2014 Donruss Series 2 Baseball Cards

Product Review

2014 Donruss Series 2 Baseball Review

Reviewed by Ryan Cracknell

Good: Nice to see Elite used as a focal point, reasonably priced.

Bad: Base set checklist has repeat players from Series 1, too many parallels, far too many short prints for such a small set.

The Bottom Line: If Panini hadn’t made a Series 1, I probably would have liked this product a lot more. By labelling it Series 2, there’s a feeling that it’s a continuation and expansion of what came earlier. Other than design, this feels like an entirely new product where there’s player repetition galore. I like the addition of Elite as an insert as it’s not a big favorite of mine as a brand (at least in its current form). If you skipped Series 1, you likely won’t notice or even mind the repeated elements. However, if you built Series 1 you could find yourself disappointed, at least as far as the base set composition goes.

Card Design: 3.5/5.0

The 2014 Donruss Baseball base design is okay, but not spectacular. At a glance, it looks like what you’d expect from some with the name Donruss. I wish they weren’t glossy, but it’s 2014 and I’m starting to think the music my kids listen to is loud.

Where the set stands out is in the inserts. The returning Dominator and Elite Series cards are still lots of fun and hit the right nostalgic notes. As absurd as it is to have a second line of Elite Series inserts, those look good too. Same goes with the Elite inserts and their many parallels.

There isn’t much that feels fresh and groundbreaking as far as appearance goes, but there’s nothing that I thought was horrid either (I can live without logos if done right and that doesn’t stand out for me here).

Checklist: 2.0/5.0

Just like Series 1, the base set is marred by not just having unnecessary short prints, but they’re placed at the start of the checklist making it tougher for a lot of collectors (myself included) to ignore.

Another glaring issue I have is the fact that there is a lot of repetition from the first set. Lots of players have regular base cards (not themed subsets) in both releases. It’s understandable to want star power in every set, but there are easy ways to get around this. It makes it feel like the dual-series structure was an afterthought and not planned all along.

The use of Elite name was a good way to focus many of the inserts. It’s familiar, it’s not as spectacular as it once was as a premium line and it’s a good way to get those stars in once again.

However, there is a bit of overkill and more redundancy. In addition to the one-per-pack Elite inserts there are two additional inserts called Elite Series. They’re not parallels. They’re completely separate. It’s kind of like a football league that has less than ten teams, two of which are Roughriders and Rough Riders (CFL fans will get the reference). I can’t think of any reasoning to justify this.

Given the price point, it’s reasonable not to expect the world from the checklist.

Value: 3.5/5.0

While the monster hits are few and far between, the cost of entry isn’t overly high as well. Because of that, the price tag feels reasonable. A trade off of having so many parallels is that there are plenty of low-numbered cards to go around. If they’re not someone you chase, they make solid trade bait with player and team collectors.

The Fun Factor: 3.0/5.0

With no shortage of variety in 2014 Donruss Series 2, there’s lots to take in. Even when I’m not a fan of everything, I do enjoy mulling the various pieces over. The designs are solid, if not good. There are some nice nostalgic elements as well. Now if only that checklist made sense and things seemed better planned out.

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2014 Panini Donruss Elite Series /999 Xander Bogaerts #13 Rookie RC

$10.00

2014 Donruss The Elite Series 2 Xander Bogaerts /999 Boston Red Sox #28

$9.34

2014 Donruss Elite Dominator Series 2 Jose Abreu 240/999 Chicago White Sox #16

$9.45

2014 Donruss The ELITE SERIES Jose Abreu Rookie /999 Chicago White Sox #17

$6.50

2014 Donruss The Elite Series 2 Bryce Harper /999 Washington Nationals #3 R85

$5.01

Allen Iverson 2014-15 Panini Donruss Elite Dominator /999 #49 Philadelphia 76ers

$12.99

DeMarcus Cousins 2014-15 Donruss Elite Dominator /999 #11 Sacramento Kings

$6.00

DeMar DeRozan 2014-15 Donruss Elite Dominator /999 #23 Toronto Raptors

$6.25

2014 Donruss Elite Green Dominator Matt Harvey 496/999 New York Yankees #6

$6.13

2014 Panini Elite Jimmy Garoppolo RC Rookie #150 Patriots #d 142/999

$7.99