Oh, the glory days of wax packs!
I recall fondly my dad taking me shopping at flea markets and Big Lots looking for boxes of Donruss, Pinnacle, and Studio. For some reason, these were my choice selections. Did I have great taste, or what?
So, yes, I now have so many boxes of mostly worthless (other than documentation of the pre-steroid baseball era), but there are some gems hidden within the 1991 Donruss set.
Now, none of these 1991 Donruss baseball cards are valuable enough to make you rich. Maybe not even enough to buy the latest AAA video game. But, there are some you should at least be on the look out for if you are ever sorting your old cards. Or, if you go shopping for cheap wax pack boxes on Ebay.
I’m not going to promise these are the absolutely most valuable, but I’ll touch on all of the card I think are worth pulling out of the random stacks of cards.
Donruss Elites
My baseball card collecting heyday was around 1989-1993. As I mentioned earlier, Donruss was one of the sets I seemed to always end up having boxes to open. I cannot remember just how many I actually opened, but obviously it was not enough to realize Donruss Elites even existed.
It is only recently as I have started looking into the baseball card collecting hobby again that I discovered these gems. And they are indeed the elite cards from 1991 Donruss. Depending on the player, they can range $10-$75 which far exceeds the current price for a box. However, keep in mind the odds of pulling an elite card has been estimated at 1 per 75 boxes; or, 1 Elite card for every 2,700 packs.
As with most inserts (especially those numbered to 10,000), you would be better off purchasing a single if there is a specific player you need, or even if you are trying to collect the set. But, if you have interest in the common cards, then by all means start opening those packs.
Cardboard Connection has a nice visual gallery of the Donruss Elite series if you want to take a look.
| Player Name | Card Number | Card Count |
|---|---|---|
| Barry Bonds | 1 | 10,000 |
| George Brett | 2 | 10,000 |
| Jose Canseco | 3 | 10,000 |
| Andre Dawson | 4 | 10,000 |
| Doug Drabek | 5 | 10,000 |
| Cecil Fielder | 6 | 10,000 |
| Rickey Henderson | 7 | 10,000 |
| Matt Williams | 8 | 10,000 |
Donruss Elite Legends
Much of what I said for the Elite applies here to the Elite Legends. One major difference is that the Nolan Ryan Elite Legends is limited to 7,500 printings.
| Player Name | Card Number | Card Count |
|---|---|---|
| Nolan Ryan | L1 | 7,500 |
Donruss Elite Signature Series
The Elite series is generally considered the introduction of numbered inserts. And the 1991 Ryne Sandberg Signature Series card is the rarest insert from the set. It is numbered to only 5,000, and is generally considered difficulty to find despite its relatively high card count based on today’s standards.
| Player Name | Card Number | Card Count |
|---|---|---|
| Ryne Sandberg | SS1 | 5,000 |
Promos
Donruss sent hobby shop owners samples of the 1991 Donruss set. In total, 10 different cards (at an unknown print run) were distributed. You can tell these apart from the base set by their backs: instead of the traditional back, they just say preview.
| Dave Justice | 1 | unknown |
| Doug Drabek | 2 | unknown |
| Scott Chiamparino | 3 | unknown |
| Ken Griffey Jr. | 4 | unknown |
| Bob Welch | 5 | unknown |
| Tino Martinez | 6 | unknown |
| Nolan Ryan | 7 | unknown |
| Dwight Gooden | 8 | unknown |
| Ryne Sandberg | 9 | unknown |
| Barry Bonds | 10 | unknown |
| Jose Canseco | 11 | unknown |
| Eddie Murray | 12 | unknown |
Super Diamond Kings
Not to be confused with the Diamond Kings included in the base set, these were only available through the mail. These were non-standard sizes (5″x7″) and featured 22 players who had a specific standout achievement.
