The 1989 Donruss baseball card set is one of the most iconic and sought after issues in the modern era due to a series of errors that occurred during production. Containing over 700 total cards, the ’89 Donruss set stands out for featuring some of the most notable mistakes ever printed on trading cards. While errors have always been a part of the hobby, the volume and types of flaws present in this single set elevated interest and fascination with error cards to new levels that still linger today. Let’s take a deeper look at what occurred with the ’89 Donruss cards and examine some of the specific mistakes collected by enthusiasts.
When Topps lost the exclusive baseball card licensing agreement after the 1987 season, it opened the door for competitors like Fleer and Donruss to enter the baseball card market. In 1988, Donruss debuted their initial MLB player issue and it sold fairly well. Looking to build on that success for 1989, Donruss took on a more ambitious printing planned. They also started using new manufacturing equipment and made some changes to their production processes without fully working out all the kinks. This set the stage for errors to potentially arise.
Indeed, mistakes began occurring early in the ’89 Donruss print run. One of the first involved a problem with the color separations which caused some cards to have colors shifted or mixed together oddly. Specifically, a number of Deion Sanders rookie cards had issues where the background colors came through on the image portion of the card. This led to Sanders appearing to have a multi-colored body or uniform that did not match his actual on-field colors from that season. The dramatic color clash made these cards highly noticeable as problems.
Printing problems also caused other players’ photographs to have colors shifted or added that distorted the intended look. For example, several Ozzie Smith cards had a strange purple tint over portions of the image. Ken Griffey Jr. cards could be found with orange or blue splotches blended into the photograph area as well. While not traditional “errors” by the strictest definition since the text was correct, the mishandled color applications damaged the integrity of the cards’ fronts.
Moving beyond coloring issues, alignment mistakes became another significant error theme in the 1989 Donruss set. The complicated printing process required text, photos, and other elements to be lined up precisely across multiple plates. Problems occurred that caused these components to be misaligned, overlapping oddly or cut off at the edges. A handful of Bo Jackson cards exist where his face is partially sliced off at the side of the image window. On other cards, statistics or names might be shifted or overlaid atop the picture. The severe cropping or layering errors are considered some of the most obvious miscuts found.
Card cutters also struggled with keeping all elements fully contained within the specified dimensions during trimming. Some ’89 Donruss cards left portions of images, names or stats dangling off the edges in an uncut state. Conversely, an excessively deep cut could shear away important identifying sections of a card. The famous Nolan Ryan error was cut so severely that nearly his entire last name was missing, leaving just “NOLAN RY.” One of the rarest errors in the set, it exemplifies the issues that could result from poor cutting precision.
Perhaps the most infamous mistakes of all involved missing or incorrect player information texts on front or back. A small handful of cards had someone entirely different’s statistics printed on them instead of the pictured player. For instance, a Scott Sanderson Cardinals card had Bo Jackson’s Royals stats on the back by mistake. Even more bizarrely, some cards had another player’s name in place of the photo subject’s. One of the most valuable error cards from 1989 Donruss features Robin Yount – but with his name printed as “GARY SHEFFIELD.” These complete text swaps represent the pinnacle of production failures.
In total, experts estimate there may be several hundred distinct error variations across the entire ’89 Donruss baseball set. While challenging to pin down precise numbers, the combination of miscuts, misprints, color clashes, missing information errors and more clearly represent an anomaly even compared to other notable error year issues. Whether caused by new printing equipment, quality control gaps, or other factors – the results delighted error collectors for years to come. Prices for the most dramatic mistakes in the set have climbed into the thousands of dollars today for high grade specimens. Driven by their scarce numbers and iconic notoriety, 1989 Donruss errors continue fascinating collectors and retaining prominence in the hobby decades later.
