Donruss began expanding their product line in 1983 with the introduction of the Hall of Fame Heroes set and the jumbo sized Action All-Stars cards. Apparently, they wanted to continue to push the oversized card market in 1984 with the release of the Donruss Champions set.
With both active and retired Hall of Fame members included, this set is somewhat of a mashup of the Action All-Stars line and the prior year’s Hall of Fame Heroes product. The cards of the HOF members utilized the artwork of Dick Perez, while the cards of the active players used traditional photographs.
The checklist contains 60 cards and the back of the checklist card detailed the logic of the mix of current and retired changes. The 10 legends captured with Perez artwork are considered Grand Champions. Those players were deemed to “set the hallmarks of excellence” in ten aspects of the game. The remaining players are all current players who had achievements which “may” have them on the road to Cooperstown.
It seems that they were right on many accounts as about 60% of the of the 60 card set ended up in the HOF.
Five card packs of these cards were issued with three pieces of a Duke Snider puzzle for .35 each. Wax Boxes can be found on eBay for $20-$30, and complete sets can be picked up for about $10-$15. It doesn’t seem the product went over too well, as 1984 was the one and only year of the Champions.
If you like oddballs, this is another fun product from the 80s. Personally, I prefer the continuity of the the five year Action All-Star run. I’m happy to have the set that came in a recent collection I purchase, but I don’t know if I’d actively be pursuing this set.
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!
