2015 Panini Donruss Value pack

One of the many joys of being a baseball card collector in the UK is that you are fairly unique. So when colleagues from school travel across the pond they now actively search for cards. 

My school had two lovely weeks off, while many others had a single week. I won't go into the details but will say we do extra 'nights' (yes nights) during the term and join all our training days together. 

This colleague, who also a parent, purchased the only cards she could find in Florida. She said this as a way of describing the desperate search she made looking for cards in various shops, including a recommended 'garden' shop. Eventually she bought the last two packs she could find in Walmart. 

I am glad really for any packs and the fact that she actively searched makes me even more appreciative. What my colleague found was a value pack of 2015 Panini Donruss and a 2015 Topps Heritage value pack Sandy Koufax exclusive.   

There are a number of Red Sox base cards and inserts that I still need:

Base
#62 Xander Bogaerts

#151 Pablo Sandoval
#190 Wade Boggs
Inaugural 1981 Edition
#213 Dustin Pedroia
#220 David Ortiz

Rated Rookies                                    
#31 Rusney Castillo

All-Time Diamond Kings

#18 Wade Boggs
#20 Carl Yastrzemski

The Rookies

#1 Rusney Castillo

#6 Anthony Ranaudo

There are 30 Pro baseball Trading cards in the Value Pack.

The pack:

#33 Dalton Pompey Toronto RR

#55 Chris Davis Baltimore

#59 David Ortiz Red Sox

#64 Junior Lake Chicago
#70 Adam Eaton Chicago
#73 Devin Mesoraco Cincinnati 
#77 Michael Brantley Cleveland
#80 Yan Gomes Cleveland
#85 Justin Morneau Colorado
#88 Victor Martinez Detroit
#97 Alex Gordon Kansas City
#106 Yasiel Puig Los Angeles
#114 Ryan Braun Milwaukee
#121 Phil Hughes Minnesota
#127 Brett Gardner New York
#154 Kyle Seager Seattle
#151 Pablo Sandoval Boston

#158 Matt Adams St.Louis
#163 Matt Holliday St.Louis
#168 Adrian Beltre Texas
#173 Jose Bautista Toronto
#178 Jordan Zimmermann Washington
#186 Frank Robinson Baltimore
#239 Bob Gibson St.Louis

#2 Jake Lemoine Collegiate National Team
#2 George Brett Kansas City Preferred
#5 Jorge Soler Chicago Studio
#10 Victor Martinez Detroit  Elite
#14 Jake Lamb Arizona The Rookies
#28 Bo Jackson Kansas City Diamond King

At first I didn't like these cards but they are slowly growing on. From the 30 cards there are 7 inserts, all different. Some lovely shiny cards too! 

2003 Donruss Estrellas

Totalmente en Espanoli

The third and final pack in the mini theme is Donruss Estrellas. These cards were produced for two years, 2002 and 2003, in 2002 they were known as Super Estrellas. The text on these cards is in Spanish.
The 2003 series consisted of 100 base cards, 5 insert sets and 25 different posters. The inserts are:
Estrellas (Stars),  
Poder de Cuadrangular (Power of the quadrangular Diamond?), 
Nacion de Origen (Nation of Origin),  
Leyendas del Pasado (Legends of the Past), 
Precision de Lanzamiento (Precision Throw), 
Thank you Google translate 
And a 5x7 poster, which is inserted one per pack.

The pack:
#28 Jeff Baker Rockies Novato 
#37 Jeff Bagwell Astros
#67 Roger Clements Yankees
#75 Bobby Abreu Phillies
#99 Eric Hinske Blue Jays
#PC1 Jason Giambi Yankees Poder de Cuadrangular
Adam Dunn Poster

What a great idea to include the poster that is also the complete checklist.
Bien hecho.

2015 Donruss Baseball Jumbo Pack

I purchased this 'Value pack' from a fellow collector in the UK, mainly out of curiosity. I think we should support Panini in their attempt to give collectors a choice over Topps. The baseball monopoly has allowed Topps to produce some half-hearted products in the past.

