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.