User:EhrenS/donruss
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Donruss is a brand of sports card produced by Playoff, Inc., and was one of the so-called "Big Three" sports card brands of the late 20th century, along with Fleer and Topps. They were most recognized for their baseball cards produced between 1981 and 2005.
Donruss baseball cards were produced continuously from 1981 to 1998, when its then-parent Pinnacle Brands filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and from 2001 to 2005, when Major League Baseball and the MLB Players Association revoked the company's license. They also produced NHL hockey cards from 1992 until 1998, and NFL football cards since 1996. Today, only the football card lines remain.
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[edit] History
Donald and Russell Weiner founded the original Donruss company in 1954, combining their first names to arrive at the company name. During the 1950s and 1960s the company put out several entertainment-themed trading card sets until 1969, when General Mills acquired the brand.
[edit] Entry into the baseball card market
In the winter of 1980, on the heels of Fleer's historic court victory over Topps, Donruss rushed into production a ###-card set for the 1981 season. The first printings were riddled with errors, most of which were fixed in subsequent runs. They were also printed on flimsy card stock and there were no factory sets; rather, the cards were shipped to dealers in 100-count lots and were then collated by hand.
With an entire offseason to prepare, Donruss shipped a much improved, more polished 660-card set for 1982. The '82 offering also saw the introduction of the Diamond Kings subset, made up of oil paintings by noted sports artist Dick Perez. Another Donruss innovation for 1982 was the inclusion of jigsaw puzzle pieces with a pack of cards in place of gum. (An appeal of the 1978 Fleer v. Topps ruling in 1981 barred the two new card companies from using gum premiums; Fleer switched to team logo stickers in 1982.)
In late 1983 Donruss was acquired from General Mills by Finnish conglomerate Huhtamäki and was rolled into another of the company's recent acquisitions, Leaf Candy Company.
[edit] Increased competition and market saturation
[edit] End of an era
In the late summer of 2005,
