What I am noticing lately is that the 1986 Topps cards are cut so badly. I don’t know when things changed in the industry and cards became more uniform, but the 1986 set is just so far off center for most cards the top black portion is not uniform, so when you put a bunch of cards next to one another you can really see a huge difference in how and where they were cut. So hopefully today’s pack won’t contain as many duplicates as yesterday’s. We doubled the amount of our doubles yesterday. We are almost at the 100 card mark, with a little help today, we should clear that hurdle. The big cards in the set are still MIA, so maybe we’ll get a few today who knows! Let’s rip into the pack.
1. Bob Welch – P – Dodgers – 549 – I remember Bob more for his days in Oakland on those great playoff teams of the late 80s. But what he should be remembered for is for nearly a decade he was a 15-10 guy with 3.40 ERA and about 120Ks a season. His numbers are up there with Dwight Gooden / Orel Hershiser / Vida Blue / Catfish Hunter. He was a number 2 guy in the rotation and did the job well.
2. Al Oliver – DH – Blue Jays – 775 – Here is another one of those guys (like Jeff Bouroughs) who retired after 1985 after an 18 year career, but still nabbed a card for the 1986 set. That’s like getting Roger Clemens in this year’s Topps series one set. It doesn’t happen anymore. I wonder if this happens a lot in the upcoming years? And if it does, when do they correct this problem. Oliver was your typical 15 homer 80 RBI 0.300 average guy. Overall he had over 2700 hits. Not a HOFer but could have been a happy Hall of Very Good guy!
3. Frank Viola – Twins – P – 742 – Two words I will remember Viola by, Yankee Killer! Every time he pitched against the Yanks he killed us. From 1984 – 1993 he was as good as you could get from a staff ace. You could generally get some decent rest of your bullpen when he pitched, he had nearly 9 complete games a year over that decade. Even when he joined the Mets he cranked out a 20 win season. Amazingly he was on two of my despised teams (Mets / Red Sox) and I still liked him as a player.
4. Tom Foley – SS/2B – Phillies – 466 - One of those utility guys who is a defensive specialist, that just seems to hang around the league forever. Think of Alex Cora and you’d get an idea of what Tom Foley was all about. He put together a nice 13 year career and got to play the game he loved for a long time. But not really a factor in baseball as a whole while he played. One of those just happy to be here guys.
5. Dale Berra – 3B – Yankees – 692 – The Pirates were hoping for the second coming of Yogi in drafting his son Dale, but it never really worked out. I would have to say, he probably got to stay in the majors longer than he should have, being he was a career 0.230 hitter. Being a Berra definitely has it’s privileges. As you can see in the picture, he seems like a pretty laid back guy. I think I would be too if my dad was Yogi Berra.
6. Kelvin Chapman – 2B – Mets – 492 – Who? I have to look him up . . . I though I remembered everyone on that 1986 Mets team, turns out I do and that he wasn’t on it. Kelvin’s last year in the majors was 1985. I don’t blame Topps for putting him in though, it looked like he was going to take the 2nd base job. Just didn’t turn out that way. I hoope they didn’t make the same mistake twice in 1987.
7. Cecil Cooper – 1B – Brewers – 385 – Cecil played in the league since 1971, 1986 would be his second to last year. At this point in his career, he was past his prime but proved to be very serviceable as he hit close to 0.300 for his entire career. For a solid decade he was a 19, 85, 0.300 guy who could even steal some bases. One of those very good players that just slips through the cracks since your average fan has no idea who he was. He made those Brewer teams fun to watch (he and Rob Deer). Great baseball guy!
8. Jack Perconte – 2B – Mariners – 146 – He actually played with the White Sox in 1986. The Mariners traded him once Harold Reynolds became their permanent 2B guy. He had one solid season as a lead-off guy with the Mariners where he hit over 0.300 and stole 25+ bases. Other than that he was a 5 year blip on the baseball radar.
9. Jeff Buroughs – DH – Blue Jays – 168 – Double, first seen in pack 5, card 10.
10. Claudell Washington – OF – Braves – 675 – Claudell played a 17 year career with quite a number of teams. He was that guy that had the 20/20 potential. He usually got the 20 steals but always came up short on the 20 homers. Not a bad player and fit well as the 2nd best outfielder on any team. His most famous appearance was in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. He hit the foul ball that Ferris catches. How is that for some sick trivia.
11. Dwight Gooden – P – Mets – 250 – This particular card was very highley sought after at the time. It would run as much as five bucks, and to a 15 year old looking for cash to go on dates, that was some very welcome scratch.I always wonder what could have been with Dr. K. If he stayed off of drugs . . . chances are he’s be slightly better, but the things that were being projected for him. I remember in 1987 when they said both Clemens and Gooden would be among the last of the 300 game winners. Well they got Clemens right. Gooden never passed the 200 mark. He lost something after that 1990 season andnever quite got it back. Sure there were some flashes of the old Doc here and there, but overall he was done after 1990. On a side note, I did get excited when I saw this card as it brought back some good memories of my card collecting youth.
12. Barbaro Garbey – 3B/1B – Tigers – 609 – I have learned since this project started that when you see that slash between positions, you know the player is going to be marginal. He actually didn’t play for the Tigers in 1986,he was in the minors and didn’t come back until 1988. 3 short, platoon filled years in the majors. Not a whole lot to talk about except he was the only Barbaro and Garbey to ever play professional baseball.
13. Bill Almon – SS/3B – Pirates – 48 – Another defensive specialist with speed. Hung around for 13 years and had very few at bats to show for it. Not a bad job if you can handle the travel and relocation.
14. Geroge Wright – OF – Rangers – 169 – Was a full timer in 1982 and 83 but somehow lost his swing and ended up out of baseball by the end of 1986. Looked like he had the potential to be a 20, 80, 0.270 guy, which would have made him a solid number 2 guy in the outfield, but once he lost his swing, and his average inched closer to the Mendoza line, he was a baseball castaway.
15. Rich Thompson – P – Indians – 242 – Stained card. This photo is my early submission for Mario’s O-Face contest II. He played for 3 years in the majors in 1985. 1988 and 1989. Had basically no stats in those 3 years and it’s almost like he never played.
Overall, great pack! Actually had some solid stars and only 1 double. I’m going to rate it 4.0 stars. I guess the Gooden and Viola stirred up enough good memories to put me in a good mood. In 1986 this pack would have fetched a nice buck. Now it’s just commons. If you ever grew up in the mid-eighties and collected cards, you just get that little joy from seeing that card (kind of like seeing a 84 Strawberry or an 85 Puckett). They aren’t worth a whole lot, but the bring back some fun memories.
