1981 Donruss and Its Poison Gum?

1981 was the only year Topps, Donruss, and Fleer all contained gum with their packs of cards. The Topps virtual monopoly of producing cards had been recently overturned, so Fleer was back in the game and Donruss was an eager newcomer. Both of the latter companies had to work out some kinks in the early years, with photo quality issues and errors being at the top of the list. But back to the gum. Topps appealed the antitrust ruling that let Fleer and Donruss into the card making business, but the best they could do was retain the sole rights to packaging cards and gum together. As a result, in 1982, Fleer went with the logo sticker and Donruss introduced their puzzle cards along with their base sets.

But maybe it was a blessing in disguise that Donruss in particular wasn't allowed to continue to include gum in its packs of cards. From what I could gather in some limited research, the gum stain/sticking issues inherent in gum-card packaging might have been notably worse with the Donruss product. It had to have been something with the makeup of the gum itself.

I think we all can picture a Topps gum stain. But a Donruss gum stain? Maybe not. So when I ran across these cards, all I could think was, "What in the world was this gum made from?"

Now granted, there has to be some color change that has gone on over the nearly 40 years since these beauties were produced, but my goodness it looks bad. Some potential reactions:

• I didn't know gum could rust! 
• Was this stuff made from tree sap?
• I think these cards should be tested for carcinogens! 

Your thoughts?

(Oh, and look at that Steve Yeager card again. Crazy story from 1976! Wow!)