Panini has tried extremely hard with sets like Americas Pastime, Cooperstown, Golden Age, Prizm and even ultra expensive National Treasures. They appear to be thinking carefully about the collector.

I even liked the short lived Triple Play, although aimed at children, it was a refreshing take on card design.

That being said, Donruss cards from the 1980’s are not of the greatest design. The inserts; Studio, The Rookies and Donruss Preferred are by far the best in this set. I suppose we should be thankful they didn’t rehash '88 or '89 Donruss. 

There are a number of Red Sox base cards and inserts available:

Base
#59 David Ortiz
#60 Dustin Pedroia

#62 Xander Bogaerts

#151 Pablo Sandoval
#190 Wade Boggs
Inaugural 1981 Edition
#213 Dustin Pedroia
#220 David Ortiz

Rated Rookies                                       
#31 Rusney Castillo

All-Time Diamond Kings

#18 Wade Boggs
#20 Carl Yastrzemski

The Rookies

#1 Rusney Castillo

#6 Anthony Ranaudo

There are 30 Pro baseball Trading cards in the Value Pack.

The pack:

#40 Brandon Finnegan Kansas City RR

#60 Dustin Pedroia Boston

  

#65 Starlin Castro Chicago
#71 Joey Votto Cincinnati
#78 Corey Kluber Cleveland
#86 Justin Verlander Detroit
#95 Eric Hosmer Kansas City
#104 Clayton Kershaw Los Angeles
#117 Francisco Rodriguez Milwaukee
#127 Matt Harvey New York
#130 David Robertson Chicago
#135 Ryan Howard Philadelphia
#139 Gregory Polanco Pittsburgh
#142 Starling Marte Pittsburgh
#144 Gerrit Cole Pittsburgh
#145 Seth Smith Seattle
#155 Mike Zunino Seattle
#164 Evan Longoria Tampa Bay
#169 Yu Darvish Texas
#174 Melky Cabrera Toronto
#187 Kirby Puckett Minnesota
#190 Wade Boggs Boston
#214 Felix Hernandez Seattle 

Inserts
#7 Joe Altuve Houston Studio
#10 Dalton Pompey Toronto The Rookies
#15 Brandon Finnegan  Kansas City Donruss Preferred
#17 Taylor Ward  Collegiate National Team
#29 Mark McGwire St. Louis All-time Diamond King
#33 Yasmany Tomas Cuba Elite

So a couple of Red Sox. I'll take a Wade Boggs card any day. 
There is a number of  'hidden' variations in this set, which I didn't mention earlier. But there was none in this value pack.

2003 Donruss Team Heroes packs

This is an amazingly confusing set to come anywhere near completing. There are so many variations and exclusives the mind goes a bit numb.
Firstly the 548 set was released in two separate series. The first contained cards 1- 540, then the final 8 cards were issued as part of the Rookie and Traded series.
There were a number of inserts available in packs bought at  Hawaii, Atlantic City and Chicago conferences.
There were two parallel sets available; Glossy and Stat Line. Stat Line was issued in different quantities depending on the stat.
There are also some autographs to collect too.
The base Red Sox available were:

#67 Bobby Doerr

#68 Pedro Martinez

#69 Roger Clemens

#70 Nomar Garciaparra

#71 Trot Nixon

#72 Dennis Eckersley

#73 John Burkett

#74 Tim Wakefield

#75 Wade Boggs

#76 Cliff Floyd

#77 Casey Fossum

#78 Johnny Damon

#79 Fred Lynn

#80 Rickey Henderson

#81 Juan Diaz

#82 Manny Ramirez

#83 Carlton Fisk

#84 Jorge De La Rosa

#85 Shea Hillenbrand

#86 Derek Lowe

#87 Jason Varitek

#88 Carlos Baerga

#89 Freddy Sanchez

#90 Ugueth Urbina

#91 Rey Sanchez

#92 Josh Hancock

#93 Tony Clark

#94 Dustin Hermanson

 

There are 10 cards per pack and I have two packs.

