1988 Donruss Coming Soon...

New banner is up, some different paint on the walls.

As I'm watching the Braves and Red Sox, I'll be digging out all the '88 Donruss I can find and decide how I want to go about this. I've got a pretty good sized stack of cards, maybe as much as a third of the set, so maybe I can get a complete set with the box. We'll see.

Even though I do have a substantial chunk of the set, I'm going to treat this box as starting from scratch and then fill in the holes with cards I already had.

Hopefully the box will show up Monday or Tuesday and we'll get started.

Maybe I'll even be able to put together the whole puzzle!

The break won't be a long one...

Ok... so I said I was gonna take a month, but I really like having something to open every day. And being the lucky (contingent on a drug test that I can't possibly fail) recipient of a new job today, I figured I'd celebrate with a $5 box of 1988 Donruss.

I realize most people hate this set, but please, please keep reading. I'm sure it'll be an enjoyable break as I belittle every aspect of a horrible, horrible set.

Also, for anyone interested in 1988 Fleer, here's a list of doubles I have for trade:

9, 40, 50, 51, 88, 115, 128, 141, 148, 153, 158, 196, 208, 246, 251(x 2), 267, 278, 341, 363, 365, 375, 380, 394, 404, 433, 445, 448, 449, 468, 473, 487, 492, 515, 558, 590, 607, 612, 622

I've also done a small post on my wants list site about what I'm looking for in trades, so have a quick read over that.

Anyhoo... I guess I'll start working on banners for 1988 Donruss and I'll post a few different possibilities.

Pack Thirty Six

Pack 36 +14
(upgraded cards are indicated by bold blue text)
193 Tim Raines
268 Bret Saberhagen
248 Kurt Stillwell
463 Steve Buechele
148 Jesse Orosco
507 Mike Witt
316 Rick Schu
102 Jesse Barfield
168 Rick Manning
217 Dan Pasqua
323 Bobby Bonilla
14 Gene Larkin
AS4 Roger Clemens
659 Checklist
113 Garth Iorg

Last pack.

Before we look at the cards today, I have a few words to say about this box and this set.

I know sometimes I point out the bad aspects of these cards, and the same with the Bowman set, but I really do love these cards. Sometimes it's hard to see the good in cards from this era when the older cards and the modern cards are so much nicer. But this set is pretty nice for the time.

None of them are up to the standards that Score set in 1988, but Fleer is a cut above both Topps and Donruss in terms of photography and cardstock quality.

There are some printing issues with these cards, especially the coloring of the backs and I'm sure from some of my scans you've noticed that. Some of the cards are pretty washed out and some a very vibrant.

As for this box itself, as I've said a few tiems over the course of the break that this was the most successful box I've opened. The collation here was vastly superior to the both Topps and Score, and a bit better than the Bowman box.

With what few cards I didn't replace and this box I've ended up with 509 of the 660 cards. Pretty good.

My want list should be up pretty soon, and then I'll put together a doubles list. One of the doubles is going in the mailbox to Jeff at Card Junkie in the morning.

I'm still debating taking a break or not. I'll probably get home tomorrow and want something to open... so knowing me I'll probably have a box of 88 Donruss pretty soon, then we'll move on to Topps.

Now that that's out of the way, here's some cards.


The blurry pitching hand looks strange. I think it's interesting that Fleer wrote about how Clemens held out until opening day of 1987 because of contract issues.


I like this shot of Ranies, not much is going on and it's very over-exposed, but it's still a nice looking shot. There's a very blurry person on the field behind Rock, It looks like the blurry person is wearing a yellow shirt and white pants, so it could be a Pirate. Because of the over-exposure it's almost hard to tell if Tim is wearing a home or away jersey. I'm pretty sure it's a blue away jersey because that's not Olympic Stadium.


Another good looking card.

The biggest mistakes the Pirates made were not holding onto Barry Bonds and Bobby Bonilla.

Bobby-Bo was the first go in 1991 followed by Bonds in '92, and the Pirates haven't had a winning season since.

There you have it.

Check in sometime later tonight for my want list, and I'll probably put a post up here in the next several days with a final run down of what I have and what I'm missing.

Thanks for reading, and look out of 1988 Donruss before too long.