747 Matt Stark RC UER ("Scolarship" misspelled)
• 748 Harold Baines
• 749 Doug Dascenzo
• 750 Doug Drabek NL CY
• 751 Gary Sheffield
• 752 Terry Lee RC
• 753 Jim Vatcher RC
• 754 Lee Stevens
• 755 Randy Veres
• 756 Bill Doran
• 757 Gary Wayne
• 758 Pedro Munoz RC
• 759 Chris Hammond
• 760 Checklist CL 605-702
• 761 Rickey Henderson AL MVP
• 762 Barry Bonds NL MVP
• 763 Billy Hatcher WS UER ("no on had ever ?")
• 764 Julio Machado
• 765 Jose Mesa
• 766 Willie Randolph WS
• 767 Scott Erickson RC
• 768 Travis Fryman
• 769 Rich Rodriguez RC
• 770 Checklist CL 703-770 and BC11-BC22

Variations

INC./INC

All 770 base cards, as well as the 22 Bonus Cards/Highlights insert cards have two variations: the regular version has a period at the end of "1990 LEAF, INC." on the back while the variation does not have this period at the end of "INC". This variation is not considered to be rare.

Stripes

All 770 base cards that came out of factory sets had a different border stripe pattern than pack-issued cards. These variations are not considered to be rare.

Parallels

Super Diamond Kings

For the seventh consecutive year, Donruss issued a parallel set featuring cards from the Diamond King subset on a 5" X 7" card. These Diamond Kings - both the subset and parallel - again featured the artwork of famed sports artist Dick Perez and was available through a postpaid mail-in offer detailed on 1991 Donruss packs ($14.00 and three wax wrappers were to be sent in directly to Donruss in exchange for the set).

Inserts

Bonus Cards

These 22 cards were randomly inserted in Donruss packs and appreciated outstanding player achievements of the previous season. These inserts featured the same design as the base cards but had a "Highlights" logo in the lower left of the card front. Cards 1-10 were inserted in Series One and cards 11-22 were in Series Two. The cards were produced in roughly the same quantity as any other base card, but were not included in factory sets. The sole existence of these cards was to eliminate empty spaces in the 132-card sheets (770 base cards + 22 Bonus Cards = 792 cards; 792 cards / 132-card sheets = 6 sheets) that were used to produce the pack version of the Donruss set, as factory sets were printed on a 56-card sheet.

Series One

• BC1 Mark Langston / Mike Witt
• BC2 Randy Johnson
• BC3 Nolan Ryan
• BC4 Dave Stewart
• BC5 Cecil Fielder
• BC6 Carlton Fisk
• BC7 Ryne Sandberg
• BC8 Gary Carter
• BC9 Mark McGwire
• BC10 Bo Jackson

Series Two

• BC11 Fernando Valenzuela
• BC12A Andy Hawkins
• BC12B Andy Hawkins
• BC13 Melido Perez
• BC14 Terry Mulholland
• BC15 Nolan Ryan
• BC16 Delino DeShields
• BC17 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• BC18 Eddie Murray
• BC19 George Brett
• BC20 Bobby Thigpen
• BC21 Dave Stieb
• BC22 Willie McGee

Grand Slammers

This 14-card set commemorated players who hit grand slams in the 1990 season. They were distributed in complete set form within factory sets and one per cello pack. Cards 1-7 were in Series One cellos, while cards 8-14 were in Series Two cellos.

Note: All 14 factory set Grand Slammers had blue borders, but cards inserted into Series 2 cello packs had green borders.

There are also multiple stripe variations of each Grand Slammers card, usually involving the cards in factory sets. This may have been because unlike the pack-inserted cards, the factory set cards were printed on a 56-card sheets. As with the Highlights inserts that were inserted into packs, Grand Slammers were used to fill out the remaining spaces in the 56-card sheet. These variations are not considered to be rare.

