1981 Donruss Conditions

[steve B]

By strict standards, the 81D were iffy right out of the pack. Thin, not as consistent on size, often cut a little crooked so the corners stuck out....

[deweyinthehall]

81 Donruss was a mess for all the reasons given - but to their credit they really pulled a great turnaround and their 82 set was better in every regard. Curiously, Fleer went the exact opposite way - good debut, lousy follow-up the next year.

[ALR-bishop]

Looked at my set and see what you guys mean. Had forgotten how many variations I ended up with for that set

[Mike D.]

1981 gets my vote for worst set design of the 80’s, across the board!

The call-out that 1982 was miles better...just a year later...is spot on and a good observation!

[steve B]

I actually really like 81 Donruss. But then, I tend to like odd things that aren't always popular.

I remember one batch the local card shop had where the collation was the worst I've ever seen or heard of. Each pack included 11 of the same card and 7 random cards. One kid got 11 Yaz cards (Totally amazing just outside Boston!)
Another got 11 of the same checklist.

They stopped selling them and were in the process of sending that whole batch back.

[Harliduck]

I remember opening packs of 81 D back when I was 11, and they seemed like a booby prize. We had a corner store and all they got was Donruss, as kids we were TICKED. Doubles in the packs, the stock felt cheap...it just didn't feel like the real deal.

Fast forward to this summer and I repurchased the set (actually bought all Donruss and Fleer, 81-90, to recapture my youth). Went to put them in a binder and all the memories of crap cards came rushing back. The cuts on some of the cards are ridiculous! I was just laughing as I was bindering this set up. Looking back though the 81 Topps set was so boring, something new was nice. I prefered the 81 Fleer when I was 11...and I had my mom go to another town just to get packs. Good times.

[mortimer brewster]

I remember back in 1981 being excited about a new card release other than Topps. Went to the Local Corner store and bought a whole box (36 packs I think). Opened each pack and to my amazement the only cards were Royals,Yankees or Tigers. I must have had 15 John Wathan cards.

I remember the gum being better than Topps. I did like the back design. nice writeups.

[Bigdaddy]

Originally Posted by deweyinthehall

81 Donruss was a mess for all the reasons given - but to their credit they really pulled a great turnaround and their 82 set was better in every regard. Curiously, Fleer went the exact opposite way - good debut, lousy follow-up the next year.

Agree, 100%. It's like the designers/production folks left Fleer in the fall of '81 and all went to Donruss, and vice versa.

I can't think of a single nice thing to say about the 1981 Donruss cards. Even the gum was terrible for sticking to the cards. We would put boxes of wax in the freezer so that the gum would 'pop' off the cards instead of tearing them.

And thanks for the video, that was a trip and not an uncommon experience in the summer of 1981.

[ALR-bishop]

Chuck-- I prefer Tony in a Cardinal's uniform. 😊. Did you ever see the What's My Line show where no one thought he was really a MLB manager ?

[insidethewrapper]

My Donruss cards in 1981 and 1982 showed a lot of mis-cuts and centering problems. They also had a grainy feel to many of them.

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

My Donruss cards in 1981 and 1982 showed a lot of mis-cuts and centering problems. They also had a grainy feel to many of them.

By grainy, you mean to the touch as opposed to photo quality right? Because they did have that feel. I bought a NM set a few years ago (it looked to be factory packed because the cards had a zebra pattern to the edges like Topps vending does - didn't think they made factory sets then, although it's the second set I've seen packed like that). Anyway - cards were really nice NM/MT, but many did have the feel of very, very, very fine sand-paper (can't be gum - maybe the dust from the sheets during the cutting process?)

[swarmee]

In case you guys haven't seen this thread, it's worth reading:
https://forums.collectors.com/discus...ss-psa-10-sets