1987 Donruss Baseball

By Patrick Mondout

Donruss produced another popular set of 660 cards in 1987 featuring a large number of hot rookies. As with the very popular 1985 Donruss set, the cards featured black borders. Packs of the cards featured 15 cards and 3 "Roberto Clemente" puzzle pieces.

The cards issued in factory sets have their backs printed at a 180˚ angle to those issued in packs. (Put another way, the backs of the sheets used to created the factory sets were printed upside-down compared to the other cards.) While factory sets are worth more than hand-collated sets, the individual cards do not carry a premium one way or the other.

Addressing the concerns brought up the previous year regarding the dwindling pool of stars to choose from, Dick Perez announced that the Diamond Kings would be on a five-year rotating schedule. This meant that there would be duplicate Diamond Kings for the first time but that there would be at least five years between appearances of the same player. This allowed them to issue another Dale Murphy DK painting, rather than say, a Zane Smith.

The key rookies include Barry Bonds, Will Clark, Mark McGwire, Barry Larkin, Bo Jackson, Kevin Brown, Wally Joyner, Greg Maddux, Chuck Finley, and Rafael Palmeiro. Although many of these players appeared in the The Rookies set the previous year, these were their first regular-issue Donruss cards and it is a remarkable grouping (a 300 game winner, a guy with over 700 home runs, a guy with 500 home runs, another guy with 500 home runs and 3000 hits, plus a shortstop with a good shot at Cooperstown).

A checklist for all 660 cards is available here.

1987 Donruss at a Glance Back Checklist Wax Pack Rated Rookies Clemente Puzzle Diamond Kings

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