1984 Donruss Baseball - the unofficial but legal thread

Ichiro51fan · November 29, 2007 2:22AM

Yeah... it's been like forever, and I'm sure it seems like longer to you

I finally got my 12 '84 D rack packs last week. Was going to fo a live rip but ended up just opening them due to lack of time. I will post some scans later tonight, but overall, I was not thrilled with the results, but not too disappointed either. I ended up with at least 1 of most of the key cards (Ryan & Sandberg were the most noteable exceptions). Got a nice Mattingly but it's probably just a bit too much OC to be a 10... hoping it's a 9 though. My overall thought is that there are probably a lot of 9's on the key cards and maybe a couple of 10's. Possibly a Brett & Rose 10 and maybe a couple of lesser stars and low pop 10's. I need to go back through them to look for all the low pops, but of the ones I had in mind when ripping, I pulled 2 Matt Youngs and 2 Steve Rogers. The Youngs are at least as nice as the scan I posted a few pages back but sadly, both Rogers are badly OC. I did pull a really sharp Steve Sax that should have a good shot at a 10. Probably most people don't care, but since he was my favorite player back in the day, I think it would be cool to have a slabbed 10 of my favorite card of his.

A couple of the packs had corner dings but most were pretty good. As usual, the most common problem was centering. Overall, I'd say the centering was worse with these 540 cards than the 1,200 or so I had from original wax purchases back in '84. Still, it was a ton of fun to rip. If the Mattingly grades a 9 and I can even get 1 or 2 10's, I will at least break even as I only paid about $120 for the lot.

And finally, I am planning to list my PSA-10 Mattingly today on ebay. I'll post the link here when it goes live.

BugOnTheRug · November 29, 2007 4:29AM

hey psa - hire a programmer who can write 'page-turn' code!

Ichiro51fan · November 29, 2007 10:25AM

OK... after several months of procrastination/trying to find the ideal time to list... I have finally posted my PSA-10 Mattingly RC on ebay:

1984 Donruss Mattingly RC PSA-10

I know a lot of you here already have 1 for your set, but maybe some don't and are looking to pick one up. Thanks!

ArnyVee · December 6, 2007 12:08AM

Wow, would be nice to crack open this nice lookin' factory set case from Steve, huh?

1984 Donruss Factory Set Case

Ichiro51fan · December 6, 2007 2:49AM

Oh yeah... I noticed that one yesterday while on his site. Pretty fun to think about it

Anyone ever opened any 84 D factory sets? Aren't they wrapped in celophane in like 50-75 blocks or something? My main concern would be corner damage due to being wrapped too tightly. Also, I wonder how centering compares to cards ripped from wax or racks.

At $2,000 for the case, that comes to about $133 per set. Even getting a few 10's per set could yield a profit (my concern). Think of it this way, unopened boxes go for $150-160, these sets are $20-30 less than that and you get 120 more cards and are garunteed to get a Mattingly, Ryan, Carter, etc, plus all the low pops. I wonder if there's any way to tell if these sets contain the Steele or Steel DK's.

Anyway, not sure I'd risk $2,000 on it but maybe a bunch of us would consider going in together on the case? At 2-3 sets per person, we'd only need 5-7 people. I could probably do 2 sets... maybe more. Anyone else interested?

alnavman · December 6, 2007 5:15AM

Ichiro, the factory sets have the STEELE spelled correctly if my memory serves me correctly......don't remember which I had more problems finding when I was still putting the set together but I'm sure Arny can provide more info....

BugOnTheRug · December 6, 2007 5:46AM

The case is fairly priced, but based on approx 15-20 factory sets I've busted over the last 4 years, the chances that this case will yield quality throughout is very small. First, remember that there's about a 99% chance these sets were produced from the same batch. If that batch has o/c, dull colors, tilt, etc. (all of which seem pretty common), you've now got 15 sets that way @ $133+ each. Some of what I busted a few years ago were from a same batch, and the poor results mirrored each set.

Admittedly however, I've thought about pulling the trigger on it for bragging rights, but my gut feel is when the reality sets in I won't be a very happy camper. $2000 + submission costs (in what appears to still be brutal from a grading standpoint) is a lot of coin for the chance. Even so, it's still tempting!!

