It’s pack 14, I’m now more than a third of the way through the box. It appears that the doubles you’ll receive are usually side by side in the box. Like pack 12 would have doubles from packs 9-11. Of course Pack 13 had doubles from pack 12, but in any event the doubles seem to be from ajoining packs. I will have to keep up on that and try to figure out the pattern. Another thing I am noticing are the number of players who have 1986 cards but never played in 1986 or retired at the end of 1985. Do you think that they got through the set and were x number of cards short of the 792 cards? Then they decided to print some of retired people to bump it up to 792 cards in the set? We may never know, but hey let’s take a look at pack 14.
1. Tommy Dunbar – OF – Rangers – 559 – Of course just as I say that, we have someone who never played pro in 1986 in Tommy Dunbar. To be fair, this was probably not Topp’s fault as it appeared that Tommy was going to play outfield for the Rangers, but had a bad sprint training. He never made it back to the pros.
2. Dave Concepcion – SS – Reds – 1986 was a weird time for Concepcion as his skills were diminishing and he had Barry Larkin to fend off at SS. In 1986 he became the platoon guy at SS and in 1987 he would become Larkin’s back up. He had come a long way from the early 70s heydays as part of the big red machine. He was a valuable lead off or number 2 guy, who could hit for average and had some speed.
3. Ricky Horton – P – Cardinals – 783 – Ricky was a spot starter for the Cardinals in 1986 and had probably one of his best seasons. He went 4-3 with a 2.24 ERA and a WHIP of 1.027. Some very nice numbers for a middle relief guy. Unfortunately for Ricky it was all downhill after that season.
4. Mike Easler – DH – Red Sox – 477 – Mike had 5 professional seasons before he learned how to hit, but when he turned 29 in 1981 he really tore the cover off the ball. By 1986 though, he was past his prime years and put up what would become his final good season. He hit 14 homers, 72 RBIs and hit 0.302. By the way, that was done on the Yankees, where he was for the 1986 season, not Boston.
5. Mike Morgan – P – Mariners – 152 – By 1986 Mike had been with 4 teams already and this was his 6th season. 1986 would prove to be a very bad year for Mike as he went 11-17 with a 4.53 ERA and a WHIP of > 1.5. Amazingly enough, that would not be he last season with the Mariners, he would be gone after the next season though.
6. Harold Reynolds – 2B – Mariners – 769 – This was Harold’s rookie card, but it would prove to be his worst season statistically, as hit hit only 0.222 but he did steal 30 bases. The Mariners franchise must have seen something because they brought him back as a starter in 1987 and he did much better. I like to chuck that up to the 26 rule. Something happens when you turn 26 that allows you to become a more complete baseball player. 26 was when Harold hit his prime. The photo below has him in his sour mug face. It’s definitely amusing.
7. Glenn Brummer – C- Rangers – 616 – Another no show for 1986. Glenn was more of a backup than anything else. 1985 (his 5th season) shows him with more at bats than any of his other seasons. Unfortunately it wasn’t enough and he never played again at the pro level.
8. Yankees Leaders – 276 – On the front of the card is Willie Randolph, who is considered the dean of the Yankees. We find out that Mattingly and Henderson were the 2 offensive leaders on the team, while the pitching was held down by Guidry and Righetti.
9. Juan Berenguer – Tigers – 47 – in December of 1985 he was traded from the Tigers to the Giants as part of the Matt Nokes deal. So in 1986 he pitched for the Giants. He was a set-up guy and 1986 would be a so so year, 2-3 with a 2.70 ERA but a 1.47 WHIP, so he did give up a few hits and walks, not making him a very effective pitcher even if he did have a low ERA.
10. John McNamara – Manager – Red Sox – 771 – John guided his Sox to the best record in the AL that year. Beating the Yanks out by 5 games and being 3 better than the Angels. Everyone knows what happened to the Sox that year in the World Series but John, never lived that game 6 managing job down. He was again the Red Sox manager in 1987 but guided them to 5th place. He was fired in the middle of the 1988 season and replaced with Joe Morgan.
11. Ron Guidry – AL All Star – 721 – The Gator was on the front and the 1985 AL wins leaders were on the back. Ron was number 1 with 22. 1986 was the beginning of the end for Ron, as he logged a 9-12 season and he was just not the same pitcher he was in 1985 and 1983. He was 35 and definitely in his last years as a pitcher in the big leagues. He was my favorite pitcher growing up, I had a poster of him in my room. He’s another one of those guys that I wish I had an autograph of, maybe someday I will.
12. Chris Brown – 3B – Giants – 383 – in 1985 he had 16 homers, 61 RBIs and hit 0.271. I was expecting big things from his this upcoming year, and I have many of his cards from this set. He didn’t disappoint, he hit 0.302 and was an All Star. But you could see his homer numbers going down, which is why in 1987 he was traded. He never re-gained his composure after being traded.
13. George Frazier – P – Cubs – 431 – Not a very good pitcher throughout his major league career, his 1986 season was especially bad. He posted a 5.06 ERA and a WHIP of over 1.7. Maybe that’s why he was traded mid-season, you know to get a fresh start on a new team. But it didn’t help for George, as this would be one of his last seasons.
14. Doyle Alexander – P – Blue Jays – 196 – One of the best trivia items was that he was involved in one of the most lopsided deals in history. Mid 1986 he was traded from the Blue Jays to the Braves. This was a good deal since Doyle was coming off of back to back 17 wins season. But as a Brave he went 6-6 and 5-10 the next year, so it was time to move him. But he was 36 years old and well past his prime, enter the Tigers, who traded a very young John Schmoltz for him. Well Doyle pitched 2 more years for Detroit amassing a 20-29 record, and you know what John went on to do.
15. Larry Sheets – DH/OF – Orioles – 147 – Here is another guy I was high on entering the 1986 season. Larry was coming off of a 17 homer, 50 RBI and a 0.262 season, I figured he could only get better. Was I right? Kind of, his stats went up for 2 years after that 1985 season and for a very brief time his rookie cards were worth money, but then the wheels fell off and not too long after that he was gone from the bigs. I miss Larry , I really thought he was going to be a superstar.
I give the pack a rating of 2.5 stars, that may seem high and not accurate, but I gave it one star for not having any doubles! So basically I gave the pack a 1.5 star rating. The Gator and Reynolds cards were nice htis but overall the pack was full of almosts. Almsot became a star. The Concepcion card was cool, since it would be one of his last ones. Also seeing the Larry Sheets cards were bringing back some good memories as well. Dont forget to keep track of how I’m doing on this set under the Operation Topps page.
