How come Willie Mays didn't get a Donruss HOF-DK puzzle?

Estil · June 4, 2011 2:31PM

Does anyone remember the Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond King puzzles from 1982-92? Well, you can find a list of them at the Donruss article at Wikipedia, and I can't believe that of all the players they included, they left out what many consider the greatest position player of MLB's golden era--Willie Mays! Granted, they put Mickey Mantle and Ted Williams puzzles in some rather obscure sets (and thus are quite rare), but at least they did get puzzles--Mays got none.

Surely they had a good reason for leaving him out--did Fleer or Topps have exclusive rights to him or something?

Dboneesq · June 4, 2011 2:52PM

<< <i>Does anyone remember the Donruss Hall of Fame Diamond King puzzles from 1982-92? Well, you can find a list of them at the Donruss article at Wikipedia, and I can't believe that of all the players they included, they left out what many consider the greatest position player of MLB's golden era--Willie Mays! Surely they had a good reason for leaving him out--did Fleer or Topps have exclusive rights to him or something? >>

They realized he is a POS to the card collecting fans!

Estil · June 4, 2011 11:37PM

You gotta do better than that.

yankeeno7 · June 5, 2011 12:24AM

He probably thought it was racist to have a puzzle made of him.

EchoCanyon · June 5, 2011 12:26AM

That was your 4,000th post.

OAKESY25 · June 5, 2011 12:34AM

He probably thought it was racist to have a puzzle made of him

BWAHAHAHAHA

YogiBerraFan · June 5, 2011 12:53AM

He probably didn't even bother to return their phone call.

Brick · June 5, 2011 1:54AM

I would not say Willie is an obnoxious, rude, jerk. However if he read "How to win friends and influence people", or he keeps up with Miss Manners in the paper and goes to sensitivity training he can work his way up to obnoxious, rude, jerk.

digicat · June 5, 2011 2:35AM

Donruss missed a lot of guys. Jackie Robinson didn't get a puzzle either.

diamondman · June 5, 2011 3:59AM

Willie probably wanted to much money, probably the same with Jackie Robinson except it was the Robinson foundation that probably wanted to much.

PowderedH2O · June 5, 2011 4:22AM

I think it would have been overkill. After all, I think anyone that has met Willie Mays thinks he is a HOF DK.

TNP777 · June 5, 2011 5:07AM

<< <i>I would not say Willie is an obnoxious, rude, jerk. However if he read "How to win friends and influence people", or he keeps up with Miss Manners in the paper and goes to sensitivity training he can work his way up to obnoxious, rude, jerk. >>

frankhardy · June 5, 2011 6:38AM

<< <i>I would not say Willie is an obnoxious, rude, jerk. However if he read "How to win friends and influence people", or he keeps up with Miss Manners in the paper and goes to sensitivity training he can work his way up to obnoxious, rude, jerk. >>

I was going to say the something along the lines of this when I read the thread title. I think everyone has pretty much covered it.

digicat · June 5, 2011 7:00AM

I guess if Charles Manson autographed something with a wink and a smile, folks would say "Hey, Charlie ain't so bad. He's a pretty nice guy."

Estil · June 6, 2011 12:23AM

I'm guessing no one knows the serious answer, right?

PS: I honestly didn't notice I was at 4000 post until someone brought it up. That is pretty sweet though.

yankeeno7 · June 6, 2011 4:11AM

Unless you find someone who worked at Donruss at the time, you will probably never have an answer. They may or may not have tried to contact him to put him on a puzzle. The higher ups could have gone around the world and they did it based on that year's person's favorite player. They could have put all the HOFers names in a hat and pulled it. I dont think anyone documents this stuff. I think you would have to search for former donruss employees.

matthewbschultz83 · June 6, 2011 4:15AM

Why is Mays considered a huge jerk? Where have I been and what have I missed?

PowderedH2O · June 6, 2011 8:37AM

I think we're being a little rough on Willie. He's almost as friendly to fans as Johnny Bench.

Estil · June 6, 2011 9:45PM

Frankly I figured it would be what they did on the field that counted first.

It's too bad Pete Rose screwed up and got banned in 1989--his 1992 Donruss HOF Diamond King puzzle (last year for the puzzles and the year he would've been inducted) would've been super sweet.

gonzer · June 6, 2011 10:49PM

<< <i>They realized he is a POS to the card collecting fans! >>

How come Willie Mays didn't get a Donruss HOF-DK puzzle?

Comments