From 1983-1987 Donruss released a series of oversized card sets under the Donruss Action All-Stars and Donruss All-Stars monikers. For the first several years, it was clear Donruss was still experimenting with what exactly they wanted this product line to be, but over time a few characteristics held true.
I present to you The Definitive Guide to Donruss Action All-Stars.
1983
The 60 card 1983 set debuted in 38 pack boxes with six cards in each pack. Each pack retailed for .30 and also came with three puzzle pieces which were part of a Mickey Mantle puzzle unique to this product. With 228 cards in each box, collector’s could reasonably expect to be able to put together 3 complete sets.
Each horizontal card had a maroon border and featured two images of the player. One was a portrait and one was an inset action shot. The Donruss ‘83 logo was in the upper left corner of the card, and the players name and position was found under the inset action photo in the bottom right. The card backs featured the player’s name, bio, career stats, and some interesting facts.
The 1983 set is the only year the Donruss Action All-Stars set had a horizontal layout.
On thing to note is the Reggie Jackson variation in this set. There are two different backs for Jackson. The more valuable variation has the red shaded box used for the biographical info and interesting facts run into the last couple years of career stats.
The Checklist can be found here on TCDB and is pretty loaded.
Johnny Bench, Nolan Ryan, Pete Rose, Cal Ripken Jr., George Brett, and Mike Schmidt are a few of the big names in the set, but there are tons of other superstars in the mix. Singles can be found for .18 each on Sportlots, and unopened wax boxes can be picked up for about $20 on eBay. One other thing to note, is don’t overlook the market for the Mantle puzzle pieces. While they aren’t rare by any means, the fact they were unique to this set means there are fewer of them to go around. For instance on Sportlots, listings show about 1/3 as many Mantle pieces as compared with the Cobb pieces found in the flagship Donruss set.
A dealer’s promo sheet of four uncut cards can also be found with featured Pete Rose, Mookie Wilson, Dave Winfield, and Tim Lollar.
1984
In the 1984 Action All-Stars set, Donruss kept the maroon border from the prior release, but they flipped to a vertical card orientation. They also kept the action and portrait shots, but got creative with how they were displayed. The action shot took up the full front of the card, and the color portrait shot moved to the back. I believe this is the first time we had a color player photo on the back of a card.
In addition to the photo, the backs also contained statistical and biographical information.
The Action All-Stars set provides another second year card for Sandberg.
Donruss also kept the size of the set the same, and like the 1983 release, the 60 card 1984 checklist was once again loaded with stars. Some younger stars made the cut this time with Willie McGee, Ryne Sandberg, and Wade Boggs joining the legendary names of Ryan, Rose, Brett, and Jackson.
Once again, an exclusive puzzle for this product was included with Ted Williams getting the honor in 1984. Similar to the prior year, the Williams pieces are a bit tougher to find than the Duke Snider Puzzle in the flagship set. Only a handful of pieces are available on Sportlots, and this puzzle is recognized as being the most rare of all Donruss puzzles.
The 1984 packs retailed for .35 and contained five cards and a set of three puzzle pieces. Full boxes are still pretty reasonable on eBay if you are interested in picking one up.
A four card promo sheet was also made for the 1984 product, but this time it showed both the front and backs of Robin Yount and Bob Horner.
The full checklist can be found here.
1985
The product continued to evolve in 1985 using some familiar aspects from the prior sets while also making a few changes. The set stayed with a vertical orientation and the checklist remained at 60 cards. Don Mattingly, Ozzie Smith, and Ryne Sandberg are a few of my favorites. Also, Dwight Gooden has a rookie card in this set!
From a design perspective, Donruss chose to move the portrait back to the front of the card in 1985. The black checkered border is more closely tied to the flagship design than either of the previous two releases.
It seems Donruss decided to streamline some things this time by using the same Lou Gehrig puzzle in both the flagship and Action All-Stars product.
Packs once again contained 5 cards and a set of three puzzle pieces. Check out my full review of this product in this article.
1986
More changes were introduced in 1986. First and foremost, the name of the product dropped the “Action” title and moved to simple 1986 Donruss All-Stars. The design was pretty much just a larger version of the flagship design, and for the first time went with a single player picture. In place of the small inset picture, a National League or American League logo was used. Like we saw in 1985, Donruss used the same Hank Aaron puzzle for both the All-Stars and Flagship set as one of the inserts.
Did you catch that? Yep, I said ONE of the inserts. In 1986, Donruss introduced a second insert into this product. A set of 18 pop-ups was included which represented the 9 All-Star Game starters from each league. This was another nice, unique, addition to a product which was already full of character.
Each set since 1983 had a checklist as one of the 60 cards, but 1986 was the first year another non-player card was included in the set. To help commemorate the All-Star game, card 59 featured the Minneapolis Metrodome which hosted the 1985 event. The checklist contains a whopping 21 members of the Hall of Fame matching the total from the 1985 set.
Four special cards could be found on box bottoms, with Wade Boggs, Lee Smith, Cecil Cooper, and a full picture of the Hank Aaron Puzzle being on the checklist. I have had a hard time tracking down examples of these cards for sale, and in my research I could only find the Aaron puzzle.
Similar to what we saw in each product since 1983, sealed boxes can be found for about $20 delivered on eBay, and singles are widely available on Sportlots.
Here is the full 1986 Checklist.
1987
The fifth and final year of the jumbo sized Donruss All-Star run had some indications that the end was near. There were no notable changes to the design elements or packaging from the year before. The design was very similar to the flagship 1987 flagship design, minus the “baseball pattern” in the middle of the side border.
The Roberto Clemente puzzle was the same as flagship, and this year the pop up checklist expanded to 20 cards. Both the AL and NL managers were added.
Research once again showed that four cards could be found on the bottoms of boxes, Mike Scott, Roger Clemens, Mike Krukow, and a full picture of the Roberto Clemente puzzle were the cards available for collectors to chase. Similar to the 1986 set, I had a hard time finding examples of these cards.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I love oddball cards. While these cards are not rare, I find them more unique than the traditional flagship releases and are a cherished part of my collection. From their jumbo size which allows for more info on the card backs, to the fun fact that the 1984 set made industry history by putting the first full color photo on the back, to the exclusive puzzle and pop-up inserts, this product run has it all.
If you want to track some down and display them, I’d recommend picking up some of these sheets which perfectly hold four cards per page.
Let me know what you think!
Also, if you haven’t heard, I started a new Podcast called the WaxPackHero Sports Card Minute! It’s available here directly on the site at the Podcast link at the top of the page, or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, and TuneIn! Check it out, let me know what you think, and tell your friends!