Another reason for my choice in the 1986 set was this was the first years for hit time home run hitters Bonds, Canseco and McGriff. The hitter changed his physique this year. Weight training became the norm. Players got bigger, stronger and faster. Unfortunately the other night the box I was opeinging hit the floor and the remaining packs got scrambled. So we may see quite a few packs with no doubles. That would be great with me. We are closing in on the 300 mark, something we should be able to hit within the next few days (I hope). Let’s take a look at pack 23, shall we?
1. Doug Flynn – 2B – Tigers – 436 – Doug wasn’t know as a power guy. In his 11 pro seasons and 3853 at bats hit a grand total of 7 home runs. Some how he continued to play every season even though he mostly hit in the 0.235 region. He didn’t play in 1986 after only getting 57 at bats the year before.
2. Alan Bannister – 2B/OF – Rangers – 784 – He’s another guy that hung around the league for a long time but didn’t do a lot offensively. He was better than Flynn although only marginally, the difference between the two would be Bannister hit 0.270 (35 points higher than Flynn).
3. John Candelaria – P – Angels – 140 – After 11 years the Candy Man was trade from the Pirates to the Angels. He was a 13 win guy, 3.4 ERA and 1.2 WHIP, basically a 3rd man in the rotation guy. 1986 was bittersweet for him, he was injured half the season but the other half he went 10-2 with a 2.25 ERA and a 1.03 WHIP. So even though he didn’t play half the season, the half he did play was outstanding.
4. Alejandro Sanchez – DH/OF – Tigers – 563 – He may have been on the Tigers in 1985, but in 1986 he was with the Twins. He was on a new team every year except the first two he was with the Phillies. 1985 was the pinnacle of his career, where he got 133 at bats, in 1986 he would only get 16, he got 2 hits and was struck out 8 times. He just couldn’t keep up with Major League pitching.
5. Alan Knicely – C – Phillies – 418 – He was another back-up player with low at bat totals for 1986. He was playing for the Cardinals and managed to get 82 at bats, but never managed to get over the Mendoza Line. One thing I can honestly say about his photo, that is just not a good look for him. I do dig the old Phillies warm up jacket though.
6. Dan Pasqua – DH/OF – Yankees – 259 – This was to be Dan’s banner year for the Yankees, like most young talent the Yankees traded him away to the White Sox in 1987. I do have fond memories of him from his Yankee days, in 1986 he hit 0.293/16/45 and he was at the bottom of that lineup. I had a hard time understanding why after the 1987 season he along with Salas were only worth Dotson and Nielson (both who would be off the Yankees rosterin 1989).
7. Mike Schmidt – 1B – Phillies – 200 – I had to think about this one for a second, I thought Schmidt was a 3B his whole career. Actually though in 1985 he primarily played first base as Rick Schu played 3rd. In 1986 he was back to primarily playing 3rd again as Von Hayes took over at 1st. 1986 would be an MVP season for Schmidt who at the age of 36 went 0.290/37/119. That would be his third MVP. When you talk about who the greastest 3rd basemen were Schmidt has to be on top of that list or if not on top one of the top 2 (can you consider A-Rod for this)?
8. Dave Anderson – Dodgers – 3B-SS – 758 – Somehow he carved out 10 seasons even though he was a back-up who never hit better than 0.250. He wasn’t a power guy or a speed guy or a average guy, at least he was a guy. Is that enough? How the heck did these guys carve out 8-10 year careers with dreadful numbers like Anderson had?
9. George Brett – 3B – Royals – 300 – Brett was the Schmidt of the AL, with less power but higher batting average. Imagine if Boggs could hit home runs, you would have George Brett. Of course my favorite Brett incident was the pine tar game. If you don’t know about it then you can read all about it here. But to this day one of the funniest pictures in my head is Brett running out of the dugout (pictured below). 1986 would be a ho-hum year for him. He was injured for about a month and put up 0.290/16/73, which for anyone else would be good, but for him it’s not so great.
10. Tim Burke – P – Expos – 258 – The Tim Burke Jeff Reardon combination was deadly at the end of Expos games, it was every bit as good as Rivera, Wettland in the 90s. Unfortunately for Burke, he couldn’t do such a good job when it came to closing the game himself, but as a setup guy he was very good! He was pitching 70+ games a year in the mid to late 80′s something just isn’t done as much now. Maybe that’s why he was out of the game so quickly, too many innings on his arm.
11. John Tudor – P – Cardinals – 474 – He had a great season in 1985 where he went 21-9 1.93 ERA and a WHIP of 0.94 and he didn’t win the Cy Young because of a guy named Gooden. So big things were expected of John in 1986, unfortunately as with most big expectations, it didn’t quite work out. He went 13-7, 2.92 ERA and 1.14 WHIP, still fantastic numbers especially pitching for a team which finished with a 79-82 record.
12. Cliff Johnson – DH – Blue Jays – 348 – His name was syn ominous with loosing, every stop on the Johnson tour was a losing team, including the 1986 Blue Jays who finished in fourth that year. It’s not that Johnson was a bad hitter he was an average 0.260/16/65 guy, it’s just when he gets to your team you know your done. He is his own jump the shark category.
13. Tom Brunansky – OF -Twins – 565 – Tom was another one of those guys who hit 0.250/25/85, and always found his way onto my fantasy team. He was your typical slugger of the 80s and in 1986 he hit his averages again putting up a 0.256/23/75 year. That was just the kind of hitter Brunansky was . . . until a few years from now, but more on that later.
14. Dave Von Ohlen – P – Indians – 632 – A seldom used reliever who pitched for Oakland in 1986. You know you’re not needed when you don’t even average an inning per appearance as a reliever. Dave’s stay in the majors would be short, he’ll have maybe 2 more cards that I’ll have to review.
15. Ryne Sandberg – 2B -Cubs – 690 – By 1986 his career was in full swing and he was a true five tool player. He hit for average (0.284), power ( 14 homers), speed (34), knocked in runs (76), and scored runs (68). Not his best season by far, but it was a good one. This makes 3 Hall of Famers for the pack, something that doesn’t happen to often in these packs.
Overall I would rate this one also a 5.0 star pack. We found 3 solid Hall of Famers and a bunch of solid guys. So I had to give this pack a nice rating. Anytime you post as many cards in one pack as I did is a good thing. I would think that if I got this pack back in 1986 I would have been pretty happy about it. Stay tuned for the next pack review.
I also did not know Schmidt was a 1B in 1985. I knew he played there a lot a few years later, though. As to the Schmidt/A-Rod argument, I hate to say it but I would give A-Rod the nod (so long as he really is clean). But Mike will always beat A-Rod in the likeability category.