Pack 1:

#43 John Ennis Braves

#74 Tim Wakefield Red Sox

#142 Corky Miller Reds

#221 Lance Berkman Astros

#273 Marquis Grissom Dodgers

#382 Pat Burrell Phillies

#400 Steve Carlton Phillies

#440 Robb Nen Giants

#447 Allan Simpson Mariners

#459 Ken Griffey Jr. Mariners

 

Pack 2:

#13 Troy Percival Angels

#69 Roger Clemens Red Sox

#100 Jon Lieber Cubs

#172 Brian Tallet Indians

#211 Jeff Bagwell Astros

#270 Jacie Robinson Dodgers

#280 Richie Sexson Brewers

#339 Robin Ventura Yankees

#439 J.T.Snow Giants

 #448 Antonio Perez Mariners

Finally some more Red Sox.

I couldn't really go wrong with these considering there is over 25 Red Sox in the base set.

Still 2 is pretty good.

2002 Donruss

The 2002 Donruss Baseball set consists of 220 cards. Cards 151-200 are Rated Rookies and cards 201-220 are Fan Club.
There were a number of parallels, of which many were of a short print run (but not all) They were: Career Stat Line and Season Stat Line
There were inserts called: Diamond Kings, All-time Diamond Kings, Elite Series, Longball Leaders and Production Line. The Production Line inserts had a limited print run based on the 2001 stats of the player. It was divided into three sections On-base percentage, Slugging percentage and OPS (on-base plus slugging). To make this a little less confusing, the first 100 of limited Production Line cards were die cut.

The Red Sox available are in the base set:
#9 Manny Ramirez
#12 Nomar Garciaparra
#13 Pedro Martinez
#34 Hideo Nomo
#88 Trot Nixon
#111 Tony Clark
# 154 Jorge De La Rosa RR
I have one solitary pack and there are 5 cards per pack.

 

The Pack:

#50 Adrian Beltre Dodgers

#100 Shannon Stewart Blue Jays

#112 Roy Oswalt Astros

#120 Christian Guzman Twins

#187 Ed Rogers Orioles RR

Still no Red Sox from these packs.

2002 Donruss Fan Club

The 2002 Donruss Baseball base set consists of 300 cards, which includes the Fan Club subset #261-300.
There were an extraordinary amount of inserts in this set too. Which included;
14 Artists, 18 Craftsmen, 10 Double Features, 40 Franchise Features, 45 League Leaders,  18 Pure Power, 5 Records and 25 Rookies. 
There were also two parallel sets called Die Cuts and Credits. The die cuts are obvious but I haven't quite got to the bottom of the credits

The Red Sox available from the base set are:
2 Pedro Martinez
47 Trot Nixon
80 Manny Ramirez
110 Nomar Garciaparra
143 Hideo Nomo
161 David Cone
196 Jason Varitek
202 Angel Santos
213 Casey Fossum
247 Jorge De La Rosa RC

I have 5 packs. Each pack contains 7 cards.

Pack 1:

#7 Rafael Furcal Braves

#15 Framk Thomas White Sox

#29 Paul Konerko White Sox

#68 Rickey Henderson Padres diecut

#71 Freddy Garcia Mariners

#82 Randy Johnson D-backs

#127 Jose Cruz Jr Blue Jays

 

Pack 2:

#27 Kenny Lofton Indians

#Tony Armas Jr Expos

#114 Carlos Beltran Royals

#158 Javy Lopez Braves

#169 Tsuyoshi Shinjo Mets

#196 Jason Varitek Red Sox

#283 Todd Helton Rockies FC 

 

Pack 3:

#7 Rafael Furcal Braves

#12 Roy Oswalt Astros

#36 Gary Sheffield Dodgers

#66 Sammy Sosa Cubs

#71 Freddy Garcia Mariners

#150 Mark Quinn Royals

#282 Jose Canseco White Sox FC

 

Pack 4:

