Still, this 56-card set was popular at the time of issue for including the extended rookie cards (XRC) — basically the first overall Donruss cards — of several exciting young players. Among those were Matt Nokes, Kevin Seitzer, Joe Magrane, Matt Williams, and others.

Issued only through hobby dealers, each full set also included a 15-piece puzzle of Roberto Clemente, a smaller version of the puzzle inserted three pieces at a time in 1987 Donruss wax packs.

Today, three cards from this set lead the way in terms of value ( based on recent selling prices for PSA 10 copies):

• Greg Maddux (#52) – $175
• Bo Jackson (#14) – $150
• Mark McGwire (#1) – $125

Stars like Fred McGriff, Rafael Palmeiro, and Williams sell for $30-50 in perfect slabbed condition, while commons usually check in at $10 or less.

Expect to pay just a few dollars for any of the top cards in nice raw condition, while ungraded commons bring just pennies.

(Note: The sections below may contain affiliate links to eBay and Amazon listings for the cards being discussed. Check out our full series of posts on the history of Donruss baseball cards.)

Here is the complete 1987 Donruss “The Rookies” checklist:

1 Mark McGwire
2 Eric Bell
3 Mark Williamson
4 Mike Greenwell
5 Ellis Burks (XRC)
6 DeWayne Buice
7 Mark McLemore
8 Devon White
9 Willie Fraser
10 Les Lancaster
11 Ken Williams
12 Matt Nokes (XRC)
13 Jeff Robinson (Jeff M. Robinson)
14 Bo Jackson
15 Kevin Seitzer (XRC)
16 Bill Ripken
17 B.J. Surhoff
18 Chuck Crim
19 Mike Birkbeck
20 Chris Bosio
21 Les Straker
22 Mark Davidson
23 Gene Larkin (XRC)
24 Ken Gerhart
25 Luis Polonia (XRC)
26 Terry Steinbach
27 Mickey Brantley
28 Mike Stanley
29 Jerry Browne
30 Todd Benzinger
31 Fred McGriff
32 Mike Henneman (XRC)
33 Casey Candaele
34 Dave Magadan
35 David Cone
36 Mike Jackson
37 John Mitchell (XRC)
38 Mike Dunne
39 John Smiley (XRC)
40 Joe Magrane (XRC)
41 Jim Lindeman
42 Shane Mack
43 Stan Jefferson
44 Benito Santiago
45 Matt Williams (XRC)
46 Dave Meads
47 Rafael Palmeiro
48 Bill Long
49 Bob Brower
50 James Steels
51 Paul Noce
52 Greg Maddux
53 Jeff Musselman
54 Brian Holton
55 Chuck Jackson
56 Checklist (#1-56)

The Tribe beat the Boston Braves, four games to two in 1948.

Here’s what the Series hero looked like …

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The record for most years between championships, however, belongs to the Chicago Cubs, who beat the Detroit Tigers in 1908, then didn’t take another World Series trophy home to Wrigley Field until 2016 … when they took out the Indians.

That’s a span of 108 years, in case you left your calculator in your other pants.

Honorable mention goes to the Boston Red Sox, who won the World Series in 1918 … sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees in December of 1919 … then remained “cursed” by the Bambino until 2004, when they swept the St. Louis Cardinals in the Fall Classic.

Eight-five years between championships is nothing to sneeze at, and it’s also the American League record for World Series droughts.

Failure by Any Other Name …

However, there are other kinds of futility besides just not winning a World Series.

For instance, an extended stretch without ever even reaching a World Series …

Among current teams, the Washington Nationals had never made the Fall Classic cut in their half century of existence, though they were the Montreal Expos through 2004. But that all changed in 2019 when the Nats won the whole dang thing!

If you’re looking for a futile franchise that hasn’t moved during their big-stage drought, and that’s still searching for relief, the Seattle Mariners have you covered — they’ve never once made it to the World Series since their founding as an expansion club in 1976.

Considering only franchises who actually have *some* World Series experience, the Pittsburgh Pirates “lead” the pack, having last appeared in the Series in 1979.

Not far behind are the Milwaukee Brewers, whose only Series appearance came in 1982.

The Baltimore Orioles checked in for the last time — so far — the next year (1983).

Next in line are the Cincinnati Reds and Oakland A’s, who faced off in the 1990 World Series, but neither of whom has made it back since.

And then, there are the Minnesota Twins, who thrilled the world with their seven-game nail-biter over the Atlanta Braves in 1991 … and then went away.

