The 1987 Donruss Opening Day baseball card set was released at the beginning of the 1987 Major League Baseball season as baseball card manufacturer Donruss looked to capitalize on the growing hobby. The Opening Day set has since become one of the more iconic and popular issues from the late 1980s.
Donruss had been producing baseball cards since 1981 but 1987 marked the debut of their Opening Day brand, designed to capture the excitement of the start of the new MLB campaign. The 1987 set contained 132 total cards and featured all 26 MLB teams from that year. Notable rookies included Tom Glavine, Gregg Olson, and Mike Mussina while superstars like Wade Boggs, Rickey Henderson, and Ozzie Smith also received cards.
Design-wise, the 1987 Opening Day cards had a classic and somewhat basic look that has stood the test of time. A solid colored team banner ran across the top third of each card with the team name and city prominently displayed. Below was a large central action photo of the player along with their name, position, and batting or pitching stats from the previous season printed at the bottom. The cards featured a slick, glossy finish that card collectors loved.
Among the highlights of the 1987 set were the various serially numbered parallel insert cards that were inserted randomly in factory packs. These included “Diamond Kings” parallels numbered to only 50 copies each that featured gold foil embellishments. Even more scarce were the rare “Superstar Signature” parallel cards which contained an inscription from the player himself and were limited to only 10 copies each. Pulling one of these highly sought-after parallels was the ultimate chase for collectors at the time.
The base rookie cards of future Hall of Famers like Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux also immediately took on collector value given their talent was already evident in 1987. Glavine’s Boston Red Sox card is among the more coveted rookie cards from the set as he went on to have a stellar career mostly with the Atlanta Braves. Other rookies like Gregg Olson, Mike Mussina, and Terry Mulholland also featured promising early careers.
While certainly not as valuable in the current market place as its flagship Topps counterpart from the same year, the 1987 Donruss Opening Day set remains a nostalgic favorite for many childhood collectors. Its classic design scheme has aged quite well and the parallel inserted parallels added a fun layer of chase and scarcity for the time. The rise of stars featured as rookies only adds to the cards’ heritage interest decades later.
For the original collectors who ripped packs of the 1987 Donruss Opening Day issue off store shelves that spring, it marked the start of what would become a huge player in the baseball card market during the late 1980s boom. Donruss had truly hit on a winning brand concept with Opening Day and subsequent years of the set followed the same popular formula. While production values may have been more basic than elaborate sets today, for collectors at the beginning of the hobby’s golden age the 1987 issue delivered memorable cardboard action from that inaugural MLB campaign. Its nostalgic charm continues to be appreciated by vintage card fans with roots back to when the set first introduced itself to the growing baseball collectibles scene.
In modern times, complete 132-card factory sets of the 1987 Donruss Opening Day issue in Near Mint to Mint condition can still be sourced for under $100 graded and preserved to preserve its condition through the PSA authentication service. Key rookie cards of players like Glavine and Maddux may cost an extra $10-20 each to acquire in Top grades above a PSA 9. For those seeking even rarer late 1980s cardboard, examples of the coveted “Diamond Kings” and “Superstar Signatures” parallel inserts from the ’87 Donruss issue can fetch hundreds or even over $1000 depending on the player autographed. Overall the 1987 set remains an affordable entry point for collectors looking to explore one of the most iconic releases from the formative early years of the modern sports card craze.