ArnyVee · December 6, 2007 6:14AM

BOTR is right....you can either do great or flush your cash on these things. I like to pick up a set or two from someone and then if it's good, pick up a few extras from the same 'batch'.

I did pretty well with a couple of recent sets. But, the advantage to the factory sets are obviously the STEELE corrected Diamond Kings & Checklist along with the correctly #d Ron Darling and Mike Stenhouse cards.

I've got a couple of sealed factory sets still sitting here. Depending on what the cards I submitted grade at, I'll have to take a look at opening at least one of them and rolling the dice.

alnavman · December 6, 2007 10:04AM

I know it's still early but Happy Holidays to all the 84D'ers!!!! Bill, Arny, Robert, and the rest

the last icon is for what we've been getting here the last two days on the North Coast!!

Bighurt4 · December 8, 2007 12:50PM

Hey guys,

I am selling my set in pieces. It was the number 5 Master set but is dropping as I sell it. I have some of my more difficult cards on Ebay now and will sell it over the next couple of months. It has been great but time to move on. Good luck to you all and hope to see you on some of the other sets I collect.

Brent

Ichiro51fan · December 10, 2007 2:15AM

Hey everyone... just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone here who may have bid on my Mattingly 10. It ended last night a well above what I was expecting, so I rewarded myself with a purchase at BBCE

I've got several low/no-pop commons (Rogers, Wilson, etc) I will be sending in to PSA tomorrow, so I will keep you updated on those.

Happy Holidays to all!

Piman58 · December 10, 2007 11:04AM

Wow! Some low pop 10s sold today on ebay for big dollars. upsalaallamerican won all foour over (bb)cardbuyer.
The bidding stayed low until these two entered and the bids quickly jumped to over $120. A Davis(227) 1/2 went for
$160.27 as did a Garcia(241) 1/4? A Von Ohlen(205) 1/3 went for $140.27 and an Atherton(497) 1/2 finished at $130.27.
Seems like 27 cents in a favorite total for upsalaallamerican.

I am seriously thinking about selling my Hickey 1/2 on ebay. My major concern is that I have not sold anything on ebay before
and that may detract from bidding.

Ichiro51fan · December 10, 2007 2:23PM

Yeah, I noticed those 2 guys bidding on a lot of 84 D's lately. Upsala was in on my Mattingly 10 for a while, but (bb)cardbuyer must already have it in a 10 cuz I didn't see any bids from him. From my memory, Upsala's been bidding on 84 D's for a while now but I think (bb) is relatively new... not sure though. Anyone know if either of them are in this forum and if so, what their handle here is?

Seeing those battles is making me rethink my strategy on a current sub I am working on. I originally was going for only 0 or 1 pop 10's like Steve Rogers, Willie Wilson, etc. But now seeing what those mid-pop 10's are going for, I'm wondering if I should just look through ALL of my 84 D for the best 10 candidates and pay less attention to the current 10 pop? Seems that even with a pop of 6 or so, there's a good chance to make some decent money.

ArnyVee · December 10, 2007 9:24PM

Jim, I would take a look at cards with a POP of 5 or less and submit those. I did that with a lot of the ones that I submitted. But, it just so happens that 90% of them are ones that I need. So, it would be just upgrading mine.

But, that's a good strategy to go with. Especially at this time when the prices are getting what they're getting. Good luck!

NamesJay · December 11, 2007 2:02AM

I picked up three of these at $20 a pop. Think it's a good deal?

1984 Donruss Rack Packs

Ichiro51fan · December 11, 2007 3:17AM

I've seen those on there for quite a while now, but I'm not sure how good of a deal they are. Think of it this way... 12 of these racks is equal to 1 was box (540 cards). If you bought 12 from BBCE, that would run you $240 plus shipping. You can get unopened wax boxes on ebay most of the time for $120-$180. Granted, some of those may not be from sellers as reputable as BBCE, but I bet if you do your homework, you can get a good, clean, unsearched box for around $150 if you are patient. Now, I'm not sure how the average condition compares between racks and wax packs... maybe Arny could address that one? I haven't opened any 84 D wax since 1984, but I did get a lot of 12 racks off ebay about 1 month ago for only about $10 each. A couple of the racks had some cards with minor dings on 1 corner, but that was the worst of it. They did not appear to be searched... got one with a Gwynn on top and got a decent condition Mattingly RC. The outside of most of the packs were kind of dusty, which concerned me a bit, but in general, the cards were in pretty good shape. The seller of these was "ballparklegends" if you want to look him up. I know he's had these listed a few times... not sure how many he has left though.

