2003 Donruss

Set Size: 400 cards

Design Notes: Full-bleed photography is the focus of this set, with a team-color bar across the bottom with the player's name, position, and team logo. There is no foil on these cards. Backs contain a highlight and statistics.

Parallels and Similars: Six parallels exist: two convention issues (Chicago and Atlantic City), two sample issues (silver and gold foil), and two pack-inserted parallels (Stat Line Career and Stat Line Season).

Distribution: Cards were sold in packs of 13 cards, with 24 packs per box.

Thoughts: The lack of foil and use of minimal designs make this a fairly attractive set. The team colors help the logo stand out, and the photography is pretty good. Overall, the design is pretty sharp and is one of Donruss's least-cluttered designs (only the similar 2004 issue has fewer design elements). When the photography is top-notch, the cards are beautiful, but posed photos or those with little action are kind of dull. The printing quality is pretty good, though! This issue has no short prints, which makes it a bit easier to complete the 400-card base set.

2003 Donruss Champions

Set Size: 309 cards (301 cards in the original release, 8 additional update cards)

Design Notes: This set is defined by its large side border highlighting an accomplishment the player made in his career, such as winning awards. Backs contain prior year and career statistics and a write-up describing the player's accomplishment.

Parallels and Similars: Metalized (/100) and Holo-Foil (/25) parallels were issued in packs, as well as autographed and autographed notation partial parallels. Samples with silver or gold foil stamps on the back were also distributed via magazine inserts (partial parallel - 100 cards only).

Distribution: Each box contained 24 packs with 8 cards per pack.

Thoughts: I really like the concept here - highlight players' historical accomplishments by issuing cards that focus on their feats. However, I have a couple problems with the execution. Let's use the Alomar card above. He's pictured with his 2002 team, the Mets, and the card has a National League logo on the left border because of that. However, he won the AL Championship Series MVP in 1992 with the Blue Jays, so he should be pictured with the Blue Jays, the card should have a Blue Jays logo, and the league logo should be for the American League. Additionally, while the back devotes a large space to describing what Alomar did to receive the MVP award, the statistics at the bottom are unrelated; it would be much better to have the stat line from the 1992 ALCS down there instead.

The design isn't amazing, but if I was just starting to build my Awards Collection, I would seek out this set. Actually, I think several of these cards are already in my Awards Collection.

2003 Donruss Classics

Set Size: 211 cards (100 in the short set, 100 short-printed Legends and Rookies, and 11 Update Rookies)

Design Notes: A thick silvery border surrounds the image; the top and bottom of the card have extra design added. The player's name, position, and jersey number are on the bottom with a team logo at the top. The backs carry the same basic design and include some statistics and a highlight write-up.

Parallels and Similars: Silver and gold-foil samples of the first 100 cards were included in issues of Beckett Baseball Card Monthly, and cards 1-200 are paralleled for the NSCC with an embossed logo. Packs included Timeless Tributes parallels serial-numbered to 100.

Distribution: Cards 1-200 were sold in packs; each box contained two mini-boxes with nine packs each, and each pack contained seven cards. Each mini-box contained one legend, one rookie, and one hit; the legends and rookies are serial-numbered to 1500. Cards 201-211 were randomly inserted into packs of DLP The Rookies, and are serial-numbered to 1000.

Thoughts: The silver border looks kind of dull on this card, since there's no foil or foilboard to make it jump out. Yes, I don't like foilboard, but thick, plain grey borders just remind me of an overcast day. And for those who complain about how tough it is to finish Topps Heritage, consider that with 4 SPs per box, this 200-card set with 100 SPs would take at least 25 boxes to complete with perfect collation. This isn't a bad release, it just blends in with other issues and can become easily forgotten.

2003 Donruss Elite

Set Size: 200 cards

Design Notes: The mostly-empty foilboard background is interrupted by two horizontal white lines, between which is a blurry background photo. The player's name, team, and position are easily found along the side. The backs are much easier to view (and scan) with recent statistics and a highlight writeup.

Parallels and Similars: There are five parallels to the set: Aspirations and Aspirations Gold, Status and Status Gold, and an Atlantic City National parallel. Donruss Elite designs, similar to Bowman, remained somewhat similar from year to year. Additionally, the Extra Edition set made things a little more confusing. However, the Donruss Elite logo contains the year making identification fairly easy.

Distribution: Hobby boxes had 20 packs with five cards per pack. The last 20 cards in the set are serial-numbered rookies (/1750).

Thoughts: Foilboard never scans well on my scanner, and that makes it impossible to see the small background photo. I enjoy that part of the photo, because the foil helps it stand out as almost holographic, especially on the gold parallels. Elite sets were much more beautiful in the 1990s, though (especially the inserts) - the 2000s issues have gone the way of Bowman with a lazy design concept and instead relying on rookie and/or hit (autograph/relic) selection.

