Operation Topps – 1986 Topps (Pack 2)

It’s that time of the day again, time for the next pack of 1986 Topps.  That first pack was such a dud, that this has to be a good pack.  It’s like that good pack bad pack thing.  With Eddie Murray the only stud and 14 duds,  it’s time to see it that curse reversed and start pulling out some bona fide stars.  You already know what the pack looks like so putting a picture of it up 72 times for all the packs I have would be dumb, so let’s just skip that and get to the pack review.

1. Johnnie LeMaster – SS – Pirates – 289 – The reason you’ve never heard of Johnnie (really, you couldn’t have just gone with a y there? Had to play the ie card?) is that he LeMastered nothing in his baseball career, except how to take a paycheck for doing very little.  Can you think of any 12 year vetren that would put up on average 0.222 batting average, 3 home runs and 36 RBIs and be a starter for 7 years?  One plus though, he could pass for a player from the 1800s in this photo:

2. Ozzie Smith – NL All Star – 704 – This was an insert back in the day! Ozzie is a 16 time all star, but there is one strange thing about this card.  In 1986 Topps put a statistical leader card on the back of the All Star cards.  Usually the person on the front is part of that list.  This card was for 1985 stolen base leaders.  The tops 10 are on this list and I can tell you that Ozzie is not in the top 10.  Just a little strange to me.

3. Urbano Lugo – P – Angels – 373 – As the picture below shows, El Duque wasn’t the only one with a strange windup.  Lugo played for 6 years and pictched in 50 games.  Not a whole lot to say about him other than he has a wild wind-up.

4. Pat Clements – P – Pirates – 754 – He’s an 8 year vet and I do remember him pitching for the Yankees, but I don’t recall how he was.  Just another one of probably 300 middle relievers in this set.  Nothing special here.

5. Terry Leach – P – Mets – 774 – You remember the back of the cards from the 80′s where they went to a tiny print for players who had played in the league for a long time?  So that they could fill in all the player’s career stats.  Well Terry’s is very long since he had been in baseball since 1976.  He got a taste of the bigs in 1981 and 1982 but didn’t land a full time gig until 1985.  Once he made it though, he didn’t leave it untilhe was 39.  Good for him.  He was a spot starter and was part of the 1986 Mirracle Mets (part II).

6. Rick Honeycutt – P – Dodgers – 439 – Getting this card is about as exciting as clipping your toenails.  Rick was in the bigs for 21 years 1977 – 1997, started for half of his career and relieved for the rest of it.  It’s not that Rick was bad but when you are compared to Terry Mullholand in baseball reference, you know where your career stands.

7. Mariano Duncan – 2B/SS – Dodgers – 602 – Had a nice career but really nothing terrific to speak of except in 1996 he played for the Yanks and batted 0.340 and I remember actually being bummed when they traded him because of how well he did as a Yank.  In reality though, it was for the best, even if the guy we got never made it out of the minors.

8. Robin Yount – OF – Brewers – 780 – A definite star, a hall of famer, and he’s rocking an awful hair-do.  He is a 2 time MVP and he has similar stats to Craig Biggio if you had to compare him to someone from today. This is a nice pull for this pack, may end up being the best one! On a side note I didn’t know until about 1989 that the mitt in the brewers logo is a m and b.  I’m dense!

9. Wally Backman – Mets – 191 – Hey looks it’s another one of the 86 Mets.  He’s been retired for a while now and he’s been managing.  Infact one of his stints was with the Arizona Diamondbacks, he as the coach there for 5 glorious days, before he was outed for a DUI, arrested for fighting, and declared baankruptcy to avoid paying the IRS.

10. Bruce Benedict – C – Braves – 78 – What is it with all these one tool players in the 80s?  He’s another guy that averaged low RBIs, low Homers, low stolen bases, and batted a career 0.251.  He started for a good 5 years.  I don’t get it, was the talent that much worse?  Wasn’t the talent of the 70s better?  This makes guys like Eddie Murray and Robine Yount appear to be much better than teir numbers indicate (and they were HOFers).

11. Greg Gross – OF – Phillies – 302 – To quote of of my fellow bloggers, “ewww . . . he’s Gross!”  Apparently Mike Davis wasn’t the only one rocking the aviator style glasses, it appears that our Greg Gross is a fan of them as well.  He looks so old and frail in this picture.  Kind of like pictures of your grandpa, just before you were born.  Those were some have 34 years for Gross.

12. Chris Speier – SS/2B – Cubs – 212 – Speier played for 18 seasons in the majors.  Looking at his stats, he was another one of those no tool players.  He hit over 10 homers 2 times in his career, both times he had 71 RBI’s which were his career highs.  Just one of those everyday players who seemed to last in the league forever.  For a current comparison, see Royce Clayton.

13. Bob Brenly – C – Giants – 625 – If you had to know what kind of player Bob was, think Brandon Inge typ numbers.  Much better manager than a player, although Bob did have some good season, nothing that stands out.  He was the manager of the Diamondbacks that was fired to hite Wally Backman.  That’s some weird mojo with this pack.  Check out the stashe / mullet combo!

14. Jaun Beniquez – OF/1B – Angels – 325 – Yet another no tool player, I guess the game is more exciting with Steroids around.  Looking at some of these numbers, I just can’t imagine most of these guys playing in today’s game, they would get swallowed up.

15. Harold Baines – OF – White Sox – 755 – Before he went into perma – DH mode!  Looking at his number, I’m drooling.  He’s been a stud since 1982 and I know Steve wants to hear me say, put him in the HOF, but I just can’t put a guy who is known as the best DH hitter in the hall.  He falls short in hits and homers and when you play 22 seasons and you want in to the Hall, you get to 3000 hits or 500 homers.  Sorry Harold, but you can get some sympathy from Jack Morris (so close to 300 but not quite there).

Not too bad a pack, pulled a Yount and a Baines, also got an Ozzie Smith AS card.  I think overall this pack was better than the first pack but not worth of more than 2.5 stars.  Maybe I’m just picky, but I want a pack that has more than 5 stars in it.  Two plus an AS card gets you 2.5 stars.  I think that’s fair.  This might be my only post today.  I have some compnay over for the weekend and will be doing some touristy stuff the next 3 days.  I promise though to get one post a day in.  Don’t forget the Forums, look in my blogroll for the link.