After reading several articles that have recently come out about the card collecting industry dying, I have to disagree. Although it is certainly not as popular as it once was, and may never be that popular again, it is still going on year after year as Topps and Upper Deck continue to try and beat each other up. Upper Deck as done the smart thing and diversified itself into the memorabilia world, which will never die out as long as there are people who want a piece of the action. Topps is just going on brand loyalty, and it has worked quite well for them over the years. Sure Fleer is dead and Donruss is on life support, but the core of the industry is still there and so are the people who love collecting. Let’s jump into pack number 46.
1. Dave Henderson – OF – Mariners – 221 – What’s funny is that I remember him in Boston and Oakland, but I don’t remember him as a Mariner. Which is odd because he numbers were pretty much the same no matter where he was. Dave was your typical 0.270/15/70 guy through his first few years in the league. In 1986 he went 0.265/15/47 in the year in which he was traded to the Red Sox.
2. Rick Langford – P – A’s – 466 – Now I remember Rick’s baseball cards, but I don’t remember a whole lot about Rick himself. 1986 turned out to be his final year in the majors, he had an injury in 1983, that essentially sacked him until 1986. However in 1986 he did so poorly that afterwards, he walked away from the game. His final season’s numbers were 1-10/7.36/1.58.
3. Rick Cerone – C – Braves – 747 – The original doughboy. Rick was always a fun character when he was with the Yankees, which is really the only team I remember him being with. He was essentially a starting catcher right up to his last season with the Yankees, at that point he became a back up and by 1986 he was playing for Milwaukee. He hit 0.259/4/18 in limited time, but it was his defensive prowess that kept him in the game as long as he did.
4. Checklist 1-132 – 131 – Bah humbug, who likes checklists? I don’t, but at least I now have 2 of 6.
5. Bill Swift – P – Mariners – 399 – I am looking over Bill’s stats and for the life of me I have no idea why I was a fan of his. His numbers are very sub par except for one season with the Giants. It probably stems from the fact that I got his autograph at the King Dome after a game and he was real nice about it. This was Billy’s first regular issue card and second card overall from Topps. His stats in 1986 were 5-9/5.46/1.76, those are pretty bad. But he went on to do this year after year, do you think that would be allowed today? i don’t think so.
6. Chuck Porter – P -Brewers – 292 – Chuck had a 5 year career throwing in 54 games, unfortunately for him one of those years wasn’t 1986. 1985 would be his final year in the majors after pitching himself to a 0-0/1.98/1.24 season in just 6 games.
7. Bret Saberhagen – P – Royals – 487 – Baseball royalty (no pun intended) in 1986. He was coming off his 1985 Cy Young award winning season and no one had heard of the even year curse on him. He turned in a stinker of 7-12/4.15/1.24/. This is something wegot used to growing up, odd years good, even years bad for Bret Saberhagen.
8. Checklist 661-792 – 791 – Whoa!Two checklists in the same pack, that just so strange and maddening at the same time.
9. Roger McDowell – P – Mets – 547 – He was a closer on that met team of 1986 and ended up going 14-9/3.02/1.16 and racked up 22 saaves. He went on to become part of the nasty boys of Cincinnati later in his career, but this tough guy pitched for the World Champion Mets in 1986. It’s strange to see a closer with 128 innings pitched. That’s just something you wouldn’t see in today’s game. They barely creep over 65 innings pitched for a season. Plus you will almost never see another closer win 14 games in a season.
10. Vince Coleman – ’85 Record Breakers – 201 – This card is a tribute to Vince breaking the rookie stolen base mark. Of course he didn’t just break it, he smashed it and jumped up and down on the broken parts for good measure. He stole 110 bases that year. To make that number even more remarkable is that he only hit 0.267 that season with a 0.320 OBP. He struck out 115 times compared to 50 walks. In other words, he made the most of his hits and time on base.
11. Dennis Lamp – P – Blue Jays – 219 – Double, first reviewed in pack 5.
12. Garry Maddox – OF – Phillies – 585 – Double, first reviewed in pack 5.
13. Gene Garber – P – Braves – 776 – Double, first reviewed in pack 15.
14. Doug DeCinces – 3B – Angels – 257 – Double, first reviewed in pack 5.
15. Lee Smith – P – Cubs – 355 – Double, first reviewed in pack 10.
Overall I used 6 scans on 10 cards, so you know that’s pretty good. I think I’ll give this one a 4.0 star rating. Not too shabby at all! The Saberhagen, Smith, and Vince Coleman Record Breakers card, make this a fun pack. Also the presence of Billy Swift in the pack was pretty cool as well! Also I want to thank Mario for putting me in the Blog Spotlight on his new blog: Sports Card Blog Directory. Also thanks to everyone who reads this daily and enjoys what I write about.
