I decided the best way to do this is one set at a time. I am dying to get my hand on some new product, but I have to just take my time and open what I have (which is 6+ boxes of wax). I like opening the box up slowly and really getting a good look at each player (whether they deserve it or not). One thing that has started to bother me is the number of players just put into the set to make it 792 cards. I have stumbled across nearly a dozen of them. I just think that there is too much filler in this set. You have manager cards, league leaders (all star cards), and team leaders cards. That’s over 100 cards just with that. I wonder if Topps made a mistake with the 792 number and should have had less cards in the set. I just don’t remember a set having so many filler cards. Let’s get cracking on the second half of the box:
1. Ernie Whitt – C – Blue Jays – 673 – Ernie was another one of those safe catchers that could be had at the end of a fantasy draft and he wouldn’t hurt your team. When I look at this picture, I think to myself, what if the Billy Ripken F*** Face incident happened on this card. Actually any time I see a player holding the bat the same way Billy did I think the same thing. He basically put up 0.260, 15, 60 for a good decade and 1986 was no different.
2. Bill Gullickson – P – Expos – 229 – He was a good pitcher on a bad team. Or at least that’s what the Reds thought when they traded for him in December of 1985. He proceeded to put up the same numbers in Cincy as well. When will GMs learn that if a pitcher is mediocre on a bad team, he will also be mediocre on a good them. The only person that bucked that trend that I can think of was Curt Schilling but he was really a super pitcher on bad teams.
3. Dave Winfield – OF – Yankees – 70 – A Hall of Famer! He was 34 in 1986 and still a solid hitter. He was like a clock you could always count on him htting over 20 homers, an average around0.270 and about 100 RBIs and for a power guy he didn’t strike out too much. It was a happy day when I was younger and he signed with the Yankees, and a very sad day when he left by way of trade to Toronto for Mike Witt. One of the most consistent hitters in baseball history and rightfully in the Hall of Fame.
4. Rick Mahler – P – Braves – 437 – Rick has two claims to fame from 1985-1987 he was the opening day starter for the Atlanta Braves, and he threw 3 consecutive opening day shutouts. His other claim to fame was his 6 consecutive 10+ loss seasons. 1986 was right in the middle of that streak and Rick put up a stunning 18 loss season. Amazingly after losing 18 games he was handed the ball for opening day 1987. Sadly, Rick died in 2005 while throwing batting practice in spring training.
5. Mike Heath – C – A’s – 148 – I seem to be running into a lot of catchers lately. Mike was one more of them and pretty much your average catcher at that. He had a little bit of power and a little bit of speed, the problem in 1986 was that he hit very little (0.206) with the Cardinals (he was traded in December 1985). He will also be traded one more time that year to the Tigers in August. He hit a little better, but not much. Even though his hitting wasn’t coming around, he stayed on with the Tigers for several more years.
6. Willie Randolph – 2B – Yankees – 459 – The trouble about comparing players from yesteryear to today is that it’s comparing apples to oranges. A player like Willie would have a hard time hanging around for 18 seasons in todays league. He was a good hitter and had some speed, but not enough to last 18 years. By 1986 his 30+ steal days were over and all that was left was his 0.280 ish batting average. I am a Willie fan (maybe less so since he is now the manager of the Mets), I cherrished the years he was on the Yanks, but by today’s standards he would be a utility infielder at best.
7. Ron Romanick – P – Angels – 733 – I’m trying to figure out what happened to Ron. He pitched two full seasons in 1984 and 85, then midway through 1986 something happened. He was traded to the Yankees after the seasons but never started again. There were so many average pitchers during this era, I have no idea why he doesn’t ever pitch in th majors again. If you know the answers to this one, let me know. We are talking about a 12 and 14 game winner here, suddenly vanished from the majors.
8. Gary Carter – C – Mets – 170 – Gary was 32 in 1986 and this would be his last great season. It makes sense since the 1986 Mets were baseball’s version of the perfect storm. Everyone on the team had monster seasons. I remember that summer like it was yesterday, I was a counselor at a day camp, surrounded my many Met fans, everyday I would hear if they won or lost, how many games up they were, what their magic number was. It was an amazing summer and turned out to be an equally amazing fall. Gary’s bust is in Cooperstown now, exactley where it deserves to be.
9. Jerry Willard – C – Indians – 273 – Cleveland didn’t need him in 1986 they had Andy Allanson (you know the rated rookie). Cleveland released him a few days before Opening Day. Oakland picked him up, but in the end he was just a back-up catcher. We’ll see a few more cards from him over the next few years, but then he’ll just fade away.
10. Mike LaCoss – P – Royals – 359 – Double, reviewed in pack 16.
11. Jorge Bell – OF – Blue Jays – 338 – Double, reviewed in pack 16.
12. Rich Gedman – C – Red Sox – 375 – Double, reviewed in pack 16.
13. Rick Schu – 3B – Phillies – 16 – Double, reviewed in pack 16.
14. Steve Trout – P – Cubs – 384 – Double (an incredibly funny picture) , reviewed in pack 16.
15. Larry Anderson – P – Phillies – 183 – Double, reviewed in pack 16.
This is another one of those packs where I found a couple of Hall of Famers, plus a couple of decent players (if you take into account the doubles). So let’s give this one a 3.0 star rating. It really is a lot of fun to see these Hall of Famers when they are in the middle of their careers. Then I get to see how their season helped their team (like Carter’s did for the Mets). It was just a lot of fun to review and I hope my next pack is just as good.
Hey, as an FYI – Romanick spent ’87 in AAA Columbus and retired in ’88 as a Brewer Minor Leaguer – Yikes! He’s just become the bullpen coach for Oakland this past fall.
Thanks for doing this set – it was the first year and set I ever collected. Personally as a stat junkie, I like the fact that the picture matches the player’s team from 1985. At age 5, I wondered when looking at Cardinals cards if I had been watching the game when the action shots used on some of the cards were taken.