Panini America stepped up in a big way with 2009 Donruss Classics Football. This is easily their best release since entering the North American trading card market earlier this year and acquiring Donruss.
2009 Donruss Classics Football Release Date: 7/1/09 |  |
Panini America stepped up in a big way with 2009 Donruss Classics Football. This is easily their best release since entering the North American trading card market earlier this year and acquiring Donruss. Nowhere is the wisdom in Panini's decision to keep the majority of Donruss' core employees on their payroll following the merger more evident then in 2009 Donruss Classics Football. This is a polished, well rounded football card product that a newcomer to the industry would have been very hard pressed to create within a few months of first entering the football card industry.
If you are itching to get your first (or second) fix of the new crop of 2009 football card products, you should strongly consider giving 2009 Donruss Classics Football a shot.
| The Good: + Best Panini America Release to date. + High quality selection of autograph and patch inserts. + Nice design that enhances the overall appeal and legitimacy on the set. + Base set will make for a fun and challenging set to build. The Bad: |
Each hobby box of 2009 Donruss Classics Football contains an average of 3 hits. I expected to pull 1 nice auto and a couple of run of the mill game used jersey cards, but ended up will 3 high quality pulls instead. A nice assortment of inserts, short prints, and base cards rounded out an excellent overall box break.
Here is a look at some of my pulls:
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Overall, 2009 Donruss Classics Football is a very good looking trading card product. Initially I wasn't that impressed, but it's design grew on me as I progressed further through my box break.
My favorite looking cards from the set are the School Colors on-card rookie autographs. These short printed beauties, each of which has been signed using silver sharpie, are some of the best looking autographs I've seen out of a mid end football card release in a long time.
While I like the look of the majority of the set, I'm not too crazy about some of the insert subsets. The standard Saturday Stars, Classic Quads, and Sunday's Best inserts didn't do the rest of the set justice. They were unecessary additions to 2009 Donruss Classics Football. To be honest, I would have much rather have seen them replaced by short printed cards from the base set, be it Legend or Rookie cards.
Pound for pound 2009 Donruss Classics Football is the best 2009 football card product currently available on the market. It focuses on providing quality rather then quantity, but ends up delivering on both fronts. If you are looking to satisfy your hunger for the upcoming NFL season, you will be hard pressed to find a better way to spend your collecting dollar then to buy a hobby box of 2009 Donruss Classics Football.
With that being said, this product would have really benefited from the inclusion of an extra hit per box. Consider the products it is up against (2009 Upper Deck Draft Football and 2009 Bowman Draft Football), Donruss Classics treads on dangerous ground by offering only 1 guaranteed autograph per hobby box. It would have gone a long way had they upped the hit count per box to an average of 2 game used memorabilia cards and 2 autographs per hobby box.
2009 Donruss Classics Football features a substantial checklist of key NFL rookies, stars, and legends that leaves little to be desired. On a set wide level, this product has about every NFL player worth finding in a pack of cards. However, on a box to box level, the selection of legends and rookies is severely limited. Each box contains an average of only 2 of each. This lack of rookie cards makes 2009 Donruss Classics Football pale in comparison to the slew of rookie-heavy 2009 Football Card Products currently on the market. While the other products provide too many rookie cards, Donruss Classics provides too few. The ideal rookie card count for this release would be more in the 5-7 card / box range.
The base set is worthy of consideration by set collectors due to its multitude of short prints and its appealing design. If you collect a particular NFL star of the past or present, chances are they will appear several times throughout the set's many parallel and insert sets.
All of the autos, patches, and fancy inserts in the world don't mean a whole lot to me if I don't have a good time in the process of pulling them. Stocked with an ample 18 packs, 2009 Donruss Classics Football delivers a fun and sustained box breaking experience.
We have researched dozens of different online card retailers and auction websites to analyze pricing trends for hobby boxes of 2009 Donruss Classics Football:
| GREAT DEAL Don't Let It Get Away! | $86 or less |
| GOOD DEAL A Better Then Average Deal Worthy Of Strong Consideration. | $87- $95 |
| TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT Not a bad price, but not a particularly good one either. | $96 - $106 |
| OVERPRICED Search for a better deal - they are definitely out there. | $107+ |
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boxbreakacademy | Jul 6, 2009 | Reply
Are the hits guaranteed or were you just lucky to get the pulls you got? Looks intriguing…
yankeefaithful | Jul 7, 2009 | Reply
Very good review.After reading it I took to a trip by my longtime card shop to pick up a box of classics and it kicked butt.I agree with pretty much everything you said except i’m not too crazy about the design of the cards.
Peyton | Jul 10, 2009 | Reply
I pulled an Earl Campbell Auto, Merlon Olsen Auto/Patch, Brian Robiske Auto, & a Phil Simms Patch.
Pretty solid box if I do say so myself.
Mike Smeth | Jul 10, 2009 | Reply
Wow, very nice Peyton. Can’t ask for much more then that.