Donruss
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Donruss is a U.S. brand of bubble gum and trading card. Its Super Bubble is a popular brand of gum, and its line of baseball cards has been popular since its debut in 1981.
The name is a conglomeration of the first names of its founders, Donald and Russell Weiner, who founded it in 1954.
During the 1950s and 1960s the company grew, selling non-sports trading cards, before being bought by General Mills in 1969. Since the entertainment market was not stable, Donruss sought to enter the lucrative baseball card market. Riding the coattails of Fleer's victory in the courts ending Topps' monopoly on the baseball card market, Donruss secured a license in the winter of 1980 and rushed a set of baseball cards onto the market for 1981. Both the Donruss and Fleer offerings were riddled with printing errors, which caused variations for collectors when they were fixed.
During 1981 and 1982, Topps sought, successfully, to block Donruss and Fleer from selling baseball cards with bubble gum. Donruss responded by including three pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in its baseball card packs in place of gum. Donruss returned for 1982 with a larger set, printed on heavier card stock and, given more time to market, a much smaller number of printing errors. However, even though both Donruss and Fleer printed their sets on higher quality bleached paper and with sharper photographs, Topps remained the industry leader.
In 1983, Donruss was purchased by a Finnish company, who also bought candy producer Leaf Candy Company and merged the two firms. During the same time frame, Donruss reduced its production, making its cards from the mid-1980s slightly more scarce than its earlier sets.
Donruss diversified in the early 1990s into football and hockey trading cards, and briefly discontinued its baseball card line during 1999 and 2000, returning in 2001.