Diamond Kings - from insert series to standalone set

I thought Panini had started releasing Diamond Kings as a range in itself in the years after the company acquired the rights to various DonRuss ranges. I've now discovered that DonRuss started doing it at the start of the millennium before being swallowed by the Panini empire.

However, the first card in today's post comes from the 90s, when the Diamond King cards were an insert series in the DonRuss flagship set.

Card Number 780: DonRuss, 1994; #DK-11

This is a very bold artwork with Diamond Kings emblazoned in red foil above it. The painting is by Dick Perez, who also painted Tony for the 1985, 1989 and 1996 Diamond Kings cards. It's to Dick's credit that his paintings looked quite different to each other. This is a very effective portrait.

The back is a little bit dull in comparison. It also gets dinged for gratuitous use of justified text. That's just one of my personal dislikes, but my justification for not liking justified text can be seen at the end of the second line where 'arthroscopic' is split over the two lines and the last two letters appear on the line below. 

For the record, Andres Galarraga won the batting title that year with .370. Tony's total of .358 would have won him the title in 1990, 1991 and 1992, so being runner up in 1993 showed how he was coming into form. He won four in a row from the following season. 

Card Number 781: DonRuss Diamond Kings, 2002; #145

In 2002, DonRuss released a 200-card Diamond Kings set. It was the first time Diamond Kings had been used as a standalone brand.

This is printed on a high quality, canvas-effect board. The way Tony's name is arranged it looks like 'Tony Gwynn of Padres', but the 'of' is actually OF, denoting his position as an 'outfielder'. 

DonRuss had moved on from commissioning art from Dick Perez. The cardback credits this to Mark Turnes. A Google search turns up several examples of his sports artwork, but he doesn't seem to have a website.

The cardback also has a handy line up of Tony's Diamond King appearances, which acts like a mini checklist. I will round out the set when I add his 2001 card to my collection!

Total: 781 cards

Tony's first crowning

Tony has made several appearances as a DonRuss Diamond King. This was his first.

Card Number 619: DonRuss, 1985; #25

The Diamond Kings cards were the first 26 cards in the DonRuss set. There was one player depicted for each team (this was before the two expansions in 1993 and 1998). 

The artist was Dick Perez, who ended up painting four Diamond Kings portraits of Tony between 1985 and 1996. Here's another link to his gallery.

There is a fairly big write up on the back. I enjoyed the way DonRuss equated being selected for a Diamond King card with being voted onto the All Star team!

There is a reference to Tony's time at Las Vegas, where he started the 1983 season after his Major League debut in 1982, and subsequent wrist injury. He only played 17 games for Las Vegas, recording a .342 batting average from 73 at bats. After being called up he then had over 300 at bats for the Padres that season.

Reading these early cards is quite informative. A lot of this detail quickly got lost as Tony racked up batting titles, All Star appearances, and so on. It's a reminder that after his hot debut, Tony still had work to do to establish himself as a Major League player. 

This is the final card Tim sent me that was new to the collection. However, Tim also included a 1984 Fleer card that was an upgrade on the one I already had in my binder - so thanks for that Tim!

Total: 619 cards

A duo of mid-90s Diamond Kings

Here are two DonRuss Diamond Kings cards from the 90s. They are both numbered out of 10,000. When people complain about overproduction in the current hobby, ask them if any card companies bother serial numbering cards into five digits! How many regular cards were printed that 10,000 was regarded as low?

Card Number 586: DonRuss Diamond Kings, 1996; #DK-9

There's a little bit of damage on the gold border of this card.The 'gold' seems to be overprinted on the card rather than embossed foil. 

The artist is Dick Perez, who painted the portraits for DonRuss's Diamond Kings range from 1982 to 1996. There is a full gallery of his Diamond Kings portraits on his website. He had produced portraits of Tony before, in 1985, 1989, and 1994. It's to his credit that they are all look quite different.

The write-up on the back is a contender for most words squeezed onto a cardback ever. I counted 113 words (not including numbers) in this paragraph.

This was the 8,950th card in the sequence. I can't think of a statistical tie-in to that number. The copyright year is 1995, but this was definitely part of the DonRuss 1996 set.

Card Number 587: DonRuss Diamond Kings, 1998; #4

This card had a very different look, with a silver foil edging to the frame. There isn't an indication who the artist is, apart from what looks like the initials 'BG' or 'DG' - it's hard to tell.

I've googled it, but am none the wiser. The DonRuss brand was changing hands with frightening regularity around this point. In 1998, it was owned by Pinnacle but they went bust that year. Unlike Dick Perez, whoever drew this card hasn't got an easily findable online gallery of their work. If Pinnacle ever put the details online that would be long-gone now.

The back is more restrained in terms of word volume. It's still one of the bigger blurbs on a card back.

At 1,927, the serial number is 7,023 lower than the card from 1996. Again this is a card with a copyright date a year out from when the set was released.

And as a little bonus, here's a timeline of Tony's Diamond Kings appearances from 1989 to 2005. (I have yet to acquire his 1985 and 1994 cards!)

Total: 587 cards