I want to thank everyone who time out of their day to let me know how they feel about Operation Topps. I think I am in agreement with everyone. I will continue to work on one set at a time. With this and the impending Fun Set 08, coming up it’s going to be a tough few weeks. Not to mention that sometime in March I am going away for a week. We are now one pack shy at the half way point in our first box. Unless things change dramatically, I am not going to be able to complete the set with two boxes, I will probably have over 100 doubles from this box when it’s all said and done. So as I am wrapping up the 2nd box I’m sure that a plea will go out for some cards from all my loyal readers. With that said let’s get to cracking another pack.
1. Dave Dravecky – P – Padres – 735 – Is there a sadder baseball story than Dave’s? I won’t go into the details of what became of him, since we should stay focused on 1986. I look at his photo in this card and I think to myself how must he have felt then? No problems with his body, coming off 3 solid years where his ERA never crept above 3.60 and a WHIP never over 1.23. In 1986 he had his first losing season, but played on a bad team, his ERA was 3.02 and his WHIP was 1.26 so really, it was his run support that failed him.
2. Sid Fernandez – P – Mets – 104 – Fat Sid, you had to love the guy. He inspired us out of shape people like no other, sure we’ve had David Wells and John Kruk since then. But Sid was the first to make us stand up and cheer for the bigger guy. He was coming off a good season in 1985, he was 9-8 with a 2.80ERA and just 22 years old. Then that magical 1986 Mets team came around he he blew up (not physically), he went 16-6, 3.52/1.26. Just beautiful numbers and he helped propel the Mets into the playoffs. TO this day, I think he had one of the best deliveries in baseball.
3. Luis DeLeon – P – Padres – 286 – He had two great seasons as a middle reliever in 1982 and 83, but 84 and 85 were rough years for him that saw his ERA balloon to over 5.50. He was sent down and didn’t play in the bigs in 1986, he did get recalled in 1987. I wonder if he has a 1987 card?
4. Rob Deer – OF – Giants – 249 – Without a doubt my favorite player in 1986. Every once in a while you have a prolific home run hitter coming up in the minors. Sure he can’t hit anything except homers, but when he did connect they were moon shots and you know, everyone digs the longball. Rob was one of those guys, he could slam homers at an alarming rate and he was fun to watch because of it. This was his rookie card. I have about 100 of these because my friend Frank Maida and I thought he was going to be the next Babe Ruth. We all know that didn’t happen but here is his stat line for 1986: 0.232 33/86 over 1/3 of his hits were homers. I am secure in my masculinity to say I <3 Rob Deer!
5. Tom Tellman – P – A’s – 693 – He was an 80′s middle reliever andnot half bad until he got to the A’s and his ERA skyrocketed to 5.06 in an injury plagued year. Unfortunately for Tom and Topps, he didn’t play in the majors in 1986 and actually 1985 was his last season in the majors.
6. Greg Harris – P – Rangers – 586 – Greg was another middle reliever in the mid eighties. He was actually a pretty good one, who had himself a nice long career. He really hit his stride in 1986 when he went 10-8 with a 2.83 ERA and striking out 95 in 112 innings.
7. Tom Herr – NL All Star – 702 – Back of his card had the NL RBI leaders which had him 3rd the previous year. That would be the most RBIs by far he would ever get in one season (110). He put up a monster year in 1985, unfortunately he came back down to earth in 1986 hitting 0.252, 2 homers, 61 RBIs and 22 stolen bases. Still though he was one of the best second basemen at the time.
8. Brook Jacoby – 3B – Indians – 116 – In 1985 he hit 0.274 with 20 homers and 87 RBIs, I figured he was primed for a great season in 1986 since he was at the beginning of his peak. He put up very similar numbers in 1986 but it was his first All Star appearence. 1987 would be his banner year, but we’ll talk about that more in the next set. I just remember he had one of the sweetest swings of the time.
9. John Christensen – OF – Mets – 287 – This was the wax card. Horribly ruined back of the card. He was still considered a rookie in 1986, but he would have to wait another year, because he was never called up from Tidewater. He actually didn’t resurface until 1987 in Seattle. I wonder how his cards run over the next 3 years.
10. Chuck Cottier – Manager – Mariners – 141 – He was the manager for the Mariners for 3 seasons (1984-1986). He would be fired in 1986, as the Mariners would go on to be the worst team in the majors. But that’s OK since in 1987 they drafted Ken Griffey Jr. with their first overall pick. So in a weird way, he helped out the franchise!
11. John McNamara – Manager – Red Sox – 771 – Double, reviewed in pack 14.
12. Mike Easler – DH – Red Sox – 477 - Double, reviewed in pack 14.
13. Chris Brown – 3B – Giants – 383 – Double, reviewed in pack 14.
14. Ron Guidry – AL All Star – 721 – Double, reviewed in pack 14.
15. George Frazier – P – Cubs – 431 – Double, reviewed in pack 14.
Another round of doubles, but thankfully only 5 this time around. Overall I am willing to give the pack a 2.5 star rating. Loved to see that Deer card again and also the Brook Jacoby, I guess it’s more nostalgia than anything else for this rating. the next pack I open is goign the be the halfway point in the box. I am hoping that means I will get about 400 cards of the set out of this box and fingers crossed maybe 392 out of the other box? I guess we will see.