Interestingly, four of these teams are still in play as the 2020 playoffs get underway.

So … maybe this is the year?

Historically Missing

In case you’re wondering, only the Cubs top the Nationals’ record when it comes to long stretches without a Series appearance, as the North Siders whiffed on the last series of season between 1945 and 2016.

The Mariners are also looking up at Chicago’s other baseball team, as the White Sox made it to the Fall Classic in 1959 but then not again until 2005.

And, though it didn’t get as much play, the ChiSox were actually in worse shape than the BoSox in the drought department before that ’05 victory.

You probably remember that the White Sox (at least allegedly) threw the 1919 World Series to the Reds, but they also won the 1917 Fall Classic over the New York Giants.

Between then and 2005, though, it was just losses by the Black Sox and Go-Go Sox … and dead air.

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Since there are 30 MLB teams, and they (obviously) play against each other in each game, the total number of games in a season is …

(162 games X 30 teams) / (2 teams per game) = 2430 games per season.

That’s a lot of games, to be sure, and it’s a constant source of consternation and tension for fans, players, owners, sponsors, and others associated with the game.

But it wasn’t always quite this way …

Why 162 Games?

The 162-game season has its genesis in 1919, when the American and National Leagues stabilized at eight teams each and came together to develop a common schedule.

The agreement called for each team to play each opponent 20 times, and, since there was no interleague play at the time, that meant 140 games (20 games x 7 rivals).

The next year, MLB bumped that up to 22 games between each pair of opponents, expanding the schedule to 154 games.

(Think that move had anything to do with Babe Ruth’s move to the New York Yankees and maybe the 1919 Chicago Black Sox? Money talks …)

That structure held tight until the American League expanded by two teams in 1961.

(The Washington Senators moved north to become the Minnesota Twins, and a new version of the Senators landed in D.C. They were joined by the newly-minted Los Angeles Angels.)

With ten teams in the AL, that would have put each club’s schedule at 198 (22 games x 9 opponents) under the existing scheme, so the parties involved agreed to a reduction.

At 18 games per match-up, each AL club entered the new season staring at a 162-game schedule.

Meanwhile, the NL remained at eight teams and maintained their 154-game schedule … but only for a year.

In 1962, the NL expanded, too, adding the Houston Colt .45s and the New York Mets.

To go along with the extra clubs, the Senior Circuit adopted the 162-game schedule, and we were off to the (pennant) races.

Holding Tight

In the intervening 60 years or so, MLB has welcomed ten more teams to the fold, and we’ve also witnessed a fair number of franchise relocations.

Along the way, we’ve also seen the advent of divisional play, realignment, interleague play, the designated hitter, strikes, lockouts, expanded playoffs, and any number of other changes, from tiny to huge.

But all along the way, baseball has held to that 162-game season.

Will it change any time soon?

You never know, as the modern powers-that-be have shown a hankering for tinkering, but the long, long schedule appears safe for the moment.

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By the time young collectors got their sweaty little hands on the 1969 Topps Jim Maloney baseball card (#362), they likely were holding a piece of history.

See, on April 30 of that year, Maloney took the mound for the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field and threw a no-hitter against the Houston Astros.

It was a thoroughly humiliating day for the ‘Stros, who not only failed to collect a safety, but also struck out 13 times. Oh, and Houston pitchers Wade Blasingame, Jim Ray, Skip Guinn, and Danny Coombs combined to give up 10 runs.

(Though Guinn kept Cincy off the board for two full innings.)

A no-hitter is always big news, but this one was even more significant, as it was the third no-no of Maloney’s career.

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Back in 1965, the big left-hander turned the trick twice — in extra innings, no less — on June 14 against the New York Mets and on August 19 against the Chicago Cubs.

Maloney’s 1969 gem thus thrust him into select company, making him one of just five pitchers at the time to have tossed at least three no-hitters. The others were Sandy Koufax (4), Cy Young (3), Bob Feller (3), and Larry Corcoran (3).

A few years later, of course, Nolan Ryan would make them all look silly by authoring his third no-hitter … then his fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh.

But the same year Ryan pitched his last no-no (1991, if you’re keeping score), changes were a-brewin’.

In particular, the MLB Committee for Statistical Accuracy ruled that games in which a pitcher no-hit the competition for nine innings but then allowed a hit in extra frames would no longer be classified as no-hitters.

And that spelled trouble for Jim Maloney and his historic 1969 Topps baseball card.

Because, you see, that first no-no in 1965 was an oddball. Maloney indeed held the Mets hitless for nine innings — ten innings, even — but then gave up a home run to Johnny Lewis to open the 11th.

