1987 Donruss

I recently volunteered to perform a card rescue organized by the truly excellent blog Stats on the Back. Okay, fine, he was threatening toss perfectly reasonable baseball cards in the trash and I had to do something about it. This was more about public safety and the health of the environment than my unsettling interest in tiny pictures of baseball players, I swear! Possibly the most fun and unexpected thing about this card rescue, however, was that my package came with a bonus: bona fide unopened wax packs! There was an unopened pack of 1987 and 1988 Donruss, fresh from my days as a middle school card collector. I haven't quite yet decided what to do with the 1988 pack as I'm afraid that if my collection takes on anymore '88 Donruss cards that the entire box will spontaneously combust and produce amazing amount mold at the same time. However, I knew exactly what to do with the '87 pack - rip it open!

16/17/18 - Robert Clemente Puzzle
359 - Steve Jeltz (I got to see him play in person during the mid-'80s with the Portland Beavers)
227 - Scott Bailes (The back of the card boasts of his "outstanding rookie season" in which he went 10-10 with an ERA close to 5.00.)

94 - Fernando Valenzuela (Flash forward to my high school years. I was working at a card shop, and word started getting around that Fernando was going to be pitching for a AAA team facing the Beavers one weekend. I forget which team, but it was during one of his comeback attempts. He eventually made it back with the Orioles.)

577 - Jeff Lahti (An Oregon native.)
444 - Kelly Gruber (Gruber had a big year at one point in his career, but I can't recall which one.)
312 - Jim Winn

303 - Andres Galarraga (I just can't like him, after his awful season with the Cardinals. He ended up going on to have some big years with the Rockies and Braves.)
300 - Checklist
274 - Rob Deer (I still tend to think that Adam Dunn is a glorified Rob Deer.)

142 - Kal Daniels (Kalvoski Daniels! This was a nice pull back in the day. He only lasted 7 years in the majors.)
624 - Angel Salazar (One of my favorite things about Donruss cards was that they printed the player's contract status and details on how they were acquired. Salazar was "Traded from Mets to Royals 4/1/86 for P Tony Ferreira")

492 - Barry Larkin (Even better than Kal. If only I was a Reds fan. I always held a bit of a grudge against Larkin for challenging Ozzie Smith's supremacy as the best NL shortstop around.)
360 - Ed Whitson

228 - Rickey Henderson (Your 2009 first ballot Hall of Famer.)
95 - Andy Allanson (Not to be confused with Allan Anderson.)

This was a great pack in both 1987 and (almost) 2009. I'd have to say that throwing in unopened packs is a great way to sweeten up a trade or any packaged gift.