1991 Studio

Year: 1991

Manufacturer: Leaf/Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: 80

Card Type: Base

In 1991 the trading card market was starting to get crowded.  Not as crowded as it would be come by the mid to late 90s and early 2000s, but the writing was on the wall and the race for innovation was on.  Fleer and Donruss were still playing catch up into the more premium card market that Upper Deck launched in 1989 and Topps countered with Stadium Club.  In 1991 Fleer would launch Ultra and Donruss gave us Studio.  Studio was meant to be a stately set.  A throwback to the cabinet cards of the turn of the century.  And Donruss did a pretty good job with this inaugural issue.  The magenta borders work well with the black and white photos and there is a nice write up on the back.  The 1992 issue was a step backward for the set and wasn't a great follow-up to this first set, but in 1993 Donruss really stepped up there game with a glossy finish and holofoil and never looked back putting out some pretty nice versions of this set.  In 1991 this was all you got.  Just a really nice base set, no foil or color parallels, absolutely no autographs or relics, just the standard puzzle piece insert for the black and white Rod Carew.

2005 Donruss Studio - Portraits - Zenith White

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: SP-91

Card Type: Insert Parallel

Insert Set: Portraits

Parallel: Zenith White

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 43/70

COMC Black Friday Haul #47

I posted about 2005 a lot over the years.  Mainly because Robin has a lot of cards from 2005.  As a matter of fact the most cards every produced for Robin were in 2005 with what I estimated to be right around 1000.  You can see the Yount-o-graph I did year's ago here.  I should update that.

Anyways one of the main reasons Robin has so many cards from 2005 was the fact that a lot of the insert sets he was included in had a gazillion parallels.  Case in point is 2005 Donruss Studios Portraits insert, it has over 50 different parallels.  All serial numbered, all barely different.  A lot has to do the with advertising on the back but also the border color, the photo color and the serial numbering.  But with so many to chase when one pops up on COMC and for a decent price I usually will pick it up.  

The Portraits set was a nod to the cabinet cards from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.  Although I'm at a loss if it was directly modeled after one particular set.  Maybe someone out there knows?

Anyways it's a great card from the last set of Donruss Studio that was issued before Donruss-Playoff lost their MLB license.

2005 Donruss Studio Portraits Gray Border "White" Diamond Kings back

Year: 2005

Manufacturer: Donruss

Set: Studio

Card Number: SP-91

Card Type: Insert Color/Back Parallel

Insert Set: Portraits

Parallel set:  Gray Border - Diamond Kings back

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 48/60

In 2005 Donruss and Upper Deck were competing to see which company could produce the set with the most confusing and numerous parallels and inserts.  Upper Deck put up a good fight, but in the end I think Donruss won hands down with sets like this and Diamond Kings.  Studio Portraits was an insert to Donruss' popular Studio brand.  The old Studio sets are still some of my favorites from the early 90's.  

The insert features a very nice photo of Robin.  The parallels, I'm not sure if there is a base insert, feature various border colors and photo effects.  To make it more interesting there is also an advertising variation on the backs.  Donruss put their various brand logos on the backs.  This grey border card has the Diamond Kings logo.  It's possible this is also called the white border, I'm not sure it's a super confusing set.  To make matters worse many of the cards are very low numbered.  My example here being numbered to just 60.  To make matters worse I don't think the whole checklist is paralleled.

While the set is confusing and frustrating I'm still glad things like this exist out there for me to hunt and find.  

1992 Studio

Year: 1992

Manufacturer: Leaf/Donruss

Set: Studio Baseball

Card Number: 200

Card Type Base

I've always liked the Studio brand. Especially as a player collector it was nice to have a studio lit portrait shot of the guy you collect.  Studio got better and better though the years and Panini still uses the brand.  They use it as an insert instead of a full blow card release and I think that works.  There are plenty of set concepts that work better as inserts.  This was the second year of Studio and Donruss would go on to make sets for years. 

I also all the odd facts that they threw on the back of the card.  Hey Robin what's the weirdest job you ever had? Who's your favorite singer?  I'm sure some of these answers might have changed over time.  The back also mentions his wife and 4 kids.  Robin's son Dustin played pro ball for a while too, so did his nephew.

2004 Donruss Studio Heroes of the Hall insert

Card Manufacturer: Donruss

Card Set: Donruss Studio

Year: 2004

Card Number: HH-10

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Heroes of the Hall

Card Attributes: Serial Numbered

Serial Number: 949/999

Another insert from the mid-2000's.  Again these inserts were designed for the relic and auto versions. That's way the photo is so small there there seems to be so much wasted space on the card.  There are also a couple parallels to the base card besides the relics and auto versions of this card.  All the cards are serial numbered, with this base card being the highest at 999.

In the relic cards the relic piece goes where the H is and the sticker autos were placed mid card, over the team logo and into the player picture.