1986 Donruss

As usual, Donruss' photography was heads and shoulders above the competition. Year after year they had vibrant, colorful, and crisp pictures. But as would become a Donruss tradition, this was one ugly looking set. 

I remember buying these packs at Grand City by the bushel trying to pull a Jose Canseco RC. At one point I think I had 4-5 cards of each player in the whole set and only one Canseco card. Let me say now that I have hated that bastard a looooong time....

The 1986 Donruss Detroit Tigers:

1 Kirk Gibson Diamond King

49 Lou Whitaker

90 Chet Lemon

105 Jack Morris

125 Kirk Gibson

150 Chris Pittaro

171 Alan Trammell

212 Dan Petry

227 Willie Hernandez

247 Walt Terrell

272 Nelson Simmons

293 Aurelio Lopez

334 Lance Parrish

349 Barbaro Garbey

369 Darrell Evans

394 Randy O'Neal

415 Alejandro Sanchez

456 Bob Melvin

471 Dave Bergman

491 Frank Tanana

516 Bill Scherrer

537 Tom Brookens

578 Mike Laga

593 Larry Herndon

615 John Grubb

Donruss decided to jump into the mid-season boxed set frenzy in 1986 by issuing two different sets. The first was a short lived Highlights set (issued in 1986 an 1987 only) that contained a Jack Morris card. (With a picture obviously taken some time during his rookie year...) The second would become a Donruss staple for years to come, The Rookies, which contained an Eric King card. (Who we got in the deal that brought us Matt Nokes, and who we traded four years later for future White Sox GM Kenny Williams.)

Do not adjust your computer monitor. Yes, Donruss used even crappier colors than the blue they used for the base set.

1986 Donruss Highlights Detroit Tigers:

27 Jack Morris

1986 Donruss "The Rookies" Detroit Tigers:

27 Eric King

1986 was also the first year that box bottom cards made their debut. Donruss was the only company to feature any Tigers though. Your guess is as good as mine as to what "PC" stands for. 

PC4 Kirk Gibson

PC5 Willie Hernandez

The astute observer will have noticed that I have featured Aurelio Lopez as the top of all three 1986 checklists. This was the last year that he would appear as a Tiger on any baseball cards, and this past Sunday would've been his 60th birthday.

RIP Señor Smoke.