2023 Donruss

 Yesterday I had a pretty decent day. It was the last day off with Kyler on vacation before school, so now that he will need to be picked up at 2:30 after school, no more weekdays of having the hours from 8AM-5PM to myself when I am off work. 2:30 ain't bad either, though. This final one, I basically had the morning free because Kyler had testing for entrance into the gifted program at school at 2. I was able to go through my last 3 teams worth of NL binders and pull out doubles, so I have the entire NL of loose cards sorted and ready to go into binders. Came out to just a little over 2 moster boxes full. 

Karen was able to get off work early, so we drove Kyler to the testing, got an early dinner when he was done, and then went to Wally World to get Karen's oil changed in her car and get groceries. 

I had recieved a unexpected refund check in the mail from one of the companies that handles my insulin pump supplies the day before, and that was nice surprise. I did what any red blooded card collector would, and headed straight towards the card aisle when we walked in the store. I was half hoping the 2023 Topps complete sets would be out, but Wal-Mart surprised me and had blasters of 2023 Donruss among other things. I got one and opened it when I got home.

I was happy with the blaster. Only 1 Ray and no Tigers, but not many Yankee$ or Padre$ either. It seemed like if you got one player in the pack as a parallel, Rated Rookie/Prospect, or 1990 variation, that you would get their other base card in the pack as well.  Good thing I pulled some decent names in the box. 

                                     

The stack on the left is just normal old base cards, and the one on the left are parallels, rookies, and Rays. Not bad at all when the 'special card' pile is as big as the other one. Probably happens maybe twice a year for me. 

                                               

These are the Rays, rookies, and the start of some of the parallel rookies I got. Kyle Manzardo is no longer a Ray, as he was traded to Cleveland in the Aaron Civale deal. A decent 1B prospect gone, and another pitcher for the Rays to ruin getting him to buy into the 'spin rate=good' philosophy. We'll be seeing him starring in 'Tommy John surgery' in 2024, I guarantee it. I kind of wish Donruss would invent their own '1st Donruss card' logo that they could place on cards. There are guys like Soderstrom and others who I know aren't rookies or have even appeared on a Donruss card in seasons past (like Andy Peges), but then others like Eury Perez who appear on the base or 1990 Donruss design, and I don't know if it's a legit rookie card or not. Kind of like someone having a binder full of 2nd year Bowman cards and thinking they are rookie cards. 

I pulled a jersey card of Mariners prospect Gabriel Gonzalez. I thought one of the packs looked a little bigger. I think Griffey must've been a hot pack, because out of 2 packs, I pulled his 1990 base card, the Bomb Squad Rapture card, the Holo Purple Diamond King card, and the Independance Day base card. Like I said earlier, a nice break, and lots of cool parallels. 

With that being said, I had to take a picture of the side of the blaster to remember what the Rapture parallel cards were called and to figure out the exact name of the Purple parallels (Holo Purple). While I am far from having close to every parallel Donruss offers, I have been wanting for some time to list out every parallel (that I have) and naming them along with a picture to go with it in order to help myself and other collectors. Almost want to do the same thing with Bowman, Optic, Mosaic, and Pri(Z/S?)m, but for now, I'll just stick to old fashioned Donruss. I will use TCDB to help me figure some of these out, so if I mislabel any, it's their fault. I will also be using various different year to do this, since I have some parallels only in certain years. 

This Brandon Lowe card is called a 'RED & WHITE STRIPES' parallel. It is numbered to 2021 (the year of the set), but might have just been a 1 and done parallel, as I haven't seen it in the 2023 set listings. 

This Yandy Diaz is called an 'ON FIRE' parallel, and is numbered to 75 every year.

This Adam Frazier is called a 'HOLO RED' parallel, and is numbered to whatever year the set is. 

With the printing technology on this Taylor Walls card, I figured it would be some kind of parallel. It isn't. Go figure. 

This Ken Griffey, Jr. is called an 'INDEPENDENCE DAY' parallel. 

This Eury Perez card is called a 'HOLO CAROLINA BLUE' parallel. There are 'HOLO BLUE' parallels, but they are a darker blue color. 

This Robert Puason card is called a 'RAPTURE' parallel. 

This Craig Biggio card is called a 'HOLO PINK' parallel. They look like red to me, but the 'HOLO RED' parallels are serial #d to the sets year. 

This Ryan McMahon card is called a 'HOLO BLUE' parallel.  They are darker than the 'HOLO CAROLINA BLUE' parallels. 

I guess the Elite Series cards all have this technology on them, the difference is the color behind (or maybe on top) of it. This one is a 'BLUE' parallel. I have a Mike Trout from a different year, which must be just the most common Elite Series version, and it is more silver and #d to 999, I believe. 

The Ozzie Albies card is called a 'VECTOR' parallel card. In my opinion out of all of the unnumbered parallels I've seen, I think it is the nicest looking. 

The Keith Hernandez card is called a 'HOLO ORANGE' parallel. 

The Ronald Acuna, Jr. card is called a 'DIAMOND' parallel. 

The Justin Verlander card is called a 'CRYSTAL' parallel. Not sure if it is a one year only parallel, but I don't think I've seen it in other years. 

I hope this has helped you figure out just what the heck you've pulled from your last box of Donruss cards or what you've got from your last trip to the LCS or card show. This is far from an all-encompasing list, but I hope it has answered a few questions. 

My next 2 posts are almost ready to be written now. The next will be the final winnings from Johnny's Trading Spot's year-long contest. The next one might take a little longer. 

I have always wanted to start a Blog Bat-Around. I've tried a few times, but nobody really cared for the idea or whatever, and it never got anybody else to write a post besides me. I had an idea the other day that I'm going to put out there, and it might not get any love, but at least I can show off some Rays cards. 

Before Shane McClanahan got injured, I had an idea to post my best card of each Rays guy from the 2023 team's starting lineup. For most guys, it was a jersey card or parallel or autographed one. Other guys, it was a card that had sentimental value. Still others, it could've been a rookie card. Heck, a few of them weren't Rays cards. Basically, have a C, 1B, 2B, SS, 3B, 3 OF, a DH, 5 SP, 2-3 Relievers, and maybe the Manager and some utility guys from this year's team, and show my favorite or best card of them. With the Rays having 4 starters (Baz, Springs, Rasmussen, and now McClanahan) on the DL until 2024 sometime, I figured it would be best to make it be current roster including Disabled List. That might take a little work to write out the Rays position guys and making cuts, but eventually I can have the list done, and I have a general idea of my best card of everyone. Might even do it with the Tigers eventually, too. I figured it might be a fun exercise for guys who collect teams, and maybe for someone into vintage stuff, they could do it for their favorite team (say 2000 Yankee$, 2004 Yankee$, 2003 Yankee$, 1960 Yankee$, you get my drift...). Anyways, that post might take a few weeks to do, but be on a lookout for those 2 posts in the future. 

Thanks for taking the time to check out my latest post.

-Jeremy