1982 Donruss

Ladies and Gentleman, your clear cut winner for the best looking card of 1982, Donruss. The photography was far and away the best of the year. A nice, clean innovative design with the ball and bat motif was one of the most elegant looking designs ever. In 1982, Donruss took the 1981 Fleer design one step further to produce a fantastic looking card.

In addition to finally issuing a Kirk Gibson card of their own, they gave us the first ever solo card of Sparky Anderson as the Tigers manger. This was also the first year of the Diamond Kings subset, an original subset featuring a Dick Perez painting of one player from each team. This was easily the most original subset ever produced to date. Hell, it may be the most original subset ever produced.

The 1982 Donruss Detroit Tigers:

29 Sparky Anderson

76 Alan Trammell

81 Champ Summers

107 Jack Morris

133 Dan Petry

155 Rick Peters

202 Tom Brookens

207 Al Cowens

233 Milt Wilcox

259 Dave Rozema

281 Lance Parrish

328 Richie Hebner

333 Stan Papi

359 Aurelio Lopez

385 Dan Schatzeder

407 Kirk Gibson

454 Lou Whitaker

459 John Wockenfuss

485 Kevin Saucier

511 Dave Tobik

542 Lynn Jones

583 Rick Leach

594 Steve Kemp

601 Mick Kelleher

602 Ron Jackson

This set was not without a flaw or two though. Apparently the typesetter and proofreader didn't bother to look at the back of Alan Trammel's card to see that it was actually spelled Trammell. Twice. Both his base card and Diamond King were issued with both spellings of his name, despite it being spelled "write" on the back. But hey, in a set this nice you can forgive them for giving Tiger fans a couple of early chase cards.