Operation Topps – Topps 1986 (Pack 28)

Woohoo, the weekend has arrived, and so has my 10,000th visitor. I want to thank the 3 people who emailed and remembered that free prizes were going out to the people who emailed me. Originally I was going to give out a big prize for first and a nice card for second. However, I got a third person to email me as well, so I am going to give out a third prize as well. I will post the winners names in a separate post, but the first person won a blaster box of bad wax. Winner number two will get two rookie cards (bad wax inspired, but they will be of star players). Winner number 3 will get 2 random packs of bad wax. Thanks so much to everyone who reads my blog. I enjoy reliving 1986 when I open these packs and think about what to say about each player. So with that, let’s cruise on to pack 28.

1. Rance Mulliniks -3B/SS – Blue Jays – 74 – Rance may have started his big league career in 1977 but he didn’t become a full time player until he was traded to the Blue Jays in 1982. Thats when he turned into a 0.300 hitter and could get you about 10 homers a season. In 1986 he had a lower batting average than normal (0.259) but still managed to hit 11 homers and drive in 45 runs.

2. Scott Sanderson – P – Cubs – 406 – These were some rough years for Scott. Who actually wasn’t a very bad pitcher, just had some bad defense behind him and no run support. Generally he had a very good WHIP (< 1.20) but his ERAs were always north of 3.50. The only thing that tells me is, if you got a hit off of him, it was probably for extra bases. Scott went 9-11/4.19/1.191 in 1986, so like I said, alot of extra base hits.

3. Harry Spilman – 1B – Astros – 352 – Here is the typical Harry situation, he would come in the game in the 9th when there was a 4+ run lead. Guess how many times he got up to bat? How about he averaged about 70 at bats a season in 40 games. Amazingly enough he would log 12 seasons of pro ball doing this.

4. Alvin Davis – 1B – Mariners – 440 – This is his second year card, as I have tons and tons of his first year card thinking he was going to be the next big thing. Do you blame me though? In 1984 (rookie season) he hit 0.284/27/116 and he was only 23. He followed it up with a 0.287/18/78 season in 1985 and in 1986 he hit 0.271/18/72. Three very solid seasons and he was only 25, while he carried that franchise on his back in the really bad years.

5. Ray Searage – P – Brewers – 642 – It took Ray 9 years to get to the bigs, once he got there, he stayed for a while becoming a very mediocre middle reliever who wouldn’t kill you when he went out there. In 1986 after having a rough season in Milwaukee, he was dealt to the White Sox where he went on to have an amazing second half to the season with an ERA of 0.62 and a WHIP of 1.17. I’m sure Steve knows all about him.

6. Steve Sax – 2B – Dodgers – 175 – I grew to hate Steve Sax because he signified the end of the Willie Randolph era in New York. Sure he had speed and he hit for average, but he didn’t have that leadership role in him that Willie had and in the end, it’s why Yankee fans grew to hate him. But I’m getting ahead of myself because in 1986 he was still with the Dodgers, putting up a 0.332/6/56/40 season. Of course I would have loved to have that happen in NY, but it didn’t. Maybe I would have been more of a Sax fan if it did though.

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7. Tom Gorman – P – Mets – 414 – Another mediocre to bad middle reliever. Thankfully for Operation Topps though, he will only pitch in 14 more games in 1986 and 1987.

8. Mark Brown – P – Twins – 451 – This was Mark’s rookie card! They say that rookie cards are worth the most money of any card you will ever have. So take it to the bank Mark Brown. This is your rags to riches card! Unfortunately for Mark though, 1985 would be his last year in the majors after logging only 15 career games.

9. Gary Pettis – OF – Angels – 604 – At first I got confused and thought I already reviewed this card. But it turns out it was Gary Reddus. You can understand the confusion, bot named Gary and their last names rhymed. Pettus though was even more fo a speed threat. The problem was that it’s hard to be a lead off hitter wneyou can’t hit over 0.257. He may have had 100 SB potential, but you can’t do it striking out 125 times a season. In 1986 he stole50 bases but only hit 0.258 and struck out 132 times. He must have been maddening to manage.

10. Pete Ladd – P – Brewers – 163 – I will say one nice thing about Pete, he beat the odds. He was a 25th round draft pick in 1977. He made it to the majors in 1979, however he would play his last year in 1986. Not a bad season though 8-6/3.82/1.23, which makes me wonder why he never played again.

11. Pirates Leaders – 756 – Rick Rhoden is on the front of this card.  An interesting thing about Rick is that he could play on the Senior PGA tour right now and be very competitive.  When ever they have a Pro-Am event and he plays in it, he usually wins it.  Johnny Ray was your big batting star for the Pirates that year and the Ricks (Rhoden and Reuchel) were the pitching leaders.

12. Lee Mazzilli – OF – Pirates – 578 – He was in the back up phase of his career here.  Long were the days of hitting 0.300/16/70, he was doing mop up and part time duty for the Pirates, still hitting 0.282 but only getting 117 at bats.  I do remember him as one of the better Mets in the early 80s but I don’t think that translates into much because those teams were so bad.

13. Dave Engle – C – Twins – 43 – Another part time player, in 1986 he was actually playing in Detroit.  Up to this point he had always had enough at bats, usually around 200 per season, but in 1986 that dropped to under 100 and it would never creep back up over 100 for the rest of his career.

14. Jim Rice – OF – Red Sox – 320 – Can someone please tell me why he isn’t in the Hall of Fame? OK here is the bad for Jim: 2452 hits and 382 home runs. But here are the goods: 8 time all star, 1 MVP, 3 time home run leader, 2 time silver slugger and a career 0.298 batting average.  He was the most dominant player from 1977-1980 and from 1983-1985.  In my opinion he had 6 HOF years in his 16 seasons and I think that that is enough to get in.

15. Bob Shirley – P – Yankees – 213 – By 1986 he was a spot starter but him numbers were awful.  The following season, which would be his last,  he would be released from the Yankees  and sign with the Royals, in what would be one of his worst seasons as a pro.

Overall this pack was very uninspiring.  There were too many middle relievers and part time players.  Very frustrating to do these reviews when you have so little to work on. The pictures weren’t even worth making fun of. Because of the Alvin Davis and the Jim Rice, I’ll give this one a 2.0 star rating. I really did love seeing those 2 cards so I guess it helped in the rating. But man what a dog of a pack of cards huh?  Truely some bad wax here.  The good news was . . . no doubles!!!  Don’t forget to check out badhits every day as well.