2017 Donruss - First Look

Every year I buy a little Donruss, just to have some. This year I bought just one blaster. Here's what I got in the first pack out of the box.

The design is based on 1990 Donruss, without the red borders. I actually like this design. My problem with the new Donruss has not been so much with design. Besides the lack of logos and team names, my biggest beef has always been the choice of photos. Each card is either a guy batting or a guy pitching. Rarely is there a fielding photo, and never a posed photo. This year they also redesigned the backs to get away from the late 1980s backs. Much nicer.

There are 195 cards in the base set. The box I bought had 8 cards per pack, with about 5 base cards in each pack. Trying to complete the set by buying blasters would be difficult. And at 38 cents/card, expensive.

There are a few parallel sets (of course) but not as many as is usual for a Panini product. I got one (a career stat line, numbered to 500) in the box.

Well, the 4th card into the first pack and I've pulled a relic card. The box does say "Find 1 Autograph or Memorabilia Card Per Box On Average!". This used to be common in blasters and I'd like to see that come back. I don't know much about Tapia other than he was a September call up last year and hit .268 for the month. The swatch is actually purple, not black. This is the first blaster of new Donruss I've purchased, so maybe including a relic has been their practice. The last two years a just bought a pack. In 2014 I actually bought a hobby box.

As has been a practice in new Donruss, this is a 50-card insert set featuring an early 1980s design, this time 1983 Donruss. Called Retro Variation 1983, it's not really a variation since it has a different photo. Does it seem weird to you to have a year indicator of '17 on a card?

And rounding out the pack.

Another of these.

And finally.

Even with a relic in the pack, the pack still had 8 cards. 

Plus for this set and blaster: 1) design; 2) relic or auto in every box; 3) no duplicates; 4) good ratio of base cards to inserts.

Minus for this set and blaster: 1) no team logos; 2) boring photography; 3) price point, 38 cents/per card seems a bit high to me. The past two years the price was 18 cents/card. Maybe Panini justifies the price hike by putting a relic or auto in each blaster.