The Five Essential Donruss Diamond Kings Cards of 1982
Unlike today when every exciting new feature or "hit" in a set is telegraphed to collectors in advance through social media, streamers, or Hobby news sites like this one, the springtime arrival of cards on shelves was filled with surprises back in the early 1980s. While every new card (even base!) was prized back then, there were certain unexpected surprises that rose to the level of "put it in your pocket to show your friends at school" level awesome. Topping the list of these were the 1982 Donruss Diamond Kings.
What were these new cards, unlike any most young collectors had ever seen? Most of the baseball-themed art we were aware of came in the form of cartoons and caricatures, if not doodles on our O-Pee-Chee folders. Diamond Kings, however, looked like they belonged in a museum. With a talent level so off the charts we might have imagined the artist was a Da Vinci or Monet, the cards themselves provided only a tiny clue to the discerning eye: Perez.
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"Tony?" was naturally the first thought most of us had, not because we'd ever seen the Red Sox slugger with a paintbrush but simply because our one-track minds were operating as one-track minds do. It took many of us a full year to learn that the artist was in fact Dick Perez, a new name at the time but one that would grow to be synonymous with the Donruss baseball cards of the 1980s and early 90s.
And now, more than four decades after the introduction of Diamond Kings to the Hobby, Perez is adding movie star to his resume, thanks to a wonderful new biopic, "The Diamond King," from award-winning filmmaker Marq Evans. Look for an upcoming article from Clemente Lisi on the movie.
On the occasion of the film's release, we are counting down some of the top Diamond Kings cards in Hobby history, beginning with 1982, the year these classic cards made their first appearance.
1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Pete Rose #1
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The very first Diamond King fittingly belonged to future Hit King Pete Rose. As the back of the card notes, Rose had reached a point in his career where breaking records had become practically routine. Meanwhile, the Phillies first baseman was steadily approaching one of the biggest records as all, as the card back's final line notes: "His next goal is Ty Cobb's all-time mark of 4,191 hits."
While today Rose is looked at through a different lens, collectors of the early 1980s would have bet everything they had that Rose was not only a lock for Cooperstown but a shoo-in for the first ballot. The hit record was a REALLY big deal, and Rose's cards were as hot in the Hobby as anyone's not named Mickey Mantle. With active players ineligible for the Hall of Fame, this Diamond Kings card was the next best thing to a plaque.
1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Nolan Ryan #13
Another first-year Diamond King chasing history was Nolan Ryan. Were today's modern Hobby operating in 1982, Ryan's Diamond King might have already had 2000 different Astros cards before his Diamond Kings card came out. In those days, however, a Houston card of the Ryan Express was still a novelty. With no exaggeration, I'll offer that this Ryan card may well have been the greatest Astros card ever at the time of its release. (Believe it or not, Hobbyists of the era just weren't that into Joe Morgan's rookie card or late-career cards of Robin Roberts and Eddie Mathews.)
1982 Donruss Diamond Kings George Brett #15
Today George Brett ranks as far and away the greatest Kansas City Royal of all-time, and yet in 1982 he was even bigger than that. He was an absolute Baseball God. Though he batted "only" .314 in 1981, the afterglow of his 1980 season, where he came devilishly close to .400, was still fresh in the minds of fans and collectors from coast to coast. Sorry, these were the 1900s when people cared about batting average.
1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Tom Seaver #16
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For collectors who had been around a while, the sight of Tom Terrific in anything but a Mets uniform was still jarring, even five years removed from his trade to the Reds. Still, for most kids opening packs in 1982, convincing them that Seaver was anything but Cincinnati's ace would have been like trying to tell them Paul McCartney was in a band before Wings. True, the Hall of Fame hurler entered Cooperstown as a Met, but his first brush (quite literally) with immortality came as a Red, courtesy of Dick Perez.
1982 Donruss Diamond Kings Ozzie Smith #21
As Smith was already a St. Louis Cardinal when this card came out, pulling an Ozzie Smith Diamond King must have been a bittersweet experience for Padres fans. Today, however, it is a prized reminder that the greatest defensive shortstop of all-time not only suited up in San Diego back in the day but was a legitimate star. Yes, the Rookie of the Year runner-up finish and pair of Gold Gloves affirmed as much, but it was really the Dick Perez Diamond King treatment that made it official.
In the next installment of this series, we'll look at the Essential Donruss Diamond Kings of 1983. With most of the top superstars in the league already selected the year before, did Donruss and Dick Perez have enough greats to choose from? As you'll see, the answer was a resounding yes.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.