The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1981 Donruss
Look up oxymoron in the dictionary and you may just see the phrase "Essential 1981 Donruss." Nonetheless, the set was a historically important monopoly-busting debut from a company that would soon find itself atop the Hobby for a three-year run that would include two of the decade's biggest rookie cards: the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly and 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco.
Still, despite the bright future on the horizon, Donruss was best known in 1981 for its flimsy card stock, 38 errors, and blurry photos. Furthermore, the Donruss strategy of doubling or even tripling up on superstar players came at the expense of rookies and prospects. The result was that the brand later synonymous with "Rated Rookies" managed to snooze on Fernando Valenzuela, Kirk Gibson, and Harold Baines, all of whom made both Topps and Fleer that year.
In earnest, identifying five essential 1981 Donruss baseball cards proved a tall order. Fortunately, it was not an impossible one. Where to begin? How about with the one obvious pick!
1981 Donruss Tim Raines
Though Donruss had far fewer rookie cards than Topps and Fleer, one rookie it did include was Montreal Expos speedster Tim Raines. The card may not be a work of art but it was good enough to beat Fleer, which had no Raines at all, and Topps, which placed Raines on a dreaded multi-player card. True, the Topps Traded set would eventually come out and provide collectors with an even better option, but for most of the year Donruss reigned supreme. Or is that "Raines-ed" supreme?
1981 Donruss Bobby Bonds (ERROR)
When Naughty by Nature lamented, "If not for bad luck, I would have none," it's entirely possible they had the 1981 Donruss set in mind. With 38 corrected errors across the checklist, early printings of the set literally averaged more than an error per pack! Still, at least one of the errors resulted in what may be the set's most essential card behind only Raines. In an eerie case of "cardboard clairvoyance" here is Donruss way back in 1981 predicting Bonds would break Aaron's home run record. True, they called it for Bobby, not Barry, and they overshot the total by a full 234, but still! Where else are you going to find a card with nearly 1000 home runs on the back, not to mention 324 triples!
1981 Donruss Yogi Berra
Among the welcome novelties of 1981 Donruss was its inclusion of three coaches on the set's checklist: Yogi Berra, Manny Mota (technically a Coach-Outfielder), and Red Schoendienst. Of the three, Berra was by far the biggest name whether kids new him from his ungodly number of World Series rings and three MVP awards or simply confused him with a certain picnic basket-pilfering bear.
1981 Donruss Danny Ainge
The selection here, naturally, is wholly unrelated to Ainge's career on the diamond. (His wins above replacement were negative all three years he played.) Rather, collectors should consider this a sleeper pick that could take off if Ainge ever makes the Basketball Hall of Fame. Ainge has rookie cardboard in the Fleer set as well, along with a 1981 Topps Traded card to which many collectors, right or wrong, do not assign rookie card status.
1981 Donruss "Best Hitters"
Sometimes collectors get so caught up in the dollar value of a card that they forget what brought them into the Hobby in the first place. Here is a card that "books" for practically nothing but represents a huge add to any collection. George Brett had just hit .390, and it wasn't that long before that Rod Carew batted .388. Plus, it's just a fantastic photograph, not only the best in the Donruss set but likely the best of any set in 1981. Unless you simply hate great hitters, this card may well be the best $0.99 or best offer you ever spend!
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.