At 716 cards, the 1990 Donruss release was the largest set ever produced by the company up to that point. The card fronts featured either a portrait or action shot of the player, surrounded by an unmistakable bright red border that were accented by black/grey/white dots and featured a cursive white-text nameplate. The card reverse was horizontal and similar to previous Donruss sets, featuring up to 5 years of career stats, personal information, and career highlights.
There are two subsets, Diamond Kings (cards 1-27) and Rated Rookies (28-47). 1990 marked the 9th straight year the staple Diamond Kings art cards from the Perez-Steele Galleries are featured as subsets within the base set. The Rated Rookies subset returned for the 7th consecutive year. Additionally, cards of players who were All-Stars in 1989 displayed an All-Star logo on the front on their card. The base set also featured several commemorative cards: #643 Mike Schmidt "All Time Greats"; #659 Nolan Ryan "5,000 K'S"; and former Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti, who had passed away in 1989.
Notable Rookie Cards of Juan Gonzalez, David Justice, Sammy Sosa, Larry Walker, and Bernie Williams are in this set.