Almost from the moment the very first collector cracked open the very first wax pack of 1990 Donruss baseball cards, the reaction was something along the lines of … “is this some sort of joke??”.
That, or a roiling stomach … or hands clasped over the mouth … or just a disgusted head shake.
What the heck was Donruss thinking??
Bloody red borders, complete with speckles of, what, paint drippings? Bird droppings?
Egad!
About the best we could say was that the cards had the sort of flair that only Donruss could roll out. And, definitely not in a good way.
Add in the fact that these cards flooded the market like every other base set in the Junk Wax era, and you have the makings of a distinctly unvaluable run of cards all these years later.
But …
Well, there are some interesting cards in this set, including some solid rookie cards, and some unusual and collectible errors and variations.
And the red borders actually present some condition challenges, to the point that the most common condition returned from PSA’s grading services, according to their Population Report, is a mere PSA 8 — that’s a NM-MT rating, in case you’re wondering.
So, while 1990 Donruss baseball cards are certainly not the most popular in the hobby, they have their merits, and plenty of collectors still seek them out AND pay decent money for them.
What follows, then, is a list of the most valuable 1990 Donruss baseball cards, by measure of actual selling prices for copies slabbed in PSA 8, as reported in the PSA Auction Prices Realized tool.
(Note: The following sections contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed. Check out our full series of posts on the history of Donruss baseball cards.)
25) 1990 Donruss Tony Gwynn (#86)
In 1989, Tony Gwynn had won his third straight National League batting title, hitting .336 for the San Diego Padres. It would be his last hitting crown until he made a run at .400 during the strike-shortened 1994 season.
So, in a way, this 1990 Donruss card represented the intermission – the seventh-inning stretch, if you will – of Gwynn’s storied Hall of Fame career.
Definitely worthy of leading off this list.
Value: $2-4
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24) 1990 Donruss Randy Johnson (#379)
The Montreal Expos traded Randy Johnson to the Seattle Mariners in May of 1989 in exchange for Mark Langston. Sure, Gene Harris, Brian Holman, and Mike Campbell were involved, but this one went down as Johnson for Langston.
And, mostly, as “The Trade that Turned Randy Johnson’s Career Around.”
Before he came to Seattle, Johnson was a towering blur of elbows and knees on the mound, with all sorts of promise, but also with frightening “control.” After … well, still some of the same, but he also became one of the greatest left-handers of all time, and an ace of aces in his generation.
This Red Menace of a card was the Big Unit’s first base Donruss issue showing him with the Mariners, so … it’s historical. In a hobby sort of way, at least.
Value: $2-4
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23) 1990 Donruss Nolan Ryan King of Kings – correct back (#665)
Nolan Ryan spent 1989 proving to the Texas Rangers that they made a wise investment in signing him to a free agent contract the previous December.
After notching his sixth no-hitter and 5000th strikeout, the Ryan Express had ascended from mere baseball superstar and elder statesman winding down a stellar career in his home state to an outright diamond legend and the hottest thing the hobby had seen since Mickey Mantle himself.
Donruss read the signals perfectly and dropped in plenty of Ryan in 1990, including this extra Diamond Kings entry at the back of the set.
Religious connotations aside, this King of Kings entry also contributed to the error card mania that proliferated through the late 1980s and 1990s, as we’ll see later in the list.
This Ryan card, though, is just as Donruss intended, and it’s a hobby winner.
Value: $3-5
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22) 1990 Donruss David Justice Rookie Card (#704)
David Justice had just about everything the hobby demanded from a big-time rookie when he made his first splash in the summer of 1990.
He was young(ish).
He was good looking.
He played for a team with a national profile and fan base.
And he hit for big power.
Ding! Ding! That’s a winner in collecting circles, no matter how you slice it.
And, though his movie-star profile may have rankled some, Justice spoke loudest with his bat, the same one that cranked 28 home runs on his way to the 1990 N.L. Rookie of the Year award.
And, all summer long, collectors could chase his 1990 Donruss rookie card in “live” wax packs.
Not surprisingly, some of that hobby swagger remains.
Value: $3-5
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21) 1990 Donruss Rickey Henderson (#304)
After more than four years of parading his special brand of hot dog in the Bronx, Rickey Henderson came back to the Oakland A’s in a summer 1989 trade.
That dropped him right into the noise and fury of the Bash Brother run and set him up to help Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, Dennis Eckersley, and the rest win their only World Series together.
It also set up Henderson to break Lou Brock’s all-time stolen base record, top 1000 stolen bases, and take aim at any number of other SB records while wearing Gold and Green.
Oh, along the way, he also posted maybe his greatest all-around season on his way to Cooperstown, copping American League MVP honors in 1990.
This 1990 Donruss Rickey was there for the whole show.
Value: $3-5
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20) 1990 Donruss Larry Walker Rookie Card (#578)
Larry Walker’s trek to the Hall of Fame was more of a slow burn than a streak-across-the-sky rocket ride, and t