Donruss

1954 to 1998, Donruss Douglas Thomas, Donald, and Russel Wiener founded the original Donruss company in 1954. At first, they were the owners of the Thomas Wiener Company located in Memphis, Tennessee. They manufactured hard candy, suckers and Super Bubble gum. Combining their first names, Douglas, Don, and Russ, they renamed their company Donruss and continued to produce candy and gum. Donruss produced several entertainment-themed trading cards, from such television shows as The Addams Family, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, The Monkees and The Flying Nun from 1961 until 1969. That same year, Donruss made national news with a $30,000 surtax dispute. Donruss paid its surtax but sued to get the money back. It won in U.S. Circuit Court but lost in U.S. Supreme Court. Donruss claimed its earnings did not pass the "purpose test" to avoid paying the taxes, and having lost it prevented any other corporation from using the purpose test. The entertainment line was sold to United States Playing Card Company. Pinnacle used the Donruss and Leaf brands on baseball, football and hockey cards. In 1985, the company obtained baseball licenses and started producing its unique style of cards under the name "Sportflics". This also marked the first time any company used full-color photography on the back of sports cards. Minus "Magic Motion", but using the same style as its Sportflics cards, it released baseball cards under the Score brand in 1988 and football cards under the Score brand in 1989. Donruss Playoff expanded its entertainment lines in 2002, with such trading cards as Buffy the Vampire Slayer through its new Score Entertainment division. Donruss also produced the first Spanish-only baseball card set. From 2007 to 2009, Donruss has released baseball card products featuring players that are no longer under MLB contract. 2009 and beyond On March 13, 2009, Panini s.p.a. of Italy (which had previously acquired the exclusive license to produce NBA trading cards beginning with the 2009–10 season), announced that it had purchased Donruss Playoff. Effective immediately, the company was renamed Panini America, Inc. However, the company continued to operate out of Irving, Texas, with much of the existing upper management. During the 2010 Industry Summit Collectibles (a gathering where retailers can meet leaders in the trading cards industry, and listen to discussions about card collecting), held in Las Vegas on April 11, Panini America announced changes to the company's distribution network. Only retail stores would be authorized to sell Panini products directly to consumers, and any retailer attempting to wholesale would lose its authorization. Only wholesalers would be authorized to sell Panini products directly to retailers, and any wholesaler attempting to retail would lose its authorization. Panini also outlined other initiatives: that they will continue to destroy returned NBA trading cards to protect "collectibility", willing to implement minimum advertised price if needed, formation of a brick-and-mortar standards committee, upgraded ordering systems and schedules, new football and hockey trading cards and other products featuring autographs and memorabilia swatches from sports, history and pop culture. ==Baseball cards==

