JUNK WAX ERA

I’m here to tell you to give ’88 Donruss another, closer, look. There are some decent cards to be found in the set, including this Tim Raines Diamond King. The Expos uniform matched up almost perfectly with the border design. I think you’ll be hard pressed to find someone who doesn’t think this Raines is a great looking card.

There are 26 MVP cards in the set that are different than what we would see in 1989. In 1988, the MVP cards were a little more inconspicuous as they featured the identical border, nameplate, and team logo as the base cards. What set these apart was the MVP logo in the top left corner that replaced the Donruss logo. The cards featured different images from the base set as well.

Here are a couple of cards that stand out to me today as these two first basemen would face off the following year in a very memorable World Series. Will Clark and Mark McGwire were both highly collectable players during the Junk Wax Era. Will the Thrill was one of the most complete first basemen in the game at the time and it seemed the whole world was collecting the “Bash Brothers” – McGwire and Canseco.

Another common denominator you will find throughout the Junk Wax Era is Bo Jackson. His XRCs popped up in late 1986, with his RCs showing up in 1987 sets. He is a crossover to the Football Junk Wax Era as well. He could be found sprinkled throughout multiple sets and insert sets through the eight-year era. I certainly wish, as a collector and sports fan, we could have seen Bo remain healthy for a good 10-12 years.