(Maloney also gave up a single to Roy McMillan after striking out Ron Swoboda and before Jesse Gonder hit into an inning-ending double play.)

That lead held for New York, and Maloney lost the game even though he threw a no-hitter.

Then, unceremoniously, he lost the no-hitter itself 22 years later.

Sometimes, it doesn’t pay to stay in the game.

For Maloney, though, the indignities didn’t start with that voided no-hitter. After a fine 12-5, 2.77 showing in that summer of 1969, Maloney made just seven appearances in 1970 thanks to an Achilles injury.

Cincinnati traded him to the California Angels that December in exchange for Greg Garrett, and the Halos released him after an 0-3, 5.04 showing.

At age 31, Maloney was done in the Major Leagues.

And so, a few years later, instead of helping his teammates drive the Big Read Machine, Maloney unwittingly waited for his no-no demotion.

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It seems like a silly question whose answer ought to be, “not very long” … right? I mean, an average team wins 81 games each season, so they must cover the days early on.

Maybe.

But the expansion 1962 New York Mets were far from average. As in, they would have needed a step ladder perched on top of the Empire State Building, while wearing platform shoes and standing on tippy toes to even whiff the soles of average’s feet.

That woeful group of other team’s castoffs and young dudes looking for a chance finished at 40-120 … so it was a bit more difficult for them to post a W on any given weekday.

Still, it’s tough to imagine a modern team languishing through the first week of June without winning on a Friday, as the ’62 Mets did.

But that June 8 victory over the Chicago Cubs in the 49th game of the season didn’t end the Mets day-of-week victory drought, because … well, because Thursday had yet to get on the board.

And it wouldn’t get on the board at all in June.

Or in July.

Or in August.

Or even in September.

So the Mets rolled into their first off-season with zero Thursday victories, and then lost on April 11, 1963, their first Thursday game of the new season.

At least it was Warren Spahn who beat them in that one, as that tended to happen to lots of teams back then.

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The Mets were off on April 18, but headed back to Wrigley Field to face the Cubs on April 25. Roger Craig took the mound for New York, and the Cubs countered with Dick Ellsworth.

Amazingly (uh-huh), the Mets struck first when left fielder Frank Thomas drove in Ron Hunt with a single in the top of the first. The Cubs tied things up in the bottom of the fifth, but then Thomas banged a two-run homer in the top of the sixth.

Chicago scored once more, in the bottom of the seventh, and that’s how things stayed — the Mets had their first Thursday victory, 3-2.

Craig went the distance, though he did have a scare in the ninth when Lou Brock — who scored both Cubs runs — singled to center field with one out. Interestingly, Ken Hubbs, who led all Cubs batters with two hits, grounded into a double play to end the game.

Craig had finished a frightening 10-24 in 1962 and would end up with an even more anemic 5-22 mark in 1963, despite decent ERAs and peripherals.

And, of course, he would go on to coach and manage in the Major Leagues for decades.

All of which is to say that, standing there on the mound after his April 25 victory, Craig was a true Thursday’s child — he still had far, far to go.

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See, Cias started his professional baseball journey when the Baltimore Orioles selected him in the sixth round of the 1975 June draft.

He spent the rest of that season in Rookie ball, then moved up to Class A for part of 1976. After hitting a combined .171 in that Bicentennial summer, Cias found himself on the outs, released by the O’s in November.

The Red Sox picked him up later that month but cut ties the next April before Cias could make a single appearance at any level.

And so, as he prepared to turn 20, Cias was done in baseball.

Except he wasn’t, because he landed with the independent Salem Senators in the Northwest League, and that’s where he was when the Oakland A’s came calling in February 1979.

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The A’s “bought” Cias from the Senators, and he started his climb, finally. A long, slow climb, but one that saw him click off A, AA, and AAA on his resume, about one level every couple of years.

Finally, on April 27, 1983, just four days after his 26th birthday, the young(ish) catcher got the call to the Bigs. Cias started his first two contests, then spent most of the season waiting to replace starter Bob Kearney in the late innings.

By September 24, the rookie receiver had made his way into 18 games, going 6-for-18 with a double and an RBI … but no runs of his own.

That Saturday afternoon, the Toronto Blue Jays came to the Coliseum, and the out-of-towners led 1-0 into the late innings. In the bottom of the eighth, Wayne Gross pinch hit for Kearney, but the A’s came up empty.