1981 to 1989 In late 1980, on the heels of a court ruling in favor of Fleer that voided Topps' exclusivity deal, Donruss rushed into production a 605-card set for the 1981 season. The first printings were riddled with errors (though Fleer's first set was even worse in this regard), most of which were fixed in subsequent runs. They were also printed on flimsy card stock and there were no factory sets; rather, the cards were shipped to dealers in 100-count lots and were then collated by hand. TCMA of Amawalk, New York handled dealer business. TV personality Keith Olbermann was a photographer for some of the cards that were part of the 1981 Donruss set. With an entire offseason to prepare, Donruss shipped a much improved, more polished set for 1982. The 1982 offering also saw the introduction of the Diamond Kings, the first 26 cards of the 660-card set, made up of oil paintings by noted sports artist Dick Perez. An appeal of the 1978 Fleer v. Topps ruling in 1981 barred the two new card companies from using gum premiums; Fleer switched to team logo stickers in 1982, while Donruss included jigsaw puzzle pieces with a pack of cards. Babe Ruth was pictured as "Hall of Fame Diamond King" when the 63-piece puzzle was assembled. Donruss also began selling to dealers directly, the first of the major card companies to offer factory sets for those buying in bulk. Notable card in this set is Cal Ripken's rookie card. Donruss released three baseball card sets in 1983. Its standard 660-card set (with only minimal changes; a glove replacing the ball on the front and the back switching from blue to yellow), a 60-card "Action All-Star" set and a 44-card "Hall of Fame Heroes" set. "Action All-Star" were not the standard 2½" by 3½" card size, rather 3½" by 5" and included a 63-piece Mickey Mantle puzzle (eight cards per pack and three pieces on one card per pack). The "Hall of Fame Heroes" set were standard sized cards issued in the same packs as the "Action All-Star" cards, but rather than picturing photographs of the players Donruss used its Diamond King style and showed Dick Perez oil paintings. Notable rookie cards in their standard set include Ryne Sandberg, Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs. Another card of note is an error card of Ron Jackson where Donruss claimed he played for the A's rather than the Angels. Donruss did issue a card to correct the error. That year's jigsaw puzzle inserted in wax packs featured Ty Cobb. The 1984 660-card base set was among the company's most successful; however, only 658 are numbered. A new feature introduced that year were two "Living Legend" cards designated A (featuring Gaylord Perry and Rollie Fingers) and B (featuring Johnny Bench and Carl Yastrzemski). These were issued as bonus cards in wax packs but not issued in the factory set. Another new feature among the base set were labeling cards 27 through 46 as "Rated Rookies" chosen by Bill Madden. The 1984 jigsaw puzzle inserted in wax packs was Duke Snider. A notable card in this set is Don Mattingly's rookie card. Donruss, again, produced the 60-card "Action All-Star" set, with the year's 63-piece puzzle featuring Ted Williams, and created another 3½" by 5" 60-card set called "Champions". The "Champions" featured the artwork of Dick Perez and were issued in cello packs along with pieces of the Duke Snider puzzle. Donruss released six baseball card sets in 1985. The standard 660-card set, 60-card "Action All-Stars", 56-card "Highlights", 8-card "Hall of Fame Sluggers", 28-card "Super Diamond Kings" and 263-card "Leaf" set. The standard set contained the previous year's features; the first 26 cards are Diamond Kings with artwork by Perez-Steele Galleries and cards 27 through 46 as Rated Rookies. Lou Gehrig puzzle pieces were inserted in the year's wax packs. A notable card in this set is Roger Clemens' rookie card. The wax boxes, which held the wax packs, of the standard issue set featured four standard-size cards, styled the same as the standard set, on the bottom of the box and are numbered with a PC prefix. "Action All-Stars" measured the usual 3½" by 5", but rather than using a different puzzle for this set Donruss issued the standard set's Lou Gehrig puzzle pieces with the cards. The "Highlights" set, as the name would suggest, features 54 highlights of players and pitchers of the month for the American League and National League. The final two cards of the set were devoted to American League and National League Rookies of the Year chosen by Donruss. Dick Perez provided the artwork for the 3½" by 6½" "Hall of Fame Sluggers" set. Players for this set were chosen by their career slugging percentage, and the cards are numbered by the percentages. This is the first and last time Donruss would make this type of set. The "Super Diamond Kings" are enlarged, measuring approximately 4 15/16 by 6¾", versions of the first 26 cards of the standard set, and were obtained through mail-order. The other two cards featured a checklist card and one of artist Dick Perez. A Lou Gehrig puzzle piece was also included in the mail-order. Two new sets were introduced in 1986. 18-card "Pop-Ups" and 56-card "Rookies". The "Pop-Ups" measured 2½" by 5" and features the first 18 players of the "All-Star" set. The cards were die-cut and folded in a manner that when we unfolded, or "popped up", could stand on its own and give the appearance of a player in action in front of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome ballpark background. For the cards to remain in mint condition, card collecting guides recommend not unfolding the cards. The "Rookies" were issued in factory set form and came with 15-piece jigsaw puzzle of Hank Aaron. Donruss introduced one new 272-card set for the year called "Opening Day". The set featured a card for every player in the starting line up on Opening Day. Like the "Rookies" set, the "Opening Day" set contained a 15-piece jigsaw puzzle of Roberto Clemente. A notable card in this set is a Barry Bonds' error card with Johnny Ray pictured instead of Bonds. Donruss did issue a card to correct the error. 1987 was the only year Donruss issued an "Opening Day" set. Also new to 1988 is a 336-card set called "Baseball's Best" and 27-card "Team Books" of the A's, Cubs, Mets, Red Sox and Yankees. "Baseball's Best" was issued late in the season and sold in big-box stores as a complete factory set. Six 15-piece jigsaw puzzles of Stan Musial are included in every factory set. Each "Team Book" was issued with 27-cards (3 pages with 9 cards) and a large, perforated full-page puzzle of Stan Musial. These cards are identical to the standard set cards, but copyrighted 1988 rather than 1987, distinguishing the cards from the regular set. Donruss did not issue "Team Books" again. The other new sets for 1989 were a 12-card "Blue Chips" and a 56-card "Traded" set. The 12-card "Blue Chips" set is identical to the "Grand Slammers" set, except in the place of the "Grand Slammers" logo is a "Blue Chips" logo with a Donruss or Leaf trademark. These cards were not issued in factory sets, and are not commonly found among collectors. The "Traded" set was issued in factory form, featured players that traded teams and card numbers began with a T prefix. 1989 was the first and last time "Blue Chips" and "Traded" sets were produced. ==Summary of baseball cards==

Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond King puzzle inserts (1982–92) • 1982 Donruss: Babe Ruth • 1983 Donruss: Ty Cobb • 1983 Donruss Action All-Stars: Mickey Mantle • 1984 Donruss: Duke Snider • 1984 Donruss Action All-Stars: Ted Williams • 1985 Donruss: Lou Gehrig • 1986 Donruss: Hank Aaron • 1987 Donruss: Roberto Clemente • 1988 Donruss: Stan Musial • 1989 Donruss: Warren Spahn • 1990 Donruss: Carl Yastrzemski • 1990 Leaf: Yogi Berra • 1991 Donruss: Willie Stargell • 1991 Leaf: Harmon Killebrew • 1992 Donruss: Rod Carew Donruss "King of Kings" In addition to their trademark Diamond Kings subset/insert set, Donruss recognized several "King of Kings" for extraordinary achievements. They include: • 1986: Pete Rose, for breaking Ty Cobb's career hits record. • 1990: Nolan Ryan, for his 5,000th career strikeout. • 1994: Dave Winfield, for reaching both 3,000 hits and 400 home runs. • 1996: Eddie Murray, for becoming only the third player to reach both 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. • 1996: Cal Ripken Jr., for breaking Lou Gehrig's consecutive games record. ==See also==