| Mark Langston / Mike Witt | BC1 | unknown |
| Randy Johnson | BC2 | unknown |
| Nolan Ryan (NH) | BC3 | unknown |
| Dave Stewart | BC4 | unknown |
| Cecil Fielder | BC5 | unknown |
| Carlton Fisk | BC6 | unknown |
| Ryne Sandberg | BC7 | unknown |
| Gary Carter | BC8 | unknown |
| Mark McGwire | BC9 | unknown |
| Bo Jackson | BC10 | unknown |
| Fernando Valenzuela | BC11 | unknown |
| Andy Hawkins (ERR) | BC12A | unknown |
| Andy Hawkins (CORR) | BC12B | unknown |
| Melido Perez | BC13 | unknown |
| Terry Mullholland | BC14 | unknown |
| Nolan Ryan (300W) | BC15 | unknown |
| Delino DeShields | BC16 | unknown |
| Cal Ripken | BC17 | unknown |
| Eddie Murray | BC18 | unknown |
| George Brett | BC19 | unknown |
| Bobby Thigpen | BC20 | unknown |
| Dave Stieb | BC21 | unknown |
| Willie McGee | BC22 | unknown |
Studio Previews
The Studio Preview set was not nearly as successful as the Leaf Preview set if measured by number of future Hall of Famers. Even if we control for there being fewer cards. Still, it’s a fun set to chase. And I actually prefer the Studio look over Leaf (and don’t know enough to know if that would be classified as a hot take).
The Studio Preview set included 18 cards included 4-to-a-box in 1991 Donruss retail factory sets.
| Juan Bell | 1 | unknown |
| Roger Clemens | 2 | unknown |
| Dave Parker | 3 | unknown |
| Tim Raines | 4 | unknown |
| Kevin Seitzer | 5 | unknown |
| Teddy Higuera | 6 | unknown |
| Bernie Williams | 7 | unknown |
| Harold Baines | 8 | unknown |
| Gary Pettis | 9 | unknown |
| David Justice | 10 | unknown |
| Eric Davis | 11 | unknown |
| Andjuar Cedeno | 12 | unknown |
| Tom Foley | 13 | unknown |
| Dwight Gooden | 14 | unknown |
| Doug Drabek | 15 | unknown |
| Steve Decker | 16 | unknown |
| Joe Torre (MGR) | 17 | unknown |
| Title Card | NNO | unknown |
Leaf Previews
The Leaf Preview set was a good way to introduce new card designs. On top of that, the players selected were overall great choices. Out of the 26 players, 10 ultimately became hall of famers. And those that didn’t (e.g., David Justice, Bo Jackson) were (and still are) fan favorite among MLB fans at large, and particularly by their long-time team fans.
4 Leaf Preview cards were included in every specially marked 1991 Donruss hobby factory set box.
| Player Name | Card Number | Card Count |
|---|---|---|
| David Justice | 1 of 26 | unknown |
| Ryne Sandberg | 2 of 26 | unknown |
| Barry Larkin | 3 of 26 | unknown |
| Craig Biggio | 4 of 26 | unknown |
| Ramon Martinez | 5 of 26 | unknown |
| Tim Wallach | 6 of 26 | unknown |
| Dwight Gooden | 7 of 26 | unknown |
| Lenny Dykstra | 8 of 26 | unknown |
| Barry Bonds | 9 of 26 | unknown |
| Ray Lankford | 10 of 26 | unknown |
| Tony Gwynn | 11 of 26 | unknown |
| Will Clark | 12 of 26 | unknown |
| Leo Gomez | 13 of 26 | unknown |
| Wade Boggs | 14 of 26 | unknown |
| Chuck Finley | 15 of 26 | unknown |
| Carlton Fisk | 16 of 26 | unknown |
| Sandy Alomar Jr. | 17 of 26 | unknown |
| Cecil Fielder | 18 of 26 | unknown |
| Bo Jackson | 19 of 26 | unknown |
| Paul Molitor | 20 of 26 | unknown |
| Kirby Puckett | 21 of 26 | unknown |
| Don Mattingly | 22 of 26 | unknown |
| Rickey Henderson | 23 of 26 | unknown |
| Tino Martinez | 24 of 26 | unknown |
| Nolan Ryan | 25 of 26 | unknown |
| Dave Stieb | 26 of 26 | unknown |
Best of the Base Set
To be honest, there are a number of Hall of Fame Players in the 1991 Donruss set, but there were just so many cards produced that none of them are worth pursuing or getting excited about pulling (except for sentimental reasons perhaps). If you want to pick up base set cards, I would suggest just buying a factory set, or picking up several boxes if you prefer building sets the old-fashioned way.
