A few weeks ago I blogged about Donruss’ 89 flagship being overshadowed by lesser known oddball sets produced by their own company. Wait, that wasn’t a few weeks ago … that was a few hours ago! Wow, can’t believe I posted twice on one day.
Don’t let me get off course, though. Below is 1992 Donruss Jose Canseco. It features a clean design and a perfect photo of the best player from that past season (44 HR, 122 RBI, 26 SB). They gave the MVP to some bum named Ripken Jr. but Jose was the man around this time.
What’s most important about the photo in this card is the photograph. Take a look at it. Clearly, Jose has just smashed one of his 462 career home runs and he is clearly pleased with himself. The card is as good as it got back in 1992.
Now, look at this turd released by Donruss through a McDonald’s promotion. For starters, the Donruss 1992 banner at the top is not even centered. There is a McDonald’s logo at the top right to remind you of your worthless card and even the photo is somewhat “meh”.
Instead of Jose blasting a 5th deck home run like he did against the Blue Jays, we have him hitting a hard line out to third or at best a one-bounce single. Not exactly something special which is exactly what you should get when receiving an oddball card.
Yes, every oddball has his day and by 1992 the era of oddballs had ended.