Generally, I would say BBCE is the way to go for unopened stuff. However, their prices can be a bit high on certain items and I just happen to think that this is one of them.

Ichiro51fan · December 11, 2007 3:22AM

<< Jim, I would take a look at cards with a POP of 5 or less and submit those. I did that with a lot of the ones that I submitted. But, it just so happens that 90% of them are ones that I need. So, it would be just upgrading mine.

But, that's a good strategy to go with. Especially at this time when the prices are getting what they're getting. Good luck!

>>

Thanks for the tip Arny, I think that's what I am going to do. Looks to me like still about half the set is in that category (6 or fewer 10's), so that equals a lot of possibilities

BrentR · December 12, 2007 4:01AM

Hello fellow '84D'ers! I just discovered this forum recently and thought I'd chime in. I've been reading you guys and saw where Ichiro51fan and Piman58 were discussing some of my recent activity, so I figured I'd sign up to get in on the chat. I am (bb)cardbuyer on ebay. I finally made it to the top of the '84 Donruss hill! I've been an avid collector since 1990 and have been collecting 84 Donruss for quite a while. I have been really hot and heavy after it for about a year and a half. I just bought a few cards from Al and Brent Burns who unfortunately are selling their sets. Both seem like great guys.
I recently got back my bulk grading from PSA and I got THREE 1 of 1 PSA 10's! I was so excited. Of course it's always exciting to get that email from PSA. So I logged in quite a few cards and now just need to send 5 more for 100%. It has been such fun putting this set together. 84 Donruss is by far the most beautiful set I've ever seen. It will always be my favorite.
As far as some of your recent topics, I have had much more luck with condition from the factory sets. Centering is still bad, but the overall condition is better if you open the individual cellophane packs VERY carefully. Of course you only get the corrected versions of the DK's and #'s 29 and 30, and you don't get A or B. A few cards such as #637 have issues in the sets like creases in the upper left corner, but most have a shot at being decent.
Well it's great to finally be in the '84 D brotherhood and hope to talk to you guys soon!

BrentR

BrentR · December 12, 2007 4:06AM

P.S. - I don't know who upsalaallamerican is, but boy is he serious! lol He has outbid me on quite a few lately despite my ridiculous bids! Oh well, I didn't want to break the bank just to upgrade 4 cards from 9 to 10.

Piman58 · December 12, 2007 5:47AM

BrentR - Welcome to the 84 Donruss thread. I too like the overall beauty of the set. However I am only trying to complete the set in raw form.

Feel free to add to the discussions on this thread and others. Good luck obtaining the last five.

Charles

ArnyVee · December 12, 2007 6:37AM

So, the elusive Brent finally joins the forum! Great to hear from you!

You passed me on the "Basic" set! You have been going like crazy!

Although, with a recent sub, I might be able to get past you again.

Welcome aboard and hope to hear lots from you about our favorite set!

Ichiro51fan · December 12, 2007 6:58AM

Hey Brent... nice to hear from you! Just out of curiosity, which 3 cards did you score 1/1 ten's on?

BrentR · December 12, 2007 11:43AM

Hey guys! Thanks!

Yeah, and thanks Arny! We have quite a battle going on! lol It will be very interesting to see what your grades were! My sub came back extremely fast. I wasn't expecting that. When did you send yours?

And to Ichiro51fan, They were Bruce Sutter DK Steele #13 , Larry Parrish DK Steele #21 , and Tom Dunbar RR #28.

ArnyVee · December 12, 2007 10:30PM

Wow, especially that Parrish DK is a TOUGH one! Congrats on those Brent!

