1992 Donruss, The Elite Series

Kirby Puckett was called up in 1984, played 12 seasons, retired & was elected to the Hall of Fame 5 years later in 2001.

During that entire time, Rickey Henderson was playing. 

Granted, Kirby's career was cut short but the fact remains; Kirby’s Hall of Fame career was encompassed during the playing days of another Hall of Famer. Not sure if that's happened before.


In the last 12 years of his career, Rickey didn't receive an all-star nomination or even an MVP vote but was still a fairly productive player. Overall, he amassed 13, 346 plate appearances.


About the Card

In 1992, it was no exaggeration labeling Rickey a 'Legend'. Donruss went ahead and did just that with this special insert card that was limited to 7,500 copies.

In today’s low serial number world 7,500 sounds like a lot but this was in the era of mass production where close to a million of each card was being produced.

Couple that with the fact that cases and boxes of 1992 Donruss are still widely available The Legend Series doesn’t circulate much.

  

Famed artist Dick Perez used a two-dimensional hologram and metallic foil to design the card.

It’s not clear to me why Dick put a headshot of Rickey in front of what appears to be a dartboard but nevertheless it’s an excellent card in line with his realistic portrait art on the Diamond Kings.


I bought this incredible Beckett slab in February, 2007 for $132. I felt I got a bargain then and even more so now.