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How the '88 Donruss "chase" is going

 
 
About 30 days ago, I needed 350 cards to finish my 1988 Donruss set, that's about how many cards I've needed to finish the set for decades because I didn't care until recently.

Since receiving a large box of '88 Donruss last month and getting down to less than 100 cards needed to finish the set, I did the dumb thing of announcing I actually wanted 1988 Donruss cards, that the chase had begun. But it's not really a chase if you just wait at the mailbox for mass-produced cards to fly in. I'm not the one doing the chasing. Others are doing the chasing -- chasing me down to get rid of their extra cards from the Tron Set.
 
Shortly after that post, I received my first envelope. It was from Chris of The Collector
 

 He wanted to get these out before anyone else did. I understand. "The cards aren't going to show up by themselves," some have said. But 1988 Donruss is different. It definitely shows up by itself.



The next envelope arrived from Matt of Diamond Jesters. He figured that there'd be a mad scramble to send me these cards -- yeah, kind of. But people have been relatively restrained. Matt also said he wanted notification when/if I ever decide to complete the 1989 Donruss set.


But I don't have a want list for that yet. Maybe I do on TCDB, but good luck figuring that out with the Variation Obsession over there.
 


The next envelope ... BIG envelope ... arrived from Chris, who is on Twitter. He's been generous with cards before. And this was a whole bunch of '88 Donruss.





You can see some duplication of efforts among the three '88 Donruss packages, but that's cool, because upgrading can happen. And I was already prepared for duplicates. I'm sure my closet wasn't, but it's dark in there anyway, nobody can see what's going on.



Chris also nicely asked if I wanted any of the MVP cards, even though they're not part of the set. I did, because my brain likes to pretend the MVP logo is a McDonald's logo and these are food issue cards.
 


Forgot one card. Can you believe it took me this long to get this?

All of those cards did not quite complete the set for me. My binder says there are still 10 cards that I need. (TCDB says I need 19 cards, but I'm sure variations have messed up my filing there).

But before I get to that, three cards to take the edge off all that ubiquitous Donruss.




I received these in a separate envelope from Diamond Jesters, from a Time Travel Trade. These are much cooler than '88 Donruss, sorry junk wax fans.

But I DO want to complete that '88 set. And here is what's left:

156 - Julio Franco
158 - Terry Steinbach
159 - Mike Fitzgerald
280 - Kevin Seitzer
549 - Dennis Martinez
630 - Jeff Musselman
632 - Bob Ojeda
651 - Roger McDowell
653 - David Cone
656 - George Bell
 
OK, now my theory on each one as to why in the world people are hanging onto these cards, none of which are more than 5 cents apiece.
 
156 - A legend because of his longevity. Franco's career didn't really impress collectors until they were pulling his cards two decades later.
158 - Steinbach is posing IN CATCHER'S GEAR IN A DUGOUT. Very impressive for '88 Donruss.
159 - No idea. Batting cage in the background, I guess.
280 - Seitzer was a god in the collecting world at the time, I missed this period so it seems silly to me.
549 - Martinez has always been popular, especially once he became an Expo.
630 - Don't know. People like to say "Musselman"?
632 - Pitcher bunting.
651 - Second spitter.
653 - The only tolerable broadcaster in the ESPN Sunday night booth.
656 - Slugger from that time.

That's it. That's all I need to finish off what's been the easiest set completion quest ever.

I shall stand next to my mailbox and wait.

Comments

Good luck finishing the set. Burn those heinous Diamond Kings.
Mad Guru said…
That O-Pee-Chee is a Beattie of a card.
Nick Vossbrink said…
Yeah this set is rough. Good luck getting your last 10. I'm sure you'll receive them in triplicate. I like a lot of the photos (many of the portraits are kind of nice natural smiles in a way I'm not used to seeing on cards and some of the action photos are pretty cool) but I can't get over the borders.

At least this set seems to be printed well. 1989D is all over the place and some of the images are just way to dark.
1984 Tigers said…
1988 was the year donruss finally let the presses run and run and run. They had not overprinted the earlier years and really cut back 84 and somewhat 85 86 and 87.

I still remember going to one of those huge grocery store and everything else (yard stuff, etc.) And they still had boxes and boxes of cello packs sitting taking up shelf space in 1990. The weird part for the set was it seemed like the mvp cards were a late add. Some of the short printed cards included rookies of ron Gant and Roberto Kelly. I had never heard of geronimo berroa until I had to pay 50 cents for his rookie card at a card shop.

Paul t
Nick said…
Some overproduction-era sets have grown on me over the years, but I can't say this is one of them. Though I'll admit the "Ripken Baseball Family" is probably one of the best cards of the '80s.
Bo said…
I've got 9 of those 10 for you. Just no Bobby Ojeda. I can get them in the mail in the morning. No need for a return.

Some of the cards in the 600s were shortprinted, particularly the Mets. As for the others, some are just random, but the way they were collated in packs - in numerical order - might explain why 156-159 were missing for you.
Mark Zentkovich said…
I can send Ojeda, can you PM your address to mzentko on tcdb
thanks, mark
Fuji said…
If I have any free time this weekend, I will dig through my A's (really makes me wish I was more organized) to see if I have a Steinbach for your set. I imagine I have at least a handful.
Crocodile said…
To me, this is one of those icky sets. It's no surprise others were so willing to send these to you. I got rid of my extras years ago.
Matt said…
I didn't think the '88 Donruss set was that bad. I actually really like the shade of blue used in the border - rather calming if it didn't have the jarring black and red cutting in with it.
Grant said…
I like the OPC card the most. I should start grabbing some of those.
GCA said…
Rats! I might have had a couple of those, but looks like they're all on the way.

I agree with Nick in that some of the OP-era sets are appealing to me too, but this isn't one of them. I think it's mostly the flimsy card stock.
Doc Samson said…
As someone who vividly remembers Donruss 88 when it first came out, your post brings back memories, Mr. Owl. This cards were everywhere. And I do mean, everywhere.

I personally don’t think it’s one of the worst sets of all time, it has a couple of things going for it. First, I love thick borders on cards. Granted the border design is too funky, but I have seen much worse. Second, I think the name plate works really well and I like the consistency of using red and the font. But other than that, it turns into one of those dull sets of non-stop monotony. Much like the previous 86 Fleer.

Anyway, thanks again, Mr. Owl, and would love to hear your thoughts on The Donruss Best sets of 88-90.