#12 Roy Oswalt Astros

#22 Kerry Wood Cubs diecut

#30 Bernie Williams Yankees

#50 Sean Casey Reds

#115 Ellis Burks Indians

#137 Mike Piazza Mets

#187 Jeromy Burnitz Brewers

 

Pack 5:

#66 Sammy Sosa Cubs

#80 Manny Ramirez Red Sox

#93 Al Lieter Mets

#155 Darryl Kile Cardinals

#160 Lance Berkman Astros

#170 Brad Penny Marlins

#225 Brad Voyles Royals RC



Not Bad 2 Red Sox from 5 packs, although there was some duplication of other cards.
Which is either bad luck or poor quality control.
Not a set I think I would actively go out to complete.The uber shiny fronts, mark very easily.

2001 Donruss Studio packs

The 2001 Studio set was the first Donruss brand for 3 years since the demise, through bankruptcy of the previous owners Pinnacle. It was also the first regular set to feature short printed and serial numbered cards. The short base set consists of 150 cards, add 48 Rated Rookies (limited to 2001), 2 Rated Rookie redemptions (limited to 500) and 20 Fan club (limited to 5000) cards to create a  220 card extended base set. There are many, many more limited cards from this set, including the popular Diamond Kings.

The RED SOX from the short base set are;
#14 Manny Ramirez
#17 Nomar Garciaparra
#46 Hideo Nomo
#65 Carl Everett
#107 Pedro Martinez
#127 Shea Hillenbrand
#131 Trot Nixon
#137 Jason Varitek

I have four very thick packs each containing 3 cards.

Pack 1:

#5 Derek Jeter Yankees

##26 Brain Jordan Braves

#143 John Olerud Mariners

 

Pack 2:

#11 Mark Quinn Royals

#70 Jacque Jonas Twins

#110 Rickey Henderson Padres

 

Pack 3:

#56 Matt Morris Cardinals

#64 Juan Encarnacion Tigers

#112 Sammy Sosa Cubs

 

Pack 4:

#43 Barry larkin Reds

#51 Bobby Abreu Phillies

#133 Juan Pierre Rockies



 In the absence of any Red Sox I give you Bobby Abreu and the thick spacer that was inside each pack.

2008 Donruss Elite Extra Edition

Back to the hostage packs from Cardboard Junkie. These two packs were not wrapped as shown above but came in a clear foil wrapper, which may have been a free addition to another product. There are three cards per pack, so the only card you don't already know is the middle card. The card that collectors were after in this product was the Gordon Beckham rookie.
The whole base set is 100 cards and the Red Sox available are:
#4 Adam Mills
#59 Josh Reddick
#66 Kyle Weiland
#84 Ryan Pressly
#91 Tim Federowicz
#95 Tyler Yockey

Pack 1:

#15 Charlie Fairbush Detroit

#49 Jesse Darcy Tampa Bay

#56 Josh Reddick Boston

Pack 2:

#13 Brent Morel Chicago

#61 Justin Bristow Chicago

#91 Tim Federowicz Boston

Lovely two Red Sox from two packs. Charlie Furbush- seriously????

2002 Playoff Absolute Memorabilia

This is a surprise pack that arrived with some other cards I purchased from eBay. The Absolute Memorabilia brand ran for for a few years from 2001 to 2005, which was when the Playoff/Donruss/Leaf deal expired. Absolute Memorabilia is an amazing set. The base cards were limited to between 100 and 200 but the number of inserts, parallels and relics defies belief. The 2005 set have no less that 40 different inserts available.
The 2002 Absolute set has 200 base cards, which includes 150 veterans and 50 rookie/prospects. The rookie/prospects were limited and numbered to 1000 each. There is also, randomly inserted into packs, parallel cards called 'Spectrum'. The veterans were numbered and limited to 100. The rookie/prospects numbered and limited to 50 of each.
The most interesting and notable inserts  are called 'Signing Bonus'. Inserted one per box, the 313 plaque set varied in print run from 1 to 250. Measuring roughly 8inches by 10inches, each framed plaque featured a numbered jersey piece, an autograph of the player and either an American flag or an Absolute card. However this isn't the interesting part, it was more the list of names available which  includes, Walter Johnson, Babe Ruth, Mel Ott, Tris Speaker, Ted Williams, Nap Lajoie, Connie Mack, Jimmie Foxx, Eddie Collins, Ty Cobb and it goes on.
The very thick pack contain four base cards and a signing bonus entry card or presumably one of the many relic/autograph/memorabilia cards on offer.