Additional Images: COMC image of Status Gold to show background detail:

2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition

Set Size: 100 cards in the short set, plus 75 autographed rookies

Design Notes: The cards use a lot of black in the background on these foilboard cards.White squares surround the player's photo; the player's name is at the bottom. Backs have a tinted headshot of the front photo, vitals, some statistics and a write-up.

Parallels and Similars: There are three die-cut parallels for the short set and additional parallels for the autographed cards.

Distribution: Cards were sold in 5-card packs, with 20 packs per box.

Thoughts: Elite Extra Edition is a prospecting set, and the design is pretty boring. The biggest name in the set is Buster Posey, and I'd like to have a Posey autograph, but it doesn't have to be from this set. I'd rather have a more attractive card.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Base and Prospects Aspirations

Set Size: Base: 25 cards, Prospects: 190 cards

Design Notes: Just like yesterday's base set, a shield border surrounds a color photo of the player. Logos are airbrushed out. The Aspirations parallel has a strange die-cut on the side borders, just an arc in the middle, and a holographic foil is used. Plus, serial numbering appears prominently on the front.

Parallels and Similars: This is a parallel of the regular Elite Extra Edition set. A Status version (with different die cut) is also included, as well as an autograph version.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs and serial numbered to 200. Autograph versions are serial numbered to 100.

Thoughts: The holofoil background is kind of neat, and even when scanning makes the card more vibrant. However, the lack of interest in prospects makes this set fairly uninteresting to me.

2011 Donruss Elite Extra Edition Base and Prospects

Set Size: Base: 25 cards, Prospects: 190 cards

Design Notes: A teacup-shaped border (meant to be a shield shape, most likely)  surrounds a photo of the player - backgrounds fade from black to brown and no team logos are found on the cards. The player's name, team location, and position are at the bottom, and "PROSPECTS" appears above the player's name on the left and right for prospects cards. Backs follow the same basic design and include a short biography and recent statistics.

Parallels and Similars: The Base and Prospects sets each have four regular parallel sets plus seven autographed parallel sets. The "base" Elite Extra Edition set differs only by the lack of "PROSPECTS" notation on the front of the card.

Distribution: Cards were included in packs of Elite Extra Edition - since the Prospects set is almost eight times larger than the base set, more of those cards appear in packs.

Thoughts: EEE has never really appealed to me. I'm not a prospector and the design doesn't interest me. On the other hand, one of the cards I pulled from a pack is quite scary and that makes it worth looking at (see below). Because the college logos for prospects are airbrushed out, the one redeeming quality of these sets (seeing college logos) is gone. I guess you can still see the team colors, which are usually different from MLB colors. You can almost make out Dillon Maples' hat logo - and is that a military camo style hat he's wearing?

Additional Images:

 Scary! And not a prospect!

 Another prospect.

And one last prospect.

2004 Donruss Production Line OPS Black

Set Size: 10 cards

Design Notes: A diamond shaped logo holds a baseball identifying Giambi as a leader in OPS. The fronts are mostly black other than the player's photo. Unfortunately this means a little bit of my card's image was cut off by my slightly inferior scanner. Backs list the top 25 players in OPS.

Parallels and Similars: This is the black parallel. The regular insert has color to it, and a die-cut version was created as well. There are a few Production Line sets under different categories.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs. The regular Production Line OPS are serial-numbered to the player's 2003 OPS (somewhere between 910 and 1278). Black parallels are numbered to 125, and die-cuts are numbered to 100.

Thoughts: I like sets that recognize leaders in categories and award winners, so the set concept is pretty nice. However, the set doesn't include some of the leaders in this category, and the checklist isn't numbered according to actual OPS. The insert has a nice modern look to it, and the black parallel looks even more sleek. With a few minor tweaks to the checklist, I could have been happier with the set.

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings Inserts/Studio Series

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: This grey-bordered insert set used paintings of the players on the front. The Diamond Kings logo is at the bottom and uses blue foil. The back explains why the player was chosen as a Diamond King.

Parallels and Similars: A "Studio Series" parallel was issued using silver foil and a canvas style card surface. Randy Johnson was also issued as a Jersey Kings memorabilia card in regular and Studio Series formats.

Distribution: All cards were randomly inserted in packs. Diamond Kings had a print run of 2500 serial-numbered sets, Studio Series and Jersey Kings are numbered to 250, and the Jersey Kings Studio Series card is numbered to 50.

Thoughts: Diamond Kings is one of my favorite sets. Where the DKs of the early 1990s were generally bright, loud, and vibrant to match the neon colors of fashion, Diamond King cards found after Donruss's return are generally designed to look like it belongs in a museum. The artwork here is very realistic and attractive.

