1987 Donruss Baseball

“Looks like an attractive set, but...”

Like most collectors, my interest 1987 Donruss Baseball can be summed up with the following phrase: Greg Maddux rookie card. In my younger days I was a huge fan of Maddux, especially when he was traded to the Altanta in 1993. Anyways, I got the urge to obtain the card when a co-worker started talking baseball and Maddux with me. Soon afterwards I ordered two boxes in attempt to obtain a few copies of the card - at least one for me and one for him - and in the end I got two. As cut and dry as such a story may seem, there were some unexpected twists.

First of all, given that this set is from 1987, don't expect quality of the cards to be up to today's standards as far as centering goes. I was really hoping to pull a Maddux worthy of being graded like my dad did (he pulled a Beckett 9.5 Gem Mint out of a box such as this) but I ended up sorely disappointed. In all honesty, my father lives a charmed life when it comes to pulling great cards and I've always been more-or-less doomed to live in his shadow. Given my experience, I'd suggest you forgo looking through packs and just buy the card from a dealer so you can see what you're getting if your concerned about condition like I was.

This feeling is further enhanced by some of the other cards that make up the set. When compared to Donruss sets from 1988 into the mid 1990's, a set of 1987 Donruss has a decent book value. Still, the thing that hurts this set is the Barry Bonds rookie. Yeah, it may be worth ten dollars or so but who really wants this thing? I pulled three of these (and figures one of them looks good enough to grade) and don't look forward to sitting on them for the next twenty years. Who wants the rookie card for someone that systematically ruined the game and tarnished one of its most hallowed records?

CONCLUSION:

Don't be tricked into taking a bunch of undesirable material just to obtain the Maddux rookie. My friend and I are glad to have the card in our collections but I'm just as unhappy having three Bonds rookies I'll never do anything with except loathe.

Overall Score: 5/10