• 1 Joe Carter
• 2 Bobby Bonilla
• 3 Kal Daniels
• 4 Jose Canseco
• 5 Barry Bonds
• 6 Jay Buhner
• 7 Cecil Fielder
• 8 Matt Williams
• 9 Andres Galarraga
• 10 Luis Polonia
• 11 Mark McGwire
• 12 Ron Karkovice
• 13 Darryl Strawberry
• 14 Mike Greenwell

The Elite Series

The Elite Series was one of the landmark sets in Hobby history as these were the first ever machine-stamped serial-numbered card - allowing for verifiable proof of print runs - and arguably the impetus for the Insert Mania craze that changed the face of the Hobby forever. This inaugural release marked the beginning of an eight-year run of Elite inserts that became as synonymous with the Donruss brand as their Diamond Kings offering. The 8-card set featured the top players in the game at the time on cards with a bronze, marble-foil border background and full-color player photo in the centered foreground.

Production was limited to a 10,000 serial-numbered cards for each card in the set. By modern standards, this print run would be considered extremely large; however, when taken in the context of the estimated 3,000,000 copies of each base card produced and placed into packs, this amount was extremely small. Although the exact pack insertion odds were never publicly revealed, it has been estimated that the odds of finding a single Elite Series insert were about 1:75/boxes. Because of this genuine rarity, the 1991 Elite Series cards have maintained their value over the years, even with a print run exponentially larger than the print runs seen in the following decades.

• 1 Barry Bonds
• 2 George Brett
• 3 Jose Canseco
• 4 Andre Dawson
• 5 Doug Drabek
• 6 Cecil Fielder
• 7 Rickey Henderson
• 8 Matt Williams

The Legends Series

This special Elite Series card honored Nolan Ryan. The Legends Series card featured the same bronze, marble-foil border as The Elite Series, but with a Dick Perez drawing (instead of a player photo) in the center. This card was serial-numbered to 7500 copies.

• Nolan Ryan LGD 7500

1991 Leaf Previews

This 26-card set previewed the upcoming 1991 Leaf set. Cards resembled what the 1991 base set would look like on the front and back, but had the words "1991 PREVIEW CARD" watermarked in white on the back. Four Preview cards were inserted into specially marked 1991 Donruss Hobby factory sets.

• 1 Dave Justice
• 2 Ryne Sandberg
• 3 Barry Larkin
• 4 Craig Biggio
• 5 Ramon Martinez
• 6 Tim Wallach
• 7 Dwight Gooden
• 8 Lenny Dykstra
• 9 Barry Bonds
• 10 Ray Lankford
• 11 Tony Gwynn
• 12 Will Clark
• 13 Leo Gomez
• 14 Wade Boggs
• 15 Chuck Finley
• 16 Carlton Fisk
• 17 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
• 18 Cecil Fielder
• 19 Bo Jackson
• 20 Paul Molitor
• 21 Kirby Puckett
• 22 Don Mattingly
• 23 Rickey Henderson
• 24 Tino Martinez
• 25 Nolan Ryan
• 26 Dave Stieb

1991 Studio Previews

This 18-card set previewed the upcoming 1991 Studio set. Cards resembled what the 1991 base set would look like on the front and back; however, some players featured different photos and each card was sequentially numbered "X of 17" on the back. Four Preview cards were inserted into 1991 Donruss Retail factory sets. One of the cards included in each set was the unnumbered Title Card.

• 1 Juan Bell
• 2 Roger Clemens
• 3 Dave Parker
• 4 Tim Raines
• 5 Kevin Seitzer
• 6 Ted Higuera
• 7 Bernie Williams
• 8 Harold Baines
• 9 Gary Pettis
• 10 Dave Justice
• 11 Eric Davis
• 12 Andujar Cedeno
• 13 Tom Foley
• 14 Dwight Gooden
• 15 Doug Drabek
• 16 Steve Decker
• 17 Joe Torre
• NNO Title Card

Willie Stargell Puzzle

This year's subject for the Donruss Puzzle was Willie Stargell. Due to licensing issues, each pack of 1991 Donruss Baseball was required to contain a three-piece panel of a 63-piece jigsaw puzzle. When assembled, the puzzle featured an original Dick Perez painting of Willie Stargell. The assembled puzzle appears on card #702 in the base set.

Additionally, there is a variation puzzle that has all puzzle pieces with a dot in front of the number. However, this variation is not considered to be rare.

Autographs

Elite Signature Series

As part of The Elite Series, Donruss also inserted an Elite Signature Series autographed card of Ryne Sandberg in all 1991 Donruss packs. Each card was serial-numbered to 5000.

• Ryne Sandberg AU 5000

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