I sent in a little over 50 cards (after going through them like for the 10th time!) including all of the ones that I need to finish the set with. I originally was going to piggyback on someone's sub and that fell through because of a delay on my part and so I had to go to a second piggyback and so I think that it was just submitted recently. The only good thing is that the first sub was going to be at $6/card (total of 100 cards) and the 'updated' sub is going to be at the $5/card (total of 93 cards), so I saved a nice chunk of change by delaying things.

Everyone here will be the first to know about those '84 Donruss that I submitted! Lots of them are low pop (2 or 3 10s at most) or ones that I feel have shots at 10s where I have a 9 currently. We'll see how it goes.

BrentR · December 14, 2007 6:53AM

I think I was about as excited to get a 9 on the Horner card as I was the 10's! As well as an 8 on the Youngblood and 9 on the Schmidt DK and the Moreno. Overall a good sub I think.

Ichiro51fan · December 14, 2007 11:01AM

Hmmm... maybe things are turing around a bit on 80's grades

After getting hosed on a few of my 84D's last time, I'm pretty skiddish about my next sub. Last night I went through about 2/3 of my commons and pulled around 170 to look at further. THat probably means I will end up with about 250 to widdle down from. I'm thinking of splitting my final lot into 2 smaller subs, just in case I get the dreaded "Grader of death" on one of them, lol.

On a funny note... while looking at the fronts of cards for centering last night, I was shocked to find 2 Tony Gwynns that had been sitting in my commons for the last 20+ years! Too bad that one is pretty badly off center. The other one might be a 9, but even that isn't worth grading nowadays

Of course, the first thing I did after discovering those Gwynns was to look for Mattingly & Ripken... no such luck on them unfortunately.

ArnyVee · December 14, 2007 11:18AM

<< I think I was about as excited to get a 9 on the Horner card as I was the 10's! As well as an 8 on the Youngblood and 9 on the Schmidt DK and the Moreno. Overall a good sub I think. >>

You got a 9 on a Horner? The regular card? WOW! That is the toughest card for me to get in MINT shape along with the Joel Youngblood. But, at least one of my Youngbloods has a shot at a 10 and the others have shots at 9s. So, the Horner is the toughest for me personally.

BrentR · December 14, 2007 1:06PM

Hey Arny,

Yes, the #535 Horner! I actually have 2! If you get an extra 9 Youngblood, I'll trade you straight up, 9 Horner for 9 Youngblood.

Spahnfan · December 14, 2007 3:36PM

Brent, If you don't trade the Horner to Arny, I would be interested in the Horner also. I don't have a Youngblood in 9 to trade (I have a couple of 8's), but I do have 502 Dipino in a 9 and a Steel checklist in a 10.

ArnyVee · December 14, 2007 10:48PM

<< Hey Arny,

Yes, the #535 Horner! I actually have 2! If you get an extra 9 Youngblood, I'll trade you straight up, 9 Horner for 9 Youngblood. >>

I will definitely make that trade. If my Horner cards (think I submitted two if I recall) don't get me a 9 and I pull at least two 9s on the Younblood cards...you got it!

BrentR · December 15, 2007 1:47AM

Spahnfan,

If Arny gets a 9 on his Horner, I'll trade you. That Steel checklist is tough! We'll just have to wait and see what Arny's sub comes back with. It's gonna be fun!

ArnyVee · December 15, 2007 2:01AM

Hey Brent, just noticed that you updated your sets and now you're #1 on both basic AND master! Congrats! Grrrr....

Now, I have to work harder on upgrades.

By the way, I have a PSA 9 DK Steele Checklist available for sale/trade if someone wants it.

I had it graded on my last sub a long time ago.

BrentR · December 15, 2007 4:15AM

Yeah Arny! Sorry about topping you, just trying to make it the best set I can. I'm sure you'll give me a run for my money! lol And YES, I will buy your steele DK 9 checklist. How much do you want?

ArnyVee · December 15, 2007 5:01AM

Brent, is the Horner 9 the only one that I need from you? If not, then we can do a little trading. The Checklist for the Horner and the Youngblood (assuming that I get an extra 9) for another missing/upgrade card?

BrentR · December 15, 2007 10:04AM

Arny,

I also have an extra #546 Vance Law 9 that you need. I'll trade you the 9 Law and 9 Horner for the 9 Youngblood and 9 DK checklist. Hopefully you get the extra 9 Youngblood!

nam812 · December 15, 2007 11:06AM

Maybe you two can split a shake at the Malt Shoppe too.

