A Look at a 2009 Rookies and Stars Football Card Retail Box

This is a review of a retail box of 2009 Rookies & Stars football cards. It was purchased from a Wal-mart and it still had the undamaged plastic wrap around the box. Rookie & Stars is a product from the Donruss company. This product was very popular in 2008 with football card collectors. The Donruss company hopes to continue that success with this years new set. Here is a break-down of what commons, inserts, and other cards are in this years set:

Longevity Common (100)
Today's top NFL performers are highlighted with silver foil.

Longevity Elements (15)
The league's top stars are highlighted in the game's elements (rain, snow, etc) with silver foil.

Longevity Ruby (200)
Base parallel with red foil #'d to 149 or less

Longevity Sapphire (200)
Base parallel with blue foil #'d to 99 or less

Longevity Emerald (200)
Base parallel with green foil #'d to 49 or less

Longevity Materials Ruby (100)
Base parallel with one game-used/worn jersey swatch #'d to 299 or less

Longevity Materials Sapphire (100)
Base parallel with one game-used/worn jersey swatch #'d to 100 or less

Longevity Signatures (100)
Base parallel with an autograph

Longevity Rookies (85)
First year phenoms are highlighted in this top-tier collection #'d to 999 or less

Longevity Rookies Signatures (85)
Base parallel featuring an autograph #'d to 299 or less

SP Rookies Longevity Signatures (35)
Rookie cards featuring rookie signed embroidered NFL Team logo patches #'d to 10 or less

SP Rookies Longevity Signatures Ruby (35)
Parallel with red foil #'d to 5 or less

SP Rookies Longevity Signatures Sapphire (35)
Parallel with blue foil #'d to 1

SP Rookies Longevity Jumbos (35)
Parallel to SP Rookies Signatures featuring one jumbo game-used/worn jersey swatch #'d to 50 or less

SP Rookies Longevity Jumbos Ruby (35)
Parallel #'d to 5 or less

SP Rookies Longevity Jumbos Sapphire (35)
Parallel #'d to 1

Dress for Success Materials Jerseys Longevity (35)
Rookies for the 2008 season are featured with a jersey #'d to 100 or less

Freshman Orientation Materials Jerseys Longevity (35)
2009 NFL newcomers are introduced in this event worn set #'d to 100 or less

There are 8 packs per box, and 5 cards per pack. The total per box should be 40, which would not even give a complete set of the commons.This is what was pulled from the retail box from Wal-mart:

Pack 1:
Laurence Maroney (base)
Torry Holt (base)
John Carlson (base)
Chris Johnson (base)
Marion Barber III (base)

Pack 2:
Dwayne Bowe (base)
Kevin Boss (base)
Braylon Edwards (base)
Ronnie Brown (base)
Kyle Orton (base)

Pack 3:
Derrick Mason (base)
DeSean Jackson (base)
Kurt Warner (base)
Peyton Manning (base)
Drew Brees (base)

Pack 4:
Santonio Holmes (base)
Aaron Rodgers (base)
Shaun Hill (base)
Steve Slaton (base)
Juaquin Iglsias (Cross Training insert)

Pack 5:
Daunte Culpepper (base)
Steve Smith (base)
Frank Gore (base)
Lee Evans (base)
Heathe Miller (base)

Pack 6:
Owen Daniels (base)
Roddy White (base)
Kevin Smith (base)
Steven Jackson (base)
Clinton Portis (base)

Pack 7:
Ramses Barden (Cross Training insert)
Brian Westbrook (base)
Maurice Jones-Drew (base)
Eddie Royal (base)
Jake Delhomme (base)

Pack 8:
Eli Manning (base)
Brady Quinn (base)
Philip Rivers (base)
Andre Johnson (base)
Matt Ryan (base)

Overall it was an okay retail box. There were not any particular cards that were impressive. Got two inserts and a few star base, it was disappointing not to pull a jersey card or an autograph card. The card designs are pretty cool this year with a graphic background.

If you would like to purchase a hobby box of this product, check out this link: www.dacardworld.com/sports-cards/2009-donruss-rookies-and-stars-longevity-football-hobby-box. That website does mention that in a hobby box, there is an average of 3 jersey or autograph cards, so your chances increase with that type of box. Also, there are 10 packs instead of 8 packs in the hobby box.