The 1989 Donruss baseball card set was released at the height of the baseball card boom of the late 1980s. Like other Donruss sets from this era, the 1989 version featured 396 total cards and iconic rainbow foil packaging. It was the ninth Donruss set issued since the company began producing baseball cards in 1981.
Some key things to know about the 1989 Donruss set include:
Design: The base card design was similar to other late 80s Donruss sets with a primarily white background and team logo at the top. Player stats were prominently featured on the bottom half of the card along with the Donruss logo.
Rookies: Notable rookie cards included Ken Griffey Jr, Gregg Olson, Tom Glavine, and Jeff Bagwell. Griffey was one of the most coveted rookie cards of the era and remains one of the most iconic and valuable modern rookie cards in the hobby.
Star Players: The set featured the who’s who of 1980s MLB stars like Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Rickey Henderson, George Brett, and Mike Schmidt near the front of the set. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens also had prominent cards as they started to emerge as the game’s next superstars.
Variations: There were a few notable variations in the 1989 Donruss set. The Barry Bonds card came with either a regular photo or an action shot variation. The Mark McGwire rookie also had multiple variations in photo and border coloring.
Inserts: Popular inserts included “Diamond Kings” parallel cards featuring elite players on diamond-patterned backgrounds. All-Star, pitching leaders, and Team Leaders inserts were also popular parallel subsets.
Production: Donruss produced the 1989 set through its printers in Ohio and distribution came through sport card distributor Fleer. It was one of Donruss’ most widely distributed sets at the time due to the raging popularity of the sport card industry in the late 80s.
When released in 1989, the Donruss baseball cards retailed for about $1 per pack with 15 cards inside wax paper wrapped packages. The explosive growth of the hobby meant stores had trouble keeping Donruss cards on shelves in the late 80s. As one of the “Big 3” producers along with Topps and Fleer, Donruss fulfilled tremendous demand that year.
The massive production led to the cards being relatively common in the years following their release. The popularity of certain rookie cards like Griffey, Bagwell, and Glavine along with star performers of the late 80s era have made high grade samples of those players quite valuable in today’s vintage baseball card market. PSA 10 rookies of Griffey or Bagwell can sell for thousands.
For enthusiasts of 1980s MLB, the 1989 Donruss set provides a fun look back at that exciting decade in the game. Future Hall of Famers like Ripken, Henderson, Mattingly, and more are preserved in their baseball primes alongside rookie snapshots of future stars. The design feels reminiscent of the peak of the junk wax era and the cards remain accessible and affordable for most collectors to add to their collections. While it may not rival the legendary 1952 Topps or 1957 Topps sets in terms of rarity, 1989 Donruss is a classic representation of its time period.
The 1989 Donruss baseball card set showcases the late 1980s MLB season through nearly 400 familiar and flashy cardboard pieces. As a widespread and popular issue from the height of the card boom period, it remains an affordable way for collectors to enjoy and remember some of the biggest names and moments from that decade in baseball history. Key rookie stars and chase cards like Griffey ensure the 1989 Donruss set will retain collector interest for years to come.
