1990 Donruss Baseball Review

1990 Donruss Baseball Review

Good: Can be thrown away or recycled, the perfect balance between "crap" and "suck", Quad Harold Baines Error, Errors and Corrected Errors, Set contains actual Major League Baseball Players

Bad: The Burden Of a Generation, You can never throw away all of them, crappy card design, millions upon millions print run, may or may not contain asbestos

Bottom Line:
The "Red Menace" as they would later become known as kicked off the worst decade in sports card history. With the drop of 1990 Donruss, the sports card "Cold War" officially began. If only the folks at Donruss realized the burden an entire generation would have to carry! No matter how many times you think you've properly disposed of a "Red Border", 5 seemingly appear out of thin air to replace the one you just destroyed. Is it spite or perhaps Magic? I am inclined to rule out "magic", as "magic" is usually fun and interesting.

If you enjoy the worst things in life, then 1990 Donruss is "livin' the dream". With a box price of around $5, I would highly suggest that you not make eye contact with the product. The last thing we need is more 1990 Donruss in circulation! As long as the box remains sealed, we will at least be able to semi-control the problem until a once in a generation genius comes along and solves the issue for good.

Design: .0133/5
The base set design strikes a perfect balance of "crap" and "suck". The bright red color scheme is like taking a laser pointer to the eye. That's not to say there isn't some cool design in this vintage relic of baseball americana. The error cards, though not intentional, "suck" but I am less inclined to say they are both "crap" and "suck".

Checklist: 5/5
Now this is a Checklist you can get behind! Over 700+ baseballers in a single set!  They even have error versions and corrected error versions within the same base set, behold the beauty of "after the fact" printing. Uncorrected error fans fear not, there's a "mystery pack" worth of those too!

Below are a few of the trading card treats one can expect from a box of 1990 Donruss:

• Scott Garrelts ERR 217A (Born 10/20) and 217B (Born 10/30)!!!
• Pedro Guerrero ERR 674A ("Recent Major League Performan") and 674B ("Recent Major League Performance")!!!!
• Andy Nezelek ERR 523A (Wrong Birth Year) and 523B (Right Birth Year)!!!!!
• Harold Baines 660A (AS Error), 660B (AS CORRECTED/ERROR), 660C (ERROR/CORRECTED), 660D (Black Line Behind Star On Front) - The Ever Elusive QUAD ERROR!!!!!!!!!!!

Value: -2/5
The hardest part is deciding whether you want to put the entire base set together with or without the errors. "Theoretically", the set value with the errors nearly triples from $3.00 to perhaps $7.25. Anytime you can have fun and only lose $30 putting a set together is a win-win scenario, especially if you don't believe in a "no-win scenario".

Errors are usually worth something due to rarity, but when you print hundreds of thousands of millions of that error, there  is no value to be had. But that's the neat part, it means more "case hits" to go around! As a matter a fact, I bet there's over 1,000,000 undiscovered "case hits" just waiting to be ripped in the basement of the worst investment mind in America. But will he sell?

Enjoyment: .02/5
It's hard to enjoy a product that wreaks like a perfect mix of crappy cardboard, mold, dust mites, and a hint of something I can't put my finger on (perhaps asbestos?). Once you get past all the detractors, you'll find that 1990 Donruss offers even more detractors than you first realized. Which is fun if you like semi-surprises and learning more about things, albeit a baseball card or book about baseball.

Box Break:

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