Last month I walked out of the Chantilly card show with a handful of cards bringing me closer to completing one of my long-running set projects. Also in tow was a lowly wax box from one of the most printed sets of all time. 1991 Donruss was the first issue that I ever pulled directly from packs. The quality of the cards and rarity of pulling Elite inserts also helped make sure buying cards in this manner wouldn’t become a habit. However, the roughly 1:75 box chance of pulling my very own Elite card from “the wild” was still present. I can’t complete the set without at least trying. After all, this was the year in which the Kentucky Derby was won by an entrant with even lower odds.
I paid a seller $10 for an unopened box, well above what these have historically sold for. Given the price of shipping heavy boxes and the distance I reside from any shop that would still carry this line, it was a fair trade for the experience.
The Packaging
Donruss seemed to slow play the existence of Elite cards at the outset of 1991. The box only shows two base cards from the Donruss set alongside a tiny representation of the set’s Willie Stargell puzzle. There is no textual mention of the serial numbered inserts on either the top or sides of the box. The bottom of the box doesn’t mention anything about baseball cards but assures the buyer that the box has some recycled content (no mention if this refers to the construction of the cardboard box or the fact that the backs of Series I cards look almost identical to 1986 and 1988 Donruss issues).
Individual packs give collectors the first hint of the existence of Elite cards. Next to the bar code on every wrapper is one of three rotating advertisements. One talks up the upcoming release of Series II cards, one offers the chance to purchase jumbo version of Diamond King cards, and the one shown below mentions a select number of packs will include one of the Elites. The Signature Series (Ryne Sandberg) is given top billing, followed by the 8 Elite Series cards. Nolan Ryan’s Legends card brings up the rear. No hint other than “Limited Edition Series!” is given that the cards are serial numbered or produced in quantities of 5,000-10,000 each.
What’s Inside the Box?
In a few words: Nostalgic disappointment. I didn’t get any Elite cards, but the long odds pretty much assured that was already a given. The waxy cardboard smell was exactly the same as I remember. The 1990s version of me would have been let down. I opened an entire box and didn’t come across a single Alex Fernandez rookie (the most popular ’91 Donruss card at the time) or a Canseco All-Star (first card of a recognizable player I ever pulled).
I ended up a few cards short of the full Diamond Kings subset (22 of 27) but did manage to complete the Willie Stargell puzzle that arrived at a rate of 3 pieces per pack. The best card was a Ken Griffey, Jr. All-Star, a piece of cardboard I distinctly remember trading straight from a pack in 1991 for a 1989 Score Jose Canseco.
Collation was lackluster with multiple packs containing exactly the same sequence of cards. This wasn’t great from a variety standpoint, but at least Larry Walker, Sammy Sosa, and Randy Johnson were players that showed up in abundance. One pack had a mix of cards facing random directions but the rest were fairly uniform.
It’s probably a good thing that no Elite cards were inside this box, given the condition that many cards were in. Cards located at the front of packs frequently had bent corners while those next to puzzle pieces were most protected. Centering was a challenge.
Last Pack Magic
The largest piece of visible wrapper real estate belongs to a contest in which Donruss was giving away “over 2,000,000 prizes.” The inside of each wrapper contained a printed “left” or “right” game piece that could be matched with a unique missing half to complete a picture that wins a prize for the collector. The grand prize was $10,000 and a trip to the Hall of Fame with numerous others winning a Donruss-themed binder to store their cards (a $7.95 value!).
Some prizes were given away in an instant winner format. On the 36th and final pack of my wax box I opened the wrapper to find this little message:
Somewhere in the world are two packs of 1991 Donruss that were given away to another collector in a post-December 1991 second chance drawing. I hope they found some Elite cards. I cut out my winning game piece and stored it with my in-progress Elite set.
