1986 Donruss Diamond King Andre Dawson

For this post we will stay with the Diamond King Theme. Today's card from my collection is number 25 from the 1986 Donruss set. This was the fourth year in a row that Donruss produced the Diamond King subset. Stylistically the 86' set continued incorporating horizontal lines that were used minimally in the 85' issue and gave the cards a blue border. Overall the design for this set isn't the worst Donruss produced in the 80's, I think the 89' set clearly wins that distinction, but it also is not it's best effort.

At the time of it's issue and through the 90's this was a popular card set due to the rookie cards of Fred McGriff, Jose Canseco and second year card of Roger Clemans. The success of these players helped to drive the cards in the secondary market as collecting rookie cards became an important driving force in the hobby. Today these cards retain a fraction of the value they once commanded as steroids and other off the field issues took their toll on these former superstars. Besides the indifference or dislike many collectors feel towards players during the steroid era and their cards, the 1986 set also falls into the era of overproduction. Donruss ramped up production on its sets after the huge popularity of it's 1984 issue and has the hobby and rookie card collecting began to explode.

As for "The Hawk," his recent induction in the Hall of Fame last summer was the final touch to an outstanding career. He flew under the radar for years playing in Montreal and didn't really become a household name until he signed with the Cubs in 1987. His 1987 season season was his finest, hitting 49 home runs and 137 RBI and winning N.L MVP. Today Dawson works for the Florida Marlins organization, where he won a World Series ring in 2003.

90's Insert card of the Month

I am going to start a new feature on the blog that I'll post once a month, starting with today's inaugural post for May. This feature is going to pay homage to an insert card from the 1990's, the decade the insert chase card exploded in popularity and helped to establish today's current card hobby. As the feature chugs along, I may dip into the late 80's for examples, since Fleer was inserting cards into its rack and cello packs in the same manner as inserts from the 90's. All the cards featured will be from my personal collection, being a teenager for most of the decade, I collected heavily during this time and have boxes of insert cards.

Each month I'll pick a different card and take a look at the player featured and the insert or insert sets importance at the time of issue. Most of the cards I'll feature have little value and many are cards I would still rather not have in my collection. For many, they are examples of the excess and one upmanship between the card companies that dominated the hobby, but I thought this would be a fun exercise to look back at cards that have been overlooked or forgotten in the last decade or two.

The card for May is a 1992 Donruss Diamond Kings Cal Ripken Jr, DK5. I pulled this card from foil packs in 1992 and this card was the cornerstone of my collection growing up. For the first time since its introduction in 1982 Donruss took the very popular Diamond Kings subset, which featured paintings of popular major league players by Dick Perez, out of the main set and inserted them into its packs. Cards 1-13 were inserted in Donruss Series One and 14-26 were inserted in Series Two packs.

I remember these cards creating quite a stir among collectors upon their release. Donruss used a simplistic design that really makes the painting the main focal point. Add some gold foil stamping and random insertion in packs and you had a early 1990's insert card that collectors went gaga over. I bought a lot of 1992 Donruss hoping to pull these cards and the ultra rare Donruss Elite. I did pull another Diamond King, DK11 Jeff Bagwell. This set helped to establish the practice by card companies to included multiple different insert sets in its base release. These cards were added incentive for collectors and helped to drive a product with their inflated value as collectors jumped from one insert set to the next. Today these cards can be found on ebay for less than one dollar and can be a nice addition for a player collector.