Additional Images: Studio Series parallel

2004 Donruss Team Heroes Autographs

Set Size: 256 cards

Design Notes: The 2004 Team Heroes set has white borders with rectangular boxes at the top and bottom containing logos and the player's name and position. The design is almost the opposite of 2005 Donruss (where there's a small box of rectangles inside the photos). It's simple but attractive. A large signed silver sticker is placed over the photo.

Parallels and Similars: This set is a partial parallel of the 2004 Donruss Team Heroes set.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of Team Heroes. While the checklist is large, each card is available in differing quantities. Many players don't have an announced print run, but these are only commons or local stars. Players like Mike Piazza and Tom Glavine have print runs of only 1 card! Oddly, Nolan Ryan seems to have five cards per team.

Thoughts: Team Heroes is, unfortunately, a forgettable product released at a time when there were way too many releases every week. While it's a nice design, it doesn't stand out as a great design, and most people probably forgot this set even existed! Collecting the entire autographed set is virtually impossible due to so many players (52 by my count) having 1/1 autographs and eight more having print runs less than 5.

Additional Images: card back

2005 Donruss Autographs

Set Size: 11 cards

Design Notes: This partial parallel of the 2005 Donruss set differs only by the addition of an autographed sticker and an authenticity embossing. The 2005 Donruss set focuses mostly on the photography, with a simple yet attractive rectangle at the bottom containing player and team information.

Parallels and Similars: Donruss was known for its parallels, and aside from the base set, there were four colors of press proofs and Stat Line parallels for career and season statistical totals. An additional 25th Anniversary parallel was issued.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 2005 Donruss.

Thoughts: This strange collection of autographed cards seems to have no purpose other than to increase the total number of autographed cards included in the product. With such a small, unimportant checklist, I doubt Donruss wanted to do anything else. In fact, this card is less important to me than an insert card, because those usually have some sort of theme. Unfortunately, when compiling a type collection, cards like this count just as much as a 1/1 autographed relic. Fortunately, cards like this can be had for nearly nothing.

Did you know: Craig Monroe was arrested in late 2004 for stealing a $29.99 belt, after earning over $300,000 that year. Also, his mother's name is Marilyn Monroe. I wonder if he agreed to sign autographs for Donruss to earn money to pay for that belt.

Additional Images: Card back.

2003 Donruss Signature Team Trademarks

Set size: 40 cards

Front Design: The team logo appears in a shuttered background on this horizontal card. A white translucent border across the tops holds the Team Trademarks "logo" with the team logo again; a player photo is off to the side, and the player's name and position are in a fading white bar across the bottom. The Donruss Signature Series logo is also at the bottom of the card. The card design is done in team colors.

Back Design: The team logo is repeated as the background, and the Team Trademarks logo is repeated from the front beneath a box with serial numbering. The card number is in the upper-right, followed by a fading-in white banner with the player's name and position. A biography follows on the right side of the card.

Parallels and Similars: There are two regular parallels and six autographed parallels of this set.

Distribution: This "base" insert is serial numbered to 500, and inserted randomly into packs of 2003 Donruss Signature Series.

Thoughts: Although there are cases of bigger wastes of card space, this issue is a perfect example of a design made specifically for autographs. The large empty space between Glavine, his name, and the Mets logo at the top of the card was created as a place to put a signature. While I appreciate an autograph card where the autograph is well-placed, I could do without the non-autograph version. That said, several Japanese autograph and relic issues come in versions without relics or autographs, and will provide a way for me to collect those sets without spending large sums of money.

1988 Donruss Baseball's Best

Set size: 336 cards

Front Design: The cards follow the 1988 Donruss design, but use orange, red, and black colors fading into each other in blocks as the border. The player's photo appears in an inner white frame, with his name and position in white text in a red band across the bottom. The team logo is also placed at the bottom of the photo.

Back Design: The vertical backs have a yellow/orange-ish border, with a rounded-corner black frame surrounding the text. The player's name, vitals, team, and the card number are in an upper box, with career statistics in the middle box. The bottom section of the card describes how the player was acquired by the team.

Parallels and Similars: This set uses the 1988 Donruss design, though it isn't a parallel of the set. There are a few other issues in 1988 that follow the same design, but the orange borders are unique to this set.

Distribution: The set was sold complete through retail outlets in a special box late in 1988. Six copies of a 15-piece 3-1/2" x 2-1/2" Stan Musial puzzle were included with the set.

Thoughts: It's easy to see why this is called the Halloween set. It's the only full set I can recall (other than team issues) that relies heavily on orange (EDIT: OOPS!). The set reminds me of 1987's Opening Day - a similar set issued early in the 1987 season. Maybe due to the unique color scheme, this set is much more appealing to me than the regular 1988 Donruss release. I had to borrow the image from COMC because my example is locked in a storage box 2511 miles away.

