Eagles Oddballs - 2008 Donruss Thanksgiving Classic Set

In 2008 the Eagles played the Cardinals in a Thanksgiving night game on the NFL Network.  And for the third year in a row, Donruss marked the occasion by sponsoring a rare stadium giveaway, pack of cards.

The 7-card set, which is an extension of their Classic brand star three of prominent members of the (then) current squad: Donovan McNabb, Brian Dawkins and Brian Westbrook; and, one legend: Randall Cunningham.  

Card fronts: Feature color, action player photos on a red, white and blue background - white framing either side of the player.  Player name, team and position are listed vertically in the left-frame; "Thanksgiving Classic 27.NOV.08" is printed vertically on the bottom right corner.  

Card backs: Maintain the red, white and blue color scheme.  The Thanksgiving Classic logo appears on the header - above a cropped player headshot and brief career biography.  Single-line career statistics are under the bio.  Card number (X of 4) appear in the upper left-hand corner.

Also included in the set are three unnumbered cards, two of which depict Dawkins.  The third is a "Kids Club" card featuring team mascot, Swoop.  Included in the distributed packs, but for my purposes excluded from "the team set," was an NFL Network Schedule card featuring one member of the network's broadcasting team.  Unfortunately, I was unable to locate photos of these unnumbered cards.

Though touted as a wide distribution, if you have ever been to an Eagles game (especially a NIGHT Eagles game, extra-especially on Thanksgiving) you can reasonably assume that a good portion of the packs never made their way out of the stadium.  As a result they are a fairly tough find.  One recent online sale was transacted for $10, which seems like a good spot for the set.

Checklist:

  1. Donovan McNabb
  2. Brian Dawkins
  3. Brian Westbrook
  4. Randall Cunningham

Unnumbered:

  • Brian Dawkins (Youth Partnership)
  • Brian Dawkins (Pop Warner Info Card)
  • Swoop

References: