1998 Donruss Crusade
Contents
Description
1998 Donruss Crusade is a 130-card, cross-brand insert. The first 40 cards (Denoted below with a "D") were randomly inserted into packs of 1998 Donruss Series One as a "stealth" insert, the next 30 into 1998 Leaf ("L"), and the next 30 into 1998 Donruss Update Series ("U"). Cards 101-130 were inserted into packs of 1998 Leaf Rookies & Stars.
The fronts feature color player photos with a Medieval design theme, printed on chromium stock with a holographic foil sheen that gives it the appearance of a Finest Refractor.
There are three different versions of each card:
- Green: serial numbered to 250
- Purple: serial numbered to 100
- Red: serial numbered to 25
All of the "Call to Arms" (CTA) subset cards that were officially released/packed-out were mistakenly printed without card numbers. No corrections to this error was made.
Donruss had plans for extending the Crusade set into 1999 and beyond, however with the bankruptcy of their parent Pinnacle Brands, those plans never came to fruition. However, in the years since a number of Crusades with card numbers above 130 have surfaced. It is that many of these cards were "backdoored" after the Pinnacle Brands bankruptcy.
Checklist
- 1 Tim Salmon U
- 2 Garret Anderson U
- 3 Jim Edmonds CTA L
- 4 Darin Erstad CTA L
- 5 Jason Dickson D
- 6 Todd Greene D
- 7 Roberto Alomar CTA D
- 8 Cal Ripken, Jr. D
- 9 Rafael Palmeiro CTA U
- 10 Brady Anderson U
- 11 Mike Mussina L
- 12 Mo Vaughn CTA D
- 13 Nomar Garciaparra D
- 14 Frank Thomas CTA U
- 15 Albert Belle CTA L
- 16 Mike Cameron D
- 17 Robin Ventura U
- 18 Manny Ramirez L
- 19 Jim Thome CTA L
- 20 Sandy Alomar, Jr. D
- 21 Dave Justice D
- 22 Matt Williams U
- 23 Tony Clark U
- 24 Bubba Trammell L
- 25 Justin Thompson D
- 26 Bob Higginson L
- 27 Kevin Appier D
- 28 Paul Molitor L
- 29 Chuck Knoblauch CTA U
- 30 Todd Walker L
- 31 Bernie Williams U
- 32 Derek Jeter CTA U
- 33 Tino Martinez D
- 34 Andy Pettitte L
- 35 Wade Boggs CTA L
- 36 Hideki Irabu D
- 37 Jose Canseco D
- 38 Jason Giambi U
- 39 Ken Griffey, Jr. D
- 40 Alex Rodriguez CTA L
- 41 Randy Johnson L
- 42 Edgar Martinez D
- 43 Jay Buhner CTA U
- 44 Juan Gonzalez CTA U
- 45 Will Clark D
- 46 Ivan Rodriguez L
- 47 Rusty Greer D
- 48 Roger Clemens L
- 49 Carlos Delgado U
- 50 Shawn Green D
- 51 Jose Cruz, Jr. D
- 52 Kenny Lofton D
- 53 Chipper Jones D
- 54 Andruw Jones CTA L
- 55 Greg Maddux U
- 56 John Smoltz CTA L
- 57 Tom Glavine U
- 58 Javy Lopez L
- 59 Fred McGriff L
- 60 Mark Grace U
- 61 Sammy Sosa CTA U
- 62 Kevin Orie D
- 63 Barry Larkin CTA U
- 64 Pokey Reese L
- 65 Deion Sanders D
- 66 Andres Galarraga L
- 67 Larry Walker D
- 68 Dante Bichette CTA D
- 69 Neifi Perez U
- 70 Eric Young L
- 71 Todd Helton D
- 72 Gary Sheffield CTA U
- 73 Moises Alou L
- 74 Bobby Bonilla D
- 75 Kevin Brown D
- 76 Ben Grieve L
- 77 Jeff Bagwell CTA U
- 78 Craig Biggio D
- 79 Mike Piazza L
- 80 Raul Mondesi U
- 81 Hideo Nomo CTA U
- 82 Wilton Guerrero D
- 83 Rondell White CTA U
- 84 Vladimir Guerrero CTA U
- 85 Pedro Martinez D
- 86 Edgardo Alfonzo D
- 87 Todd Hundley CTA U
- 88 Scott Rolen D
- 89 Francisco Cordova D
- 90 Jose Guillen D
- 91 Jason Kendall L
- 92 Ray Lankford D
- 93 Mark McGwire CTA D
- 94 Matt Morris D
- 95 Alan Benes L
- 96 Brian Jordan CTA U
- 97 Tony Gwynn L
- 98 Ken Caminiti CTA L
- 99 Barry Bonds CTA U
- 100 Shawn Estes D
Leaf Rookies & Stars Series
File:CrusPfront.jpgFile:CrusPback.jpg
- 101 Richard Hidalgo
- 102 Paul Konerko
- 103 Miguel Tejada
- 104 Fernando Tatis
- 105 Travis Lee
- 106 Wes Helms
- 107 Rich Butler
- 108 Mark Kotsay
- 109 Eli Marrero
- 110 David Ortiz
- 111 Juan Encarnacion
- 112 Jaret Wright
- 113 Livan Hernandez
- 114 Ron Wright
- 115 Ryan Christenson
- 116 Eric Milton
- 117 Brad Fullmer
- 118 Karim Garcia
- 119 Abraham Nunez
- 120 Ricky Ledee
- 121 Carl Pavano
- 122 Derrek Lee
- 123 A.J. Hinch
- 124 Brian Rose
- 125 Bobby Estalella
- 126 Kevin Millwood
- 127 Kerry Wood
- 128 Sean Casey
- 129 Russell Branyan
- 130 Magglio Ordonez
Executive Promos
These cards are serial-numbered either "XXX/250" (green), "XXX/100" (purple), or "XX/25" (red). The serial-numbering is printed rather than stamped. It is believed that these cards were produced for Donruss staff and were used in-house for final approval and quality control before production. Many collectors believe that 1 to 3 copies of an Executive Promo each player for each color were produced for all cards in the officially released set (i.e., cards #1 - #130).
Because of the popularity of the Crusade set in general and potential rarity of Executive Promos specifically, these command strong premiums in the secondary sales market over the pack-issued Crusades.
Unreleased Cards
File:GriffeyCTAfront.jpgFile:GriffeyCTAback.jpg
A number of additional Crusade cards were produced by Donruss for future 1998 and 1999 baseball card sets, but were never officially released due to the bankruptcy of Pinnacle Brands. All players in the Crusade set were to have two styles for all three colors: a "base" and "Call to Arms" (CTA) subset. However, the 2nd style for many players were never officially released due to the bankruptcy.
For example, the Ken Griffey, Jr. CTA card pictured was one of these unreleased cards that emerged on the secondary market after the bankruptcy - because Griffey, Jr. had a "base" Crusade that was officially released, his CTA subset was to be featured in sets that were never officially released.
Unlike the cards that were inserted into packs, all cards from the unreleased CTA subset are sequentially-numbered. None of the cards, however, are serial-numbered. Many collectors believe that one copy of the red and purple and two copies of the green of each player from this unreleased portion of the set were produced.
Because of the popularity of the Crusade set in general and potential rarity of the unreleased Crusades specifically, these command also strong premiums in the secondary sales market over the pack-issued Crusades.
The following players and cards have been confirmed to exist:
131 Ken Griffey, Jr. CTA (Green, Purple, and Red)
141 Henry Rodriguez (Green, Purple, and Red)
145 Roberto Alomar (Green)
147 Manny Ramirez CTA (Green, Purple, and Red)
171 Craig Biggio CTA
176 Alex Rodriguez (Purple)
177 Greg Maddux CTA
178 Mike Piazza CTA (Green, Purple, and Red)
189 Mark McGwire
196 Mo Vaughn CTA
314 Frank Thomas (Green)
??? Mark Grace CTA (Green, Purple, and Red)
??? Albert Belle (Green)
??? Barry Bonds (Red)
??? Ryan Klesko (Red)
??? Vladimir Guerrero (Red)
??? Vinny Castilla (Green)
??? Will Clark CTA (Green)
??? Chuck Knoblauch (Green)
??? Barry Larkin (Green)
??? Kenny Lofton CTA (Green)
??? Raul Mondesi CTA (Green)
??? Andy Pettitte CTA (Green)
??? Tim Salmon CTA (Green)
??? John Smoltz (Green)
??? Cal Ripken, Jr. CTA (Red)
