1984 Donruss Diamond Kings #18 - Ron KittleWho could rock a pair of aviator glasses better than Ron Kittle in the mid 80's? No one! The fact that a card of a painting of Kitty wearing those famous specs is just awesome.
The Diamond King cards used to be my favorite part of the Donruss set year after year. I would find myself debating whether or not each team's subject deserved immortality as a painting. I can remember heated debated with my childhood friends on this very subject.
You knew your team was in bad shape when Donruss started immortalizing lesser players (Ivan Calderon) or repeating players (Carlton Fisk). Not that they all didn't deserve to be there, but what average kid in New York is going to want an Ivan Calderon DK?
If there was any perfect time for Kittle to be a Diamond King, it was 1984. He just came off off his Rookie of the Year breakout season. His team won their division by 20 games the year before and Ron Kittle was the hot rookie coming into his sophmore season.
Kitty had a flair for the dramatic. His rooftop shots at old Comiskey Park are legendary and still talked about in Chicago today. This was the perfect moment for this Diamond King. This will always be one of my favorites.
6 comments:
Diamond King cards were once a fun part of Donruss and then they became inserts in the mid-90s. Boo!
Didn't Harold Baines have a couple of duplicate DK appearances?
Harold's second appearance was as an Athletic in 1992.
I don't know if you saw the awesome Ron Kittle painting on the cover of the Baseball Hobby Card Report from my posting on Renata Galasso about a month ago, but I always thought this was a great picture, and one that I still vividly remember over 20 years later:
http://fleersticker.blogspot.com/2007/12/larry-fritsch-and-renata-galasso.html
Scroll down towards the bottom of the post to see the cover.
Nothing says early 1980's Baseball like the name Ron Kittle!
I remember seeing that. It seems like longer than December 15h when I saw that on your site. I guess anything before the holidays seems like a lifetime ago.
Man, DK's were awesome. I think they had a rule that the same player couldn't be used more than once every 4 or 5 years. And I debated the worthiness of the players selected with my friends too, and was quite upset that particular players didn't make it in certain years. Those were some great cards, especially for a kid growing up who loved to draw.
I probably became an art major in high school based on my exposure to DKs.
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