Completely Red - 1981 Donruss

Today's edition of Completely Red will look at the first set released by Donruss in 1981. The Topps monopoly finally blew up, so Donruss and Fleer rushed their releases to market. While not a strong set, the redeeming quality is the bevy of action shots. Of the meager 21 Reds in the set, 18 feature an action shot (most, it seems, taken during a single day). Donruss decided future Hall of Famers Johnny Bench and Tom Seaver were too great to be featured on merely one base card, so a second was thrown in. Sure, why not? This of course means that only 19 Reds made the cut. In an interesting move, Donruss went with a list of career highlights on the back instead of a comprehensive stat line. While nice, they would abandon this the next year. Let's check the stats.

STATS:

Cards - 21

RC's - 2 (Paul Householder, Charlie Leibrandt)

All Stars - 8 (Ray Knight, Johnny Bench x2, Mario Soto, George Foster, Dave Concepcion, Mike LaCoss, Ken Griffey, Tom Seaver x2)

Hall of Famers - 2 (Johnny Bench x2, Tom Seaver x2)

Reds Hall of Famers - 8 (Johnny Bench x2, Dave Concepcion, Mario Soto, George Foster, Ken Griffey, Tom Seaver x2, Cesar Geronimo, Dan Driessen)

 

Left Handed Batting Stances - 8

Dirty, Filthy Cubs Jerseys - 1

Checklist:

61 Ray Knight

62 Johnny Bench

63 Mario Soto

64 Doug Bair

65 George Foster

181 Dave Concepcion

182 Johnny Bench

183 Mike LaCoss

184 Ken Griffey

185 Dave Collins

301 Dan Driessen

302 Joe Nolan

303 Paul Householder

304 Harry Spilman

305 Cesar Geronimo

421 Charlie Leibrandt RC

422 Tom Seaver

423 Ron Oester

424 Junior Kennedy

425 Tom Seaver

554 Mike Vail