Factory sets make comeback with two Donruss sets
By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor
Don’t call it a comeback — but it is.
Panini America is offering its 2014 Donruss release in factory set form and a second boxed set as well — 2014 Donruss The Rookies.
Both are scheduled to start arriving next Wednesday (Nov. 19) but both are available now for pre-ordering on iCollectPanini.com.
The Donruss factory set includes 356 cards — 255 standard cards from this year’s Series 1 and Series 2 releases along with none Rated Rookies Materials card or one The Rookies Signature Update per set. Also included will be 60 Diamond Kings and 40 Rated Rookies, which were a tad shorter-printed in wax pack form. The set is $100 and limited to only 2,014 copies. Among the signers for this one will be National League Rookie of the Year Jacob deGrom, Jon Singleton, Jace Peterson, C.J. Cron and Joe Panik. Players with Rated Rookies Materials will be Masahiro Tanaka, Jose Abreu, Oscar Taveras, Gregory Polanco, George Springer, Yordano Ventura and Billy Hamilton to name a few
The Rookies set is an online-exclusive release for $25, and it includes 101 cards — all The Rookies cards from Series 1 and 2 as well as a selection of The Rookies Update cards and one on-card rookie autograph. There will be Rookie Signatures Update Rookie Tickets for those who sign as well as an unsigned version for Tanaka.
Signing for the The Rookies Signatures cards will be Nick Castellanos, Kolten Wong, Abreu and Springer. Signing for Rookie Ticket cards will be Abreu, Xander Bogaerts, Polanco, Springer, Ventura, Mookie Betts, Arismendy Alcantara, Jake Marisnick, Jon Singleton and Nick Castellanos. (These lists may not be complete as a formal checklist was not released.)
Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball and Beckett Sports Card Monthly magazines. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.
Update (Nov. 18): to add photo gallery below and some details about Donruss set signers above. Also updated price change for main set — now $100 per Panini site.
Gee, thanks Panini. All that money I spent acquiring all those short-printed Diamond Kings and Rated Rookies; all of it gone to waste.
There may be some type of differentiating factory set notation. Unknown at this time.
Clarification – “The Rookies” boxed set has all the “The Rookies” inserts from series 1 and 2, not the base rookie cards. Given that there were 41 of those insert cards from series 1 & 2, it must include 59 update cards.
I’m guessing there will be some kind of difference between pack-issued and factory set cards, but still frustrating to get this info now. As someone who likes to collect base team sets, it would have saved me some money to just get my team’s cards from the factory set(s), rather than paying for the SP base cards. At least I’ll know for next year not to spend any money on Donruss until the factory issues come out.
I sure hope they have them online as part of their Black Friday deals, as I will definitely buy some then.
Paul: The item is updated.
WOW !!! There are only 5 comments, 2 of them being from Chris, and for the most part……..they are very negative. I know many people on here are just in it for the money, but I’d like to think there are a few that enjoy collecting cards {??}….and Paul A. does sound like one of those I am referencing.
I completely understand the timing on Panini’s part~after buying so many packs previously to obtain those individual kards…….basically the companies are increasing their bottom line.
I wont use any names, but getting TOO GREEDY can have a detrimental effect that sometimes cannot be changed……..and it’s not an individual I’m yakking about
I know in the end, I spend too much the way I collect……but with ‘disabling health’ popping up 14 years ago (and getting much worse since the amputation in 2012)……I can’t afford to purchase boxes-so I go this route and works out a little better in the end.
I do like the premise of the Donruss factory set
Paul Angiliy: Because of this, I am NOT buying ANY 2015 Donruss.
Panini: I hope it’s worth cannibalizing your 2015 sales to make the 2014 nut.
I dont understand why anyone would waste money on this.
I want one. My WalMart didn’t sell any of these packs so the few cards I’ve got were through trades online.
whattheheck: I know a lot of people that don’t understand why people would waste money on ANY baseball cards …
As for the Donruss factory sets – $60 total for both complete sets totaling 455 base cards plus either two autos or one auto and one mem card sounds like an outstanding deal to me, especially since it was one of the more popular sets of the year (I hate the no logos, but even I enjoyed these cards). I would not at all mind getting both sets. My only issue is the frustration of having spent good money to finish off a complete Red Sox team set, including the SP cards, earlier this year and only now finding out I could have saved that money and just waited to get the whole set.
The Donruss press release was no especially well worded, but I think a lot of people are missing the point, too, that more than half the cards in the “The Rookies” set are going to be completely new update cards. Compare $25 for a 100-card (mostly) update set with one autograph to the $100 for a 100-card Topps Heritage update set with one auto that people went nuts for in 2013, and again the Donruss “The Rookies” set on its own seems like an outstanding deal.
Like I said before, though, it will make me shy away from buying Donruss brand cards next year until it becomes clear whether or not they’ll do another factory set.
I don’t have a problem with a factory set coming out. But don’t put it at only $35. There were people who were paying $1-$1.50 alone for the DK cards, and there were 60 of them. So your customers who just spend $60+ on DK cards are now angry to see they can get a whole set for $35. People were selling series 2 sets alone for $50-$60. The pricing of it makes no sense. Hopefully there is some kind of variation to the cards that come from the sets.
I’m sure that Donruss factory will have some way of making the cards a bit different to protect their
ability to sell future products. No one will waste their time/money buying short printed cards if the
exact same card is available for the cheap later on. Perhaps they will add a glossy finish or something.
The update set is one I approve of.
If you are going to issue one, you don’t need to charge $100 ala Topps for a set that is not explicitly limited.
There is a reason why the set 2 years ago sold out, but last year took months and I have a feeling they were
sold in bulk to someone. Not likely to touch this years product either.
“Also included will be 60 Diamond Kings and 40 Rated Rookies, which were a tad shorter-printed in wax pack form.”
Tad?
BS.
I bought 1+ boxes each of S1 & S2 and I’m STILL missing 61/100 SP.
Add me to the list of fools who won’t be buying any Panini baseball products in 2015.
this is what u wrote in the headline”set. Also included will be 60 Diamond Kings and 40 Rated Rookies, which were a tad shorter-printed in wax pack form. doesn’t sound like u are not sure here
As of today I noticed the Donrusssets on line are back to being pre- order instead of in stock, are at $100 NOT $35 anymore. Also heard they would be numbered to 2014