The Pack:

#26 Nomar Garciaparra Red Sox

#33 Mark Buehrle White Sox

#75 Shawn Green Dodgers

#142 Alex Rodriguez Rangers

 The extremely thick insert was an entry in to the 

#16 Reggie Jackson autographed framed piece.

So a free added extra. Very nice.

1982 Donruss Baseball

A further year on from the conclusion of the Topps monopoly. Red Sox from Fleer and Donruss from 1982 continue to evade. I still need 24 Red Sox from the 27 that were produced. The numbers still needed are;
7, 30, 74, 82, 109, 156, 200, 208, 235, 260, 326, 334, 361, 386, 408, 452, 460, 487, 512, 540, 560, 564, 608, 632.

This pack from Big B a while ago. There are 15 cards and 3 puzzle pieces per pack, which is Babe Ruth.

The pack:

#195 Don Zimmer Rangers Manager

#206 Moose Hass Brewers

#357 Steve Stone Orioles

#369 Jim Essian White Sox

#381 Ernie Whitt Blue Jays

#392 Stan Bahnsen Expos

#404 Ken Oberkfell Cardinals

#425 Rick Rhoden Pirates

#434 John Stearns Mets

#446 Elias Sosa Expos

#470 Damaso Garcia Blue Jays

#490 Jim Wright Royals

#502 Jason Thompson Pirates

#513 Gene Nelson Yankees

Checklist 1-20

puzzle piece 55, 56, 57

Not a sausage. Not even close. Head shots and close-ups appear to be the order of the day in this set. Interesting fact Moose Hass is really Bryan Edmund Hass.

1990 Donruss

Here's to the first pack from Jonathan in Toronto, who sent five packs all from the year 1990. I would imagine that everyone has collected the teams sets from this unique product
- orange wrapper, red border. I am guessing that Donruss either produced a hell of a lot of these cards or they are recycled by collectors (unwrapped, cherry picked and then rewrapped) as they are so readily available.
I don't need any of the 27 Red Sox cards from this set. There are 10 cards and 3 puzzle pieces per pack.

The Pack:

#81 Kent Hrbek Twins

#100 Lee Smith Red Sox

#185 Mark McGwire A's

#309 Walt Terrell Yankees

#401 Rene Gonzales Orioles

#441 Mark Grant Padres

#467 Jose Nunez Blue Jays

#564 Domingo Jose A's

#589 Kevin Bass Astros

#666 Ricky Horton Cardinals

puzzle pices 10,11,12

Hmm, pretty much what I expected from this set. In comparison to other cards such as Upper Deck from the same year, these cards appear very flimsy and the photography poor.

1991 Donruss Series 2

The second helping of the Junk Wax package from Brian.
There are still 6 cards I need to complete the Red Sox team set:

#234 Luis Rivera,

#367 Tim Naehring,

#430 Mo Vaughn (Rated Rookie),

#553 Mike Greenwell,

#665 Larry Anderson,

#680 Mike Boddicker

Series 2 card were released roughly 3 months after series 1 and started at number 387. There are 15 cards per pack and 3 puzzle pieces.

