03.03
Price: $24 shipped
Packs: 24, 10 cards per pack
Cards for set: 173/180; 96% complete
Duplicates: 58
Rating: 4/5
This was, perhaps, one of the weird box breaks for me. Not a bad thing, but when you’re used to product that has stated odds on the box/wrappers, it’s a little hard to guess what insert(s) you could/could not get. Even more, using the online checklist through Beckett said the same thing as the Donruss packs: ‘randomly inserted into packs’. Thanks, Donruss!
Well, opening the packs presented the collector with a basic card design, as seen below. Silver foil-stamping and the team color on the side. Simple. The cards were upside down and backwards in the packs, and the cards weren’t free from corner damage. Good thing I’m not trying to collect a gem mint set.
1997 Donruss Update
Press proofs made a return this year, with silver and gold. Silver is limited to 2,000 sets and the gold was limited to just 500. However, they weren’t serial numbered. Instead, the phrase ’1 of 2000′ or ’1 of 500′ graced the back of the cards, in small print. In the break, I had 2 silver and just 1 gold. I will note that the gold press proofs were die cut. Flashy.
1997 Donruss Update Silver Press Proof
1997 Donruss Update Gold Press Proof
Another semi-popular insert made it’s return in 1997, Donruss Dominators. They weren’t too flashy; just a 20-card insert set featuring the top ‘dominating’ players of 1997.
1997 Donruss Update Dominators
Donruss Update included Diamond Kings, but for rookies. And of course, they were aptly named Rookie Diamond Kings. Catchy huh? Well, I managed to get one. Not too bad. If only it was printed on canvas though.
1997 Donruss Update Rookie Diamond Kings
One insert that seems to be a preview of the Crusade set was Franchise Features. Ok, so the sets are different, but the underlying technology was similar.
Randomly inserted in Update hobby packs only at an approximate rate of 1:48, cards from this 15-card set feature color player photos on a unique “movie-poster” style, double-front card design. Each card highlights a superstar veteran on one side displaying a “Now Playing” banner, while the other side features a rookie prospect with a “Coming Attraction” banner. Each card is printed on an all foil card stock and serial numbered to 3,000.
Ok, so that one actually had odds listed. I must have missed it, but hey. 1:48 is pretty good.
1997 Donruss Update Franchise Features
There was a 10-card set “tribute” to Cal Ripken, Jr.
This special autobiographical tribute to Cal Ripken Jr. delivers a one-of-a-kind inside look at the modern day “Iron Man.” Cards from this ten card set are printed on all foil card stock with foil stamping, utilizing exclusive photography and excerpts from his book. The first nine cards in the set were randomly seeded into packs of Donruss Update at an approximate rate of 1:24. Card number 10 was available exclusively in his book, “The Only Way I Know.” Ripken autographed 2,131 of these number 10 cards and they were randomly inserted into the books. Because of it’s separate distribution, card number 10 is not commonly included in complete sets, thus the mainstream set is considered complete with cards 1-9. Only 5,000 of each 1-9 card were produced, each of which are sequentially numbered on back.
1997 Donruss Update Cal Ripken, Jr. Insert
Ah, redemption in this otherwise mediocre box break. A gold Power Alley insert of Cal Ripken, Jr.
This 24-card set features color images of some of the league’s top hitters printed on a micro-etched, all-foil card stock with holographic foil stamping. Using a “fractured” printing structure, 12 players utilize a green finish and are numbered to 4,000. Eight players are printed on all blue finish and number to 2,000, with the last four players utilizing a gold finish and are numbered to 1,000.
Well, it may not be die-cut, but I can’t complain with the color or player I received.
1997 Donruss Power Alley Gold Cal Ripken, Jr.
This set from Donruss isn’t really anything to get excited over. However, it does have some decent inserts that, if you hit the right ones, more than make up for the break. The set itself is a 3/5 in terms of design and quality, but getting the gold Power Alley of Cal Ripken, Jr. brings the overall break up to a 4/5.
Time to get a “fat” price guide. I don’t pay attention to the pricing and use it for coallation purposes only. I go to ebay and buy last years version of the book for a few dollars. It will list all most of the cards in the 90′s. Great tool for those of us that started collecting the 90′s years after the fact!