30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Masters of the Game

Reading card blogs definitely has its perksLearning about new cards is one of them.  Someone out there in our blogosphere wrote a post that included one or more of the 1993 Donruss Masters of the Game postcard sized cards.

***UPDATE***  ARPSmith's Sportscard Obsession was where I first noticed these cards.

1993 Donruss Masters of the Game #1

I took a break from collecting in 1993, so I wasn't aware of these cards.  But I've always been a fan of the Donruss Diamond King subsets of the 80's and early 90's, so these caught my eye and inspired me to find a set on eBay.  I wasn't successful, but I did end up buying an "almost complete" set:



According to Beckett and Baseballcardpedia, these were originally distributed in single card packs as part of a bundle that included an 18 pack box of 1993 Donruss Series 2 baseball at retail outlets.  The sixteen card set includes eight hall of famers.

The set also includes two San Diego Padres... but it's surprisingly missing Mr. PadreLike how are you going to leave one of the game's best contact hitters off of the checklist?  I'm also surprised Donruss chose to not include Greg Maddux either.  Then again... I PC both of these guys... so I'm a little biased.

As previously mentioned, the set is postcard sized and the backs even provide space to write an address as well as include a postage stamp:


I realize the size of these cards might turnoff some collectors, but if you're a fan of Dick Perez's artwork might be interested in these.

Okay... today's question of the day:

Have you purchased any cards lately that were inspired by another blogger's post?

Well... that's it for today.  Happy Thursday and sayonara!

16 comments:

Brian said...

Ha, yes, I do this all the time! I am actually going start looking for a copy of the Puckett from this post, in fact!

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I'm sure I have, but my mind is a little fuzzy right now.

Dennis said...

Those look great! And I don't remember them from some reason, though to be fair a ton of stuff came out back then. I'm sure I've made more than a few purchases after seeing something posted on a blog, too.

flywheels said...

I’ve bought several cards before based off of blog posts - especially when that person shed some light on a insert set I’ve never heard of before.

Sean said...

Oh those are interesting! 1993 was the last year I collected during my "youth", I put the collection aside for about a decade that summer. 1993 Donruss is one of the last sets I remember collecting, but I never saw those big size ones, I guess because those bundles weren't distributed where I lived.

I'm constantly being inspired to hunt stuff down after seeing them mentioned on people's blogs. I might someday try to track down this set after reading this post come to think of it!!

Commishbob said...

Oh, heck yes. I buy stuff that I've spotted on other folks' blogs (or Twitter feed) all the time. I bought something at the show tlast weekend that I wouldn't have even noticed if it hadn't been talked about on Twitter. I'll post it soon.

Matt said...

Other bloggers, especially you, inspire me to chase cards all the time!

The Lost Collector said...

I know he was on the downside around this time, but no Mattingly in this set??

CaptKirk42 said...

Ah yes reading other blogs to get ideas for a ton of more cards to add to your own PC or to give you ideas for posts. For instance yesterday day on the "Baseball Every Night" blog there was a "Darryl Strawberry Degrees of Separation" post which used the "6 degrees of Kevin Bacon" style game to relate to Darryl Strawberry.

Peter K Steinberg said...

To be honest the size of the card would likely turn me off. I do have a few "plus size" cards and frankly I have trouble storing them. But that's my own problem I guess. Yes, I've been inspired by other peoples' postings (OPP!), but on the other hand, I always forget to go out and get the darn card later...

arpsmith said...

Quite frequently. And I think it may have been one of my infrequent posts where I picked up the 2 Giants and a couple others. Now seeing this post and being 25% of the way to the set. I may need to pick up the rest.

The Shlabotnik Report said...

I've done that numerous times. It's not unusual for me to see a card and immediately go and buy it on COMC. A recent example is a 1986 Provigo Hubie Brooks card (Expos oddball) that I featured on my blog in January. I went and looked for the Cal card from this Masters Of The Game set, but the asking price there is too much $$$ for me, so it went on my wantlist.

Alan Deakins said...

-I started being more of set builder when I started up collecting again because of blogs....as a kid I think I was more of speculator, the whole RC thing in the mid-80s to early 90s..now that I think about though I would buy singles (mostly early to mid 80s RCs, Gwynn, Boggs, Mattingly, etc)when I had a chance from base card store by my house, then flip them for boxes especially Upper Deck and Leaf at another store by my parents office....Anyways, I find set building to be very awarding as an adult collector because it was tough to complete sets as kid

The Snorting Bull said...

I am not sure if I inspire anyone, but I take inspiration from other posts. Love these postcards. I have actually been doing something with postcards this year with my students, I am going to have to get my hands on a bundle of these.

AdamE said...

Night owl posted about a Mail In Dodger Team Card. Before that I didn't even know that Topps mail in team cards existed and I have now bought multiple ones because of it.

https://thoughtsandsox.blogspot.com/2019/02/down-night-owls-rabbit-hole.html
http://thoughtsandsox.blogspot.com/2019/04/marking-checklist-off-checklist.html

Fuji said...

brian - if you haven't picked one up yet... i actually have an extra puckett. if you don't mind a pwe, i'll sent it your way.

johnnys trading spot - sorry to hear that. hope things get better soon. my mind has been a little fuzzy as well lately.

dennis - it seemed like back then all of the companies were putting out cool stuff trying to one up each other

flywheels - glad i'm not the only one.

sean - i have a few extras from this set. if you decide to build this set, lmk and i'll send them your way.

commishbob - that's why it's probably best if i stay away from twitter

parts of my past - funny thing is... your blog has inspired me as well. love all of those cards from the 90's

the lost collector - i know, right? what about rickey! and of course the aforementioned gwynn.

captkirk42 - yeah... i read that post. it was awesome.

peter k steinberg - size will be a turnoff for a lot of collectors. i have post card sized penny sleeves, so that'll do for now.

arpsmith - i did a quick search on your blog and your post was totally the one that inspired this purchase. i'll make a revision as soon as i'm done wrapping up these comments.

the shlabotnik report - shoot. i actually have a few extras from this set, but ripken isn't one of them :(

alan deakins - i enjoy collecting sets as well. but building bigger sets is another story. i'm way too lazy to try and build a compete 792 card vintage set. i'd rather just save up my money and buy a complete one online.

the snorting bull - oh man... i'd love to hear the project you're doing with your students. as for inspirtation, i'm sure your blog has inspired one of my purchases at some point

adame - i'd be shocked if more than half of the card bloggers out there weren't inspired by one of night owl's post at one time or another. i've seen a bunch of cards on his blog that i've gone out and purchased.