The 1986 Donruss baseball card set was the third release of Donruss baseball cards after the company began producing licensed MLB cards in 1985. While the 1985 and 1987 Donruss sets featured cards with photographers’ portraits and action shots, the 1986 set went in a different visual direction by primarily using simple renderings of each player’s uniform and cap with their jersey number on a solid colored background. This unique graphic design choice made the 1986 Donruss set very distinctive from other baseball card issues of the era.
Some of the biggest star rookies from the 1986 season that appeared in the set included Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Barry Bonds. Clemens’s rookie card has remained one of the most desirable in the hobby given his legendary career. McGwire and Bonds also went on to have Hall of Fame caliber careers and put up huge offensive numbers, though controversy has arisen regarding their involvement with performance enhancing drugs later in their careers.
While not the most artistically intricate or photographically detailed set, the 1986 Donruss cards still hold nostalgia and popularity among collectors decades later due to the memorable players featured and the novel visual presentation. As with other vintage issues, the condition and grading of 1986 Donruss cards plays a huge role in their value.
For serious vintage collectors, having cards professionally graded by leading third party authentication and grading service PSA is extremely important. PSA uses a 1-10 point scale to assign each qualifying card a grade based on its physical condition, with 10 being mint/pristine and 1 being poor. Only cards that have maintained much of their original gloss, centered registrations, and lack defects receive the highest PSA grades of 8, 9, or 10. These top-graded examples often trade for exponentially more money than raw or lower grade copies.
Some key factors that can impact the grade a 1986 Donruss card receives from PSA include: centering – how perfectly centered the front image is within the borders of the card; corners – are they sharp and undamaged or worn/rounded; edges – are they clean and crisp or dented/rounded; surface – is the front free of scratches, scuffs, dings or stains; and gloss – has the original full gloss been retained or is it dull/faded? Even microscopic flaws can potentially drop a card’s grade.
Being nearly 40 years old at this point, it’s quite rare to find 1986 Donruss cards in true gem mint PSA 10 condition. Only the absolute best preserved examples that have been carefully handled and stored away from the elements their whole lives tend to grade that high. Still, PSA 9s in amazing near-mint status and solid PSA 8s in very fine shape certainly exist in collector’s holdings.
Lower population sport PSA 10s of 1986 Donruss stars like the Roger Clemens rookie (only 11 PSA 10 population count currently), Barry Bonds (#1 pick, 19 PSA 10s), Mark McGwire (26 PSA 10s), and Don Mattingly (79 PSA 10s) routinely sell for thousands of dollars or more on the secondary market. But middle grades like PSA 8s can still carry significant value running into the hundreds for the right players.
While the PSA population reports don’t go back to the early days of the company’s third party authentication, we can assume only a tiny fraction of one percent of 1986 Donruss print runs originally received pristine PSA 10 full marks. The passage of time and natural aging process further limits how many have survived in such phenomenal condition. As a result, PSA 10 1986 Donruss cards with all-time greats are considered true rarities that will only increase in value as more enter auctions and private sales.
For collectors, having cards in lower but still mint PSA 8-9 grades is highly preferable to loose, raw copies which often trade only marginally higher than their PSA graded counterparts. This is especially true for vintage 1980s and earlier issues from the pre-slab era before third party grading became widespread. The assurance of an impartial expert authentication and assigned grade lends much validity that the card is exactly as presented without surprises.
Whether pursuing iconic rookies, Hall of Famers or just the unique graphical designs, 1986 Donruss baseball cards remain a highly collectible vintage set decades later. Having examples certified and graded by the leading authority PSA is essential for condition-conscious buyers and help ensure assessed value matches visual condition. While PSA 10 gem examples may seem virtually unattainable for most, lower mint grades can still represent fantastic long term investment opportunities for savvy collectors.
