Operation Topps – Topps 1986 (Pack 53)

What a tough night it’s been, puppyhood has taken over the house, we decided that the shy one was the way to go. Well over the past two days she has come out of her shell and I have to say that she is rather independent. She peed an amazing 14 times in a matter of one hour. Now I understand that she is a water dog and she does indeed drink a heck of a lot of water. Make that 15 times, and I just missed the 3rd of them, so at 12 of 15 that would be Hall of Fame numbers. I have had quite a few puppies, but I’ve never seen one go to the bathroom as much in so short a time frame. I think my new strategy is to limit her water intake. Now that I have bored you with my puppy, lets tear into pack number 53.

1. Jerry Reuss – P – Dodgers – 577 – Jerry is a great example of how someone can pitch in the bigs for a long time (22 years) and not even get close to 300 wins. In 1986 he was 37 years old. I am going to be 37 this year. I think he looks like he might be 57 years old in the picture below. How is it that major league players age so rapidly. I see a lot of gray on the older pitchers of the 80s (Don Sutton / Tommy John). I know it’s stressful, but with guys who hit 0.225 playing for 10 years sometimes, how stressful can it be?

2. Gary Roenicke – OF – Orioles – 494 – Gary’s brother Ron was reviewed in pack 38. Of the two brothers, Gary had the better career. He also was a backup but at least he would average about 300 at bats a year and he played for 12 seasons. In 1986 he was with the Yankees and went 0.265/3/18 in about 130 at bats. Not too wonderful and definitely towards the end of his career. At least Gary wins the best Roenicke brother contest.

3. Pete Rose 1983-1985 cards – 7 – I really do like these cards and I am getting closer and closer to getting them all. I think I am just missing the 1979 – 1982 card. This one is one of the lamer ones though. Since there were only 3 cards to show on it, the last slot is a picture of Pete, with his batting helmet, thinking about Ty Cobb. Right, I just bet he was . . . get it, bet! Truth was he was trying to decide on which team to pick his or the visitors.

4. Bert Roberge – P- Expos – 154 – I don’t have a lot to say about Roberge because he had a fairly short career, and was a seldom used middle reliever. 1986 would be his last year (yeah, my streak continues), he is still with the Expos but went 0-4/6.28/1.50, so you kind of have an idea as to why for a 31 year old, this was his last year.

5. Floyd Youmans – P – Expos – 732 – Oh Floyd, how I thought you were going to be an awesome player. I got lots of your rookie cards and went to the box scores in the papers to find out how you did after every start. I mean how could have I gone wrong. He was Gooden’s high school teammate and professional teammate at one point. Oh wait, I guess that’s where I went wrong. Being he also threw away his career, do to drugs. 1986 was his most successful season he went 13-12/3.53/1.201 on a bad Expos team.

6. Marty Castillo – C – Tigers – 788 – Cool, another scrub who’s career ended in 1985. How exciting is this one? In 1985 he went 0.119/2/5 in just 82 at bats. That was about his average stat wise. Amazingly he did get one thing in his career, a World Series ring (Tigers 1984). So not a complete waste of a career.

7. Dale Murphy – OF – Braves – 600 – Definitely not a scrub. Definitely not a Hall of Famer though. Sure many people point out his back to back MVP seasons of 1982 and 1983. Sure he has 398 home runs, and sure he has a coveted card number in this set (600). But only 2111 hits, he has a career 0.265 batting average. That is just not HOF worthy if you don’t have more than 500 homers. In 1986 he went 0.265/29/83, which is basically what his average season was like (except his MVP years).

8. Jeff Stone – OF – Phillies – 686 – In 1986 Jeff was in the thick of his career as a back up. He served up what was easily the best year of his career. He went 0.277/6/19/19 in just over 250 at bats. Like I said he was definitely in the zone that year. I bet the Phillies would have really tanked it in 1986 without him on the roster. Maybe if they didn’t have im, they would have had a better shot at beating the Mets.

9. Ray Knight – 3B – Mets – 27 – Speaking of the 1986 Mets, it’s mister World Series MVP himself. Someone who took his seven best games and turned it into a very lucrative contract with the Orioles. What is great about that is, being a Yankee fan, it was great to see the O’s waste money on yet another journeyman on their roster. Don’t get me wrong, Knight had a great playoff run, but the guy was 33 and coming off just his 6th season as a starter (5 as a back up). In 1986 Knight who started at 3rd for the Mets went 0.298/11/76. Good numbers for sure, but those were among the best of his career.

10. Andy McGaffigan – P – Reds – 133 – In 1986 Andy was on his 5th team in 6 years as a pro. He was a starter, but not a very good one. But after 5 very sub par season he finally threw a good one for the Expos, going 10-5/2.65/1.19, this allowed him to pitch for a few more years. You will see in a later set that he did this again later in his career, allowing him to pitch even longer in the bigs.

11. Greg Harris – P – Rangers – 586 – Double, first reviewed in pack 17.

12. Glenn Brummer – C – Rangers – 616 – Double, first reviewed in pack 14.

13. Manny Lee – SS – Blue Jays – 23 – Double, first reviewed in pack 21.

14. Dave Rozema – P – Rangers – 739 – Double, first reviewed in pack 10.

15. Rick Camp – P – Braves – 319 – Doubl, first reviewed in pack pack 25.

Overall the pack was pretty good. One of those 10 non double packs that I love getting. I got lots of them in the last box. This I believe is my 8th in this box. Overall with the Rose and Murphy cards, I would put this pack at 2.0 stars which means it’s just less than average. I didn’t want to review this pack tonight, but I know that tomorrow is going to be a bear and I’m not sure what my time will be to write this and I want to keep it at least one post a day.