The move got Cias into the game for the ninth, though, and he was still there in the bottom of the 10th, after a Dan Meyer single scored Davey Lopes to tie the game at the end of regulation.

Cias singled to start things off for the A’s in their extra frame, and Tony Phillips laid down a sacrifice bunt against Tom Clancy to advance the rook to second.

Finally, Rickey Henderson smacked a single into center field, and Cias raced home with the winning run.

The victory left the A’s at 71-84 and still 23 games out of first with seven to play.

They were done.

And so, too, was Darryl Cias because, as it turned out, he’d never make another appearance in the Major Leagues.

But the man had scored in Big Leagues, at last.

And the next year, Topps graced him with not only a rookie card, but also a career-capper, all on one glorious hunk of cardboard.

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But it was the third guy — Bryn Smith — on that Montreal Expos Future Stars card that made the most immediate and lasting impact as a player.

Already 26 years old and with just seven Big League appearances under his belt when that rookie card hit store shelves in the spring of 1982, Smith spent the ’82 and ’83 seasons as a long man in the Expos bullpen.

In 1984, though, he made his way into the rotation and went 12-13 with a 3.32 ERA in 28 starts.

Smith remained a regular part of the Montreal staff through the rest of the 1980s, complementing bigger names like Steve Rogers, Charlie Lea, Bill Gullickson, Dennis Martinez, and Floyd Youmans.

In a Sports Illustrated article penned by Peter Gammons in July 1989, Smith and his wife Patti expounded at length on the difficulties of being Americans living in Canada. Their laments included having to drive across the border to procure Doritos and facing ridicule when asking for ice in their soda.

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In the aftermath, Smith faced more ridicule — or at least teasing — for his views, and you have to wonder if the situation played a role in how his free agency played out that winter.

Because, in November of 1989, Smith signed on to return to the the St. Louis Cardinals (they had drafted him way back in June 1973, but he didn’t sign with them then).

After three seasons in St. Louis, Smith hit the open market again at age 37 before signing a modest free agent contract with the expansion Colorado Rockies in December of 1992.

He made the Rox’s first Opening Day roster and was on-hand when they lost their first two games, against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium (to Dwight Gooden and Bret Saberhagen).

Smith was more than on-hand when the Rockies stormed into Denver for their first-ever home game on April 9 … he was on the mound.

The old man pitched seven innings of six-hit, scoreless ball, striking out one and giving up zero walks.

Willie Blair relieved Smith in the eighth and was similarly solid. And, even though Steve Reed blew up in the ninth, allowing four men to score, the Rockies notched the first win in franchise history by a score of 11-4.

Their opponent on that long-ago Friday night?

The Montreal Expos, of course.

No word on whether Smith celebrated his victory with a bag of chips, but he would make just four more starts, during which his ERA ballooned to 8.49.

The Rockies released him in June, and Smith was done.

Thanks to Tito and Mills, though, we’ll always have a soft spot for they Bryn Smith rookie card.

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The accolades roll off your fingertips — last man to hit .400 in a season, two Triple Crowns, 521 home runs, more than 2600 hits in a career missing a three-plus-year chunk due to military duty.

And Williams was one of a couple dozen (plus) guys who played in four decades.

Given all that, it’s probably not too surprising that he became the first player to hit a home run in four decades when he took the Washington Senators Camilo Pascual deep for the only Boston Red Sox run in a 10-1 Opening Day drubbing at Griffith Stadium on April 18, 1960.

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hree men have followed Williams into that four-decade homer club, including Willie McCovey, who just so happened to have also smacked 521 dingers in his career.

Stretch and the Splendid Splinter will be forever linked, it seems.

A tad more surprising, perhaps, is the presence of Rickey Henderson, baseball’s all-time leader in stolen bases, runs scored, and Oscar Mayering.

But even though Rickey was known for his speed and his leadoff prowess, he did manage to club 297 home runs during his 25-year(!!) career.

Most fans would be hard-pressed to come up with the fourth man on our list — unless you happen to be an Omar Vizquel super collector, or, like, his brother or something.

Of the 80 homers Vizquel collected in 24 seasons, exactly one came in 1989, and two in 2010 (and zero each in 2011 and 2012).

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So Omar squeaks in.

You probably won’t be shocked to learn that Rickey and Omar both belong to another four-decade club — guys with a stolen base across the eons.

They’re joined by Tim Raines, second on the all-time steals list, and …

*wait for it*

…

Ted Williams.

Yep, Teddy Ballgame stole two bases in 1939, one in 1960, and 21 more — total — in between.