2002 Donruss Fan Club Die-Cut

Set size: 200 cards

Front Design: This parallel set has the player on a team color-faded border, with grid designs at the top and bottom. The player's name, team logo, position, and jersey number are all located at the bottom on and next to a white step design. The cards are die-cut into a shape similar to a stylized "S".

Back Design: The S-shape defines the diagonal statistics in the middle of the card. A second photo is in the upper right, with vitals, team logo, card number, and player name in the upper right. The bottom of the card contains copyright information.

Parallels and Similars: This card is a parallel of the 2002 Donruss Fan Club set. There are five parallels (including the "Best of Fan Club" release) of the base set. This parallel should be easily identifiable by the die cut. The die-cut parallel only parallels cards 1-200; the regular Fan Club set contains 300 cards.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted 1:4 packs of Donruss Fan Club.

Thoughts: This was the "easy" parallel pull in Fan Club, and it is unclear what the purpose of the parallel was other than to die-cut the regular cards as a quick method of making parallels. The die-cut is an interesting shape (it reminds me a lot of the Z-series inserts from Zenith in the 1990s, just backwards). However, it is the definition of "unnecessary parallel."

1998 Donruss Days Ken Griffey Jr.

Set size: 14 cards

Front Design: The cards have a similar design to 1998 Donruss, with a foil finish and a radiating light burst. A star and banner design at the bottom contains the player's name and team, and the Donruss Days logo is at the top. The card is thicker than normal Donruss cards.

Back Design: The backs have a full-color shot on the right, with the team logo placed over it. The left side of the card contains the player's name, vitals, career statistics, and a short biography, all placed over a team logo background. The words "Limited Edition" appear at the bottom, mixed among all the licensing information, and the card number "of 14" is at the top center.

Parallels and Similars: The set is based on the 1998 Donruss issue, and several parallel versions were released that year. The set is easily identifiable by the logo in the upper left of the front of the card.

Distribution: Several of each card were sent to dealers in certain areas. To obtain cards, collectors had to redeem cards picked up at local stadiums. Each dealer received full sets, plus extra cards of local players. Each redemption card could be exchanged for any card from the set until the dealer ran out. No more than 10,000 cards of any player were printed.

Thoughts: I wasn't sure what I had when I found this card in a quarter box, but I knew it was somewhat special. It's a good looking card, even with the typical Donruss foil overlay. The original 1998 Donruss design is pretty strong, and it should be a somewhat easy set to put together.

1998 Donruss Elite Craftsmen

 Set size: 30 cards

Front Design: Blue bands at the top and bottom of the card border a color photo over a metallic foil background highlighted by random geometric shapes.

Back Design: The blue background carries over the geometric shapes from the front of the card, with a second color photo appearing in a semicircle. A short biographical paragraph appears on the card. The number and serial numbering appear in the upper-left.

Parallels and Similars: A red-bordered parallel titled Master Craftsmen was also issued.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs of 1998 Donruss Elite, and are serial-numbered to 3500.

Thoughts: This set has the typical Elite feel - foil and shape-based designs on inserts that don't have a "baseball" inspiration, which is why I don't collect any of the Elite sets other than the "Elite Series" continuity insert set.

2002 Donruss Diamond Kings

Set size: 150 + 10 cards

Front Design: A painted portrait of the player appears in a "matted" shadow-style border, with gold foil printing at the bottom containing the Diamond Kings logo and the player's name, position, and team. The card fronts have a textured "canvas" style feel.

Back Design: A "crowning moment" highlight in the player's career fills half the vertical back, and other appearances by the player on Diamond King insert cards are honored. The card's illustrator receives a short biography in available space at the bottom of the card.

Parallels and Similars: Although not as bad as the 2005 issue, there are several parallels of this set. Previews of the entire set were released (stamped SAMPLE) in silver and gold foil versions. Bronze, silver, and gold foil parallels were inserted in packs. There are also multiple Hawaii and Chicago parallels.

Distribution: Cards 1-150 were released in traditional pack methods, 24 packs per box, four cards per pack; cards 101-150 were short printed. Cards 151-160 were released with the Donruss Rookies set.

Thoughts: This is the first year Donruss issued Diamond Kings as its own release, after being a subset and insert set in flagship Donruss products since 1982. Most of you already know my love of art cards and Diamond Kings in particular (the first art cards I ever saw). I was more than thrilled to discover a complete set was issued for my favorite series. The cards look great and are a perfect example of what a modern painted set should look like. With a full one-third of the set being SPs, it's tough to complete, especially now. I have cards 1-100 and 151-160, but only 14 of the 50 SPs for my Diamond Kings collection.

Additional Images: card back: