The 1987 Donruss baseball card set was one of the most popular and collectible releases during the height of the baseball card boom in the 1980s. Inside the iconic green wax cardboard boxes, collectors found 561 individual player and manager cards along with various insert cards documenting the 1986 MLB season. It was the seventh installment in Donruss’ popular MLB card series that began in 1981.

Some key details about the 1987 Donruss baseball card set and its original packaging:

Set Size: The base set included 561 cards spanning all 26 MLB teams from 1986. Numbers ranged from 1 to 561. Several additional inserts and parallels were also included in Factory Set and Wax Pack boxes.

Design: Artistair continued their photo-realistic painted style for player cards. Most featured solid colored borders and team logo in the bottom corner. Managers had green borders. Checklists and records cards had die-cut edges.

Players: The entire set was Players from the 1986 MLB season. Major stars included Roger Clemens, Wade Boggs, Ozzie Smith, Ryne Sandberg, and Gary Carter. Rookies included Tom Glavine and David Justice.

Inserts: Special inserts included World Series Highlights (12 cards), All-Star Performers (9 cards), Leaders and Rookies (9 cards), and Leaders and Records (15 cards). Parallels included Florescent and Rainbow photo variations.

Packaging: Cards came in green wax cardboard boxes containing either 24 or 36 factory-sealed wax packs with 5 cards each. Boxes advertised “520 Baseball Trading Cards Inside” and featured rendered artwork.

Production: Donruss printed over 700 million cards in 1987 across multiple baseball sets as the sport’s popularity peaked. Significant print runs led to abundant availability for years.

The original 1987 Donruss wax packs and boxes offered collectors a fun, low-risk way to build their hobby during a golden era. Finding star rookies or coveted inserts added sparks of excitement to the experience. While initial demand was high, this approach ultimately led to a sharp sports card crash in the early 1990s as overproduction tanked values.

Within the boxes, each wax pack had a unique throwback design covered by a thin layer of green wax paper. This helped protect the crisp photo images on each card inside from damage or fingerprints as you eagerly tore it open. The anticipation of not knowing which players you may pull made every new pack an event.

Base cards were sorted by team, so you could sometimes find runs of players from the same franchise together. Inserts and parallels were far less common pulls, adding to the thrill when they unexpectedly appeared. With no online checklists available yet, young collectors relied solely on their wits to try and complete the enormous 561-card set through trading.

boxes also included the 1986 Donruss Leader, Rookie, and Record subset cards not found in wax packs. These celebrated the top performers and notable achievements from the previous MLB season. Leaders cards paid tribute to batting champions, ERA titles, and other statistical crowns. Meanwhile, the Rookie subset previewed young talents who would be bigger stars in future Donruss releases.

Beyond the cards themselves, the iconic green packaging of 1987 Donruss boxes holds a nostalgic power for a generation of baseball fans who came of age during the sport’s peak popularity in the 1980s. Rummaging through stacks of loose cards in plastic storage boxes today can’t replace the fun of first tearing into one of these original green wax boxes not knowing what new cardboard treasures it may hold. While raw cardboard packs have long since disappeared, the vintage Donruss boxes remain a tangible reminder of how collecting captured American youth for a brief but powerful period in time.

In the intervening decades since, the 1987 Donruss set has proven to hold lasting mainstream appeal. Thanks to the photos and players selected, the cards transported many collectors on a visual time traveling journey back to the summer of baseball in 1986. This helps explain why complete, well-centered examples of stars like Clemens, Sandberg and so on from the ‘87 Donruss set remain relatively affordable compared to ultra-high-end vintage cardboard. The connection to a special time in sports history when collecting was a nationwide fever keeps demand and nostalgia strong to this day.

Whether completing a childhood set, chasing rare inserts, or simply reminiscing about a golden age, the 1987 Donruss boxes packed a special experience. They sparked creativity and camaraderie among collectors while documenting a golden age of baseball. Their enduring popularity is a testament to the power these flimsy cardboard treasures hold over the imagination decades later. For many who ripped packs as kids, the original Donruss boxes represent the very beginning of a lifelong hobby and connection to America’s pastime.