You can’t make this stuff up!

(You totally can, but someone would call you on it, for sure.)

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You know, stats like Wins Above Replacement, or WAR — the ones that let you compare players across the epochs.

These metrics are great not because they tell us absolutely that Barry Bonds was better than Ted Williams, but because they get us thinking about the comparisons.

And these stats are a gateway into the wild, beautiful world of baseball’s past, no matter what the topic at hand is.

For instance, Milwaukee Brewers reliever Jeremy Jeffress came off the injured list this week, and the move was greeted as a legitimate boost to the Crew’s bullpen.

I knew Jeffress had a great run last year, but I had forgotten the extent of his gawd — 8-1, 1.29 ERA, 89 strikeouts in 76.2 innings, a 0.991 WHIP, and 3.4 WHIP. Those are some impressive squiggles, and they got me wondering — surprise! — which pitchers from my youth compared favorably to Jeffress.

A quick trip to Baseball Reference satisfied that itch, thanks to their Similarity Scores, which told me that Frank Williams is the most similar pitcher to Jeffress through age 30.

I remember two things about Frank Williams …

First, I remember that he played for my Cincinnati Reds in the late 1980s.

And second, I remember his baseball card looking like this …

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… no matter WHAT other teams he played for (the Reds and the Detroit Tigers). That’s what happens when you have a 1985 rookie card, right smack dab in the middle of the mania — you get frozen in time with your rookie team.

It’s not all that unreasonable to remember Williams for his time with the Giants, either, considering he went 14-9, 3.22 ERA, 109 ERA+ in 146 appearances over three seasons, encompassing a 231 2/3 innings.

That run included a 1.20 ERA in 1986, the same year he allowed a 0.006 isolated power mark to opposing batters. That’s a record for hurlers pitching at least 50 innings.

That winter, the Giants traded Williams, Mike Villa, and Timber Mead (that name!) to the Reds in exchange for Riverfront favorite Eddie Milner.

In Cincy, Williams racked up 145 innings for the 1987-88 Reds clubs that contended for a division title, contributing 2.9 WAR to those efforts.

The Reds released him in December 1988, though, and he eventually signed a free agent deal for 1989 with the Tigers. After 42 appearances for Detroit that summer, Williams was done at age 31.

According to his Wikipedia page, Williams suffered calamity after tragedy once his diamond career was over, and he died of pneumonia in January 2009 when he was just 50 years old.

Like all of our other Wax Pack Gods, though, Frank Williams lives on in eternal youth on our baseball cards, just waiting for someone to remind us of his glory.

And for that, in this moment, we can thank Jeremy Jeffress.

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At about the same time Topps was focusing on completeness, though, the game itself was starting to lose its hold on the same.

To wit …

On April 16, 1975, former San Francisco Giants ace Juan Marichal took the mound for his new team, the Los Angeles Dodgers, against the Cincinnati Reds at Dodger Stadium.

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He wouldn’t make it out of the third inning after giving up four runs on two walks and six hits, including a home run to fellow future Hall of Famer Tony Perez in the third.

Marichal also would never make it back to a Major League mound — he was done after 16 seasons, 243 victories … and 244 complete games.

Later that season, on September 22, St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Bob Gibson would give up five runs over seven innings in a loss to the Chicago Cubs at Busch Stadium.

That was the end of the line for Gibson, who finished with 251 wins … and 255 complete games.

And so, in the course of one season, baseball witnessed the last two men to record at least 200 victories and to also complete more games than they won.

The closest to the mark since then was Gaylord Perry, who retired in 1983 with 314 wins and 303 CG.

Had he not hung on until he was 73, perhaps K-Lord could have joined the CG>W club.

But he didn’t.

Fellow Hall of Famer and 1983 retiree Fergie Jenkins finished at 284 wins and 267 complete games.

Hall of Famers Steve Carlton, Bert Blyleven, Nolan Ryan, and Jim Palmer all notched more than 200 wins and more than 200 complete games, but none came within even 20 of finishing more times than they won.

It’s hard to imagine, in today’s game of closers and openers and specialization in general, that we’ll ever see another hurler complete 200 games, let alone finish more times than he wins.

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After all, when was the last time you saw a complete-game loss?

But this is baseball, and things change, and things cycle back around, too.

Just a few years ago, home run hitters were pariahs, but we all dig them again now thanks to the advent of launch angle, or something.

And Topps even brought back baseball-cards-by-series awhile ago.

So, you know, never say never.

(Though CG>W sure feels like a never.)

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