80s week: Dynamite DonRuss designs

I feel a bit embarrassed to admit this, but for a long time I judged DonRuss on the quality of their ubiquitous late 80s cards, particularly the 1988 cards that are the cards most people would think of first when they hear the term "junk wax". But in the build up towards the saturation of the market, DonRuss had some very nice card designs that aren't as easy to track down (at least not here in the UK).

Of the two Tony Gwynn rookie cards I own, the DonRuss 1983 card is by far my favourite. It's even incorporated into the header of this blog. The 1984 card is still on my wants list. So, this post starts with Tony's DonRuss card from 1985.

Card Number 485: DonRuss, 1985; #63

It's a bunt card!

This is a photo taken in the 1984 season as the Padres switched to pinstripes in 1985. However the new arched lettering logo is on the card. I think the person sat in the dugout, perfectly framed between Tony's legs, is the Padres manager, Dick Williams.

DonRuss had the most consistent cardbacks of the 80s. It worked so they never really changed anything.

As I said yesterday when writing about the Fleer cards from this era, the factoids capture elements of Tony's career that are often forgotten. Most players who batted .263 in a World Series would have that as a 'permafact' on the back of their cards in perpetuity. However, compared to Tony's normal batting standards, that was disappointing.

Sometimes factoids trigger new questions as well. I wonder how Tony broke his wrist in 1983 - and was that the reason he had a stint in AAA in Las Vegas?

Card Number 486: DonRuss 1986; #112

This card design was re-used this year by Panini, who now own the DonRuss brands.

My guess here is that Tony is watching the pitcher. That was his top tip to batters - spend as much time as possible watching the pitcher before you go out to bat. He recommended watching their warm-up throws as well, to try and work out their release points.

The cardback mentions an ongoing wrist injury in 1985, but it's not clear if that's a holdover from the broken wrist in 1983.

Tony's DonRuss base card from 1987 has already featured on the blog, however, a couple of new cards that arrived in the recent package were from the same year.

Card Number 487: DonRuss Opening Day. 1987; #146

This was a 272-card factory set, which used the "tyre tread" design of the regular base cards with a grape colour instead of black. From my research, this Opening Day set predates Topps Opening Day sets by eight years.

Tony's longer hair is a very middle-of-the-80s look.

The cardback describes Tony as the "Padres' best hitter". Already his ability to consistently bat above .300 every season was being noted. That opening day game sounds like an epic battle.

One thing that stands out to me in the career performance box is Tony's very low number of strike outs. At this point in his career he was striking out once every 4.75 games. So if you wanted to see him strike out you would need to go and watch the Padres at least five times to give you the best statistical chance of seeing it.

Card Number 488: DonRuss Highlights, 1987; #12

The 'Highlights' series was a 56-card boxed set. The 'tyre tread' is over a royal blue background.

This is probably the wordiest DonRuss cardback from the 80s.

There's a mistake there - it says he collected over 20 hits, when it should probably say over 200 hits. Although to be fair, to collect over 200 hits, he would need to collect over 20 hits on the way. June was definitely a hot month for him. Those were some figures!

Total: 488 cards