The Pack:

#724 Jose Vizcaino Dodgers

#727 Bob Welch Athletics AL Cy Young

#728 Gary Ward Tigers

#732 Vicente Palacios Pirates

#734 Howard Farmer Expos

#738 Kelly Downs Giants

#440 Chris Sabo Reds

#743 Dave Rohde Astros

#752 Terry Lee Reds

#757 Gary Wayne Twins

#762 Barry Bonds Pirates NL MVP
#766 Willie Randolph Athletics

#769 Rich Rodriguez Padres
#BC-21 Dave Stieb Highlights

#700 Checklist

puzzle piece 4,5,6

Surely the highlight of the pack, the checklist. I just couldn't bring myself to scan the puzzle pieces.

1991 Donruss Series 2 Baseball

The second helping from Big B at Waxaholic, 1991 Donruss Series 2-The Green ones.
For information on this set look here.
The pack contains 15 picture cards and 3 puzzle pieces of Willie Stargell.

The pack:

#411 Will Clark All Star

#667 Chris Nabholz Expos

#407 Kevin Mitchell MVP Giants

#711 Carlos Hernandez Dodgers

#717 Wait Terrell Tigers

#725 Randy Tomlin Pirates

#410 Len Dykstra MVP Phillies

#427 Jeff Conine RR Royals

#430 Mo Vaughn RR Red Sox

#729 Rob Deer Tigers
#735 Ken Dayley Blue Jays
#740 Kevin Appier Royals
#745 Paul Sorrento Twins
#764 Julio Machado Brewers
#767 Scott Erickson Twins

plus 13, 14, 15 Puzzle pieces Willie's head.

One Red Sox card but what a card, Big Mo Vaughn Rated Rookie.

Thanks for the two packs Brian. Much appreciated.

1988 Donruss baseball

If you check the wants' lists on blogs, as I do from time to time. Nobody needs any 1988 Donruss cards. Did they over print or are there no real 'big' cards in the set? Either way it appears that everyone has all the 1988 Donruss they want or need. Still a pack is a pack.
There are 660 cards in the base set.
The subsets include: 27 Diamond Kings (#1-27), 20 Rated Rookies(#28- 47), 26 Bonus MVP's and 26 short printed cards (#648-660).
There are 15 cards and 3 puzzle pieces in a pack.

The pack:

Puzzle piece 34, 35, 36

#19 Gary Gaetti DK Twins

#54 Mark Gubicza Royals

#102 George Brett Royals

#103 Mickey Tettleton A's

#150 Terrence Kennedy Orioles

#186 Baudilio Diaz Reds

#234 Jose Oquendo Cardinals

#235 William Doran Astros

#283 Devon White Angels

#366 Jim Presley Brewers

#367 Lloyd Moseby Blue Jays

#416 Brain Dayett Cubs

#452 Guy Hoffman Reds

#499 Tracy Woodson Dodgers

#585 Jeff Sellers Red Sox

Hey, hey a Red Sox.

1986 Donruss Pop-up

The second helping of different packs from Dayf is this 1986 Donruss All-star pack. Two things make this one unusual. Firstly '..its wrapped in plastic..' and therefore you can see the cards your getting, secondly the cards are bigger than your average card, not to mention that one of the cards pops up!
There are 18 pop-up cards in the set.
There are 60 All-stars cards in the set.
Included in this pack is a pop-up card and 3 large Donruss All-Stars .

The pack:

#13 Pop-up Jim Rice Red Sox

#16 Jim Rice Red Sox

#25 Tim Wallach Expos

#38 Dick Williams Manager NL All-Stars

Two Red Sox. Things are looking up. How do you store these larger cards?

1991 Donruss baseball

This is the first of three different packs I received from Dayf in a trade recently. This one is unusual because it contains only three cards. My limited experience tells me that it must have been included with something else like bread or cookies or cereal or cheese. There is no give away on the pack or cards to mark them as different, only that there is less cards.
The 1991 Donruss set has 770 cards in the base set.
The subsets included: Diamond Kings, Rated Rookies, Al and NL All Stars, MVP's.
Additional information in this post.

The pack:

Puzzle piece 40, 41, 42

#1 Dave Stieb Blue Jays

#101 R.J. Reynolds Pirates

#314 Kevin Brown Rangers

NO Red Sox. Any enlightening information would be well received.