Overview
1981 Donruss Baseball isn’t a fancy set. Most would argue that it’s not even an overly attractive set. But it is an important one. Along with Fleer, it gave collectors a choice when it came to mainstream baseball cards. Following some court battles, the decades-spanning monopoly Topps held was broken. Donruss, a company that in recent years made sets for entertainment properties like The Dukes of Hazzard, KISS and CHiPs, was in the baseball card business.
And while their first set is marred by errors, lacks big-time Rookie Cards and is drab at many points, it’s a beginning. And innovation wasn’t far behind.
