Donruss

I really did mean to get around to this, but I got sick, then distracted and lazy... so without further procrastination, here's my take on Donruss' heavy error/variation printing at it's height, from 1987-1992.

1987 was a good year for me. The Twins won the Series in a memorable home team takes all seven gamer, oh and almost 26 years to the date of this post(9/27), I was born. But enough about me, let's focus on a company that printed cardboard in my current city, Grand Prairie, Texas. With their '87 lineup, Donruss put out a drab black and yellow design with a set that included key rookies of Greg Maddux, Rafael Palmeiro, and a non-RC rookie for Mark McGwire. A relative cheap 660 card set with mostly commons sans those few key rookies, the first few cards were Diamond Kings as had become custom, followed by their Rated Rookie subset, then a slew of commons. Each pack came with a Roberto Clemente "Value Added®" puzzle piece, another staple of early Donruss releases. The only set wide varying condition regards the factory set vs. retail. The backs of cards from retail packs face one direction while factory sets face another. 

1988 Donruss' design continued their bland run with blue and black checkerboard, or orange and black for the 'Baseball's Best' line. The Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies and puzzle pieces(Musial) all return for another year. A very weak set with the only notable rookie being Roberto Alomar, and even then my holy book lists the card for only 1$... I've yet to confirm this for the full set, but it seems Donruss decided to have the hi-jinks on the front with the position of the blue space on the borders on different corners. 

Which brings us to 1989 Donruss, the holy grail of wtf-ery. The usual subsets returned, this time puzzle pieces of Warren Spahn circulated in wax packs, with Griffey Jr., and Randy Johnson being the prospects to chase.
Here's where it gets interesting, each regular base card has a back with * denotes led league and a back with * denotes led league *. Notice the second asterisk. Whether this was intentional or not, neither version is particularly rare, but something to chase for set and team collectors. However the fun doesn't stop there in 1989, in addition to this, each denotes version has on the back either Leaf INC., or Leaf INC without the period. Yes, they're really that pedantic. You might be best served opening these in a new tab, however where you're looking is right next to the thick black bar in the top-right.

Dig out a magnifying glass and you'll see either Leaf INC, or Leaf INC. with period, as well as the single/double asterisk around denotes. The rest of these years focus on the INC./INC variations, because with the slight exception of 1991, these were the only set wide editions that vary.

1990 brought Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies, and Carl Yastrzemski puzzles. The only notable rookie was Juan Gonzalez at 1$, although they would increase the set to 715 cards -  their most yet, and first change since going to 660 in 1982. The design is a boring red with a spattering of black dots along the side. Each base card has the INC/INC. edition, as well each all-star subset card had backs with differing text "Recent Major League Performance" like regular base cards, or the intended "All-Star Performance".

1991 was another good year for me, with the Twins epic defeat of the Braves, another home team takes all World Series, and the first time a worst-to-pennant winner team would play...both teams! Donruss' release this year was a busy lined and speckle-like "paint streak" border with the usual name, team logo positioning. Another weak lineup year for rooks, this one highlighted by Chuck Knoblauch...and not much else. Willie Stargell got the puzzle treatment in a set that bumped it's total to 770. In addition to the trending INC/INC. versions, cards with the period present have two different border designs. Released in two series, the design changes background from blue to green between halves and is nothing of note oddity wise. As a side note, 1991 Leaf used Harmon Killebrew(Twinkie!) as their in wax puzzle! You'll have to trust that I flipped these, but as you can see there's a different pattern on the third Hrbek, and two INC.(with period) cards.

1992 brought about '89-esque tomfoolery in that Donruss not only continued the INC/INC. versions, but also brought this into their Leaf set which had just been resurrected only a few years prior. A much nicer white and blue design graced the fronts of this cheap 784 card set, Donruss also upped it's card stock, put out puzzle pieces for Rod Carew(Twinkie!) and put watermark counterfeit "proof" logos into the back design. Looking back who would have wanted to copy these? Lol. Two Indians from that filthy 90s Indians mini-dynasty feature as rooks, Jim Thome, and Kenny Lofton. Unless you think Todd Van Poppel is still the next big thing?