ArnyVee · December 15, 2007 11:14AM

Nick's just jealous because he doesn't have anything I need.

ArnyVee · December 15, 2007 11:17AM

Brent, I also have two Vance Law cards that could possibly be PSA 10s in that same sub.

So, I guess that I'll hold that Checklist card (if you'll hold that Horner for me

) until my sub comes through.

nam812 · December 15, 2007 11:51AM

<< Nick's just jealous because he doesn't have anything I need.

>>

That's not what you said last Saturday.

ArnyVee · December 15, 2007 11:54AM

<< 

<< Nick's just jealous because he doesn't have anything I need.

>>

That's not what you said last Saturday. >>

Hey! I told you not to say anyth....err....I mean, what are you talking about?

Piman58 · December 15, 2007 1:07PM

Trying to help Arny get to the next page...

BrentR · December 15, 2007 2:02PM

Lol, you guys are nuts. But yeah, I'll hold the Horner until you get your sub back Arny.

alnavman · December 16, 2007 8:11AM

Way to go guys....great to hear that the 84 D tradition is living on with others. As mentioned my set is basically all gone now. ONly a few of the more common PSA 9's left. I have to mention that the DK checklists were two really tough cards for me to find. I never did get a 9 on either the Steel or Steele version in all my submissions. Also as noted by Arny the Youngblood is super tough. Good luck all of you that are still going strong and happy holidays to everyone!!!

al.

Ichiro51fan · December 17, 2007 3:27AM

Do you guys think that the Youngblood is the toughest card in this set? I'm sure I haven't looked through as many cards as most of you, but all of the Youngbloods I have seen have been absolutely horrible. At least with most of the other 0 pop 10's, they have been much closer to possible 10's. In fact, I think I have a Rogers & Wilson that have really good shots at 10's, but even Russell, Hume and a few others seem to most always look way better than the Youngbloods I've seen.

alnavman · December 17, 2007 5:36AM

The cards I mentioned were my toughest to find. DK checklists seemed to always be off centered, same as with the Youngblood.

BrentR · December 17, 2007 8:02AM

Youngblood is certainly top 5. Horner is brutal. Although a couple of 10's out there 637 is tough too. A few of the DK's are impossible 10's due to centering. 9's are even miracles on #7 steele and # 8 steele and #39 Gagne. I would have to say the #8 Dravecky DK steele is the toughest card in the set.

ArnyVee · December 17, 2007 11:21AM

I'd add the Tippy Martinez and Milt Wilcox cards to the TOP 10 toughest of this set. Both are horribly off center usually. Bobby Ramos is/was one that was tough for me too.

BugOnTheRug · December 18, 2007 2:37AM

Here's what I consider the toughest. 3 through 10 could be listed differently, but you get the idea..............

1 - 480 Youngblood
2 - 23 Schmidt dk steele
3 - 16 M. Young dk steele
4 - dk checklist steele
5 - 482 Fitzgerald
6 - 637 Moreno
7 - lance parrish steele
8 - 537 Chambliss
9 - 547 McGraw
10 - 441 Swan

Also, here's my picks for what I call 'murderer's row(s)'. These groupings of cards are extremely difficult to find nicely centered.

#'s 435 through #442
#'s 535 through #539
#'s 544 through #550

BrentR · December 18, 2007 3:17AM

That's definitely a tough list. But #8 Steele has no 10's and one 9. Youngblood has three 9's and two more 8's than the #8 Steele card. They are probably 1-2 in my book.

BugOnTheRug · December 18, 2007 5:04AM

<< But #8 Steele has no 10's and one 9. >>

Brent, you are correct. I originally had Dravecky steele on my list and somehow forgot/deleted it out. Therefore, I'd put it in 4 thru 6 and bump Swan off the list. I think the Schmidt steele is tougher, due to the fact that it's a hof'er with few 9/10's and many more examples graded, whereas the only folks looking to grade Dravecky would be team or set builders (other than of course volume dealers).

1984 Donruss Baseball - the unofficial but legal thread

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