Sometimes you just gotta rip open a waxy pack of 1986 Topps. This was the first set I ever bought packs from. They retailed for 35 cents each. 35 cents! I remember having to beg for a nickel to add to my dollar allowance so I could pick up three of these things at a time. The easy-to-read block letters represented a baseball card standard for my 10-year old eyes. This particular pack came in one of those evil repack packages, where they probably resealed the wax. Oh well, the wax stain is in the right place, the gum is only in three pieces and and all of the corners are sharp (unlike my original 1986 cards.)413 - Tim Flannery
593 - Jesse Barfield (1986 was a career year for Barfield, as he went .289/40/108 - a line he'd never approach again.)357 - ED VandeBERG (sic)
25 - Willie Wilson (Willie stole bases in droves, hit for average and barely got any recognition for it. I guess that's the life of a Royal...)
250 - Dwight Gooden (With a lack of rookies in the set - Fielder was a nobody at the time and Canseco, Bonds and Will Clark all were relegated to the Traded set - this was one of THE cards to get. It makes me wonder: if Willie Wilson and Doc Gooden played for each other's teams in a bizarro baseball world, would Wilson have become a superstar and Gooden one of the game's dominant aces for more than just a few seasons?)
410 - Dave Kingman (Kingman had a lifetime .302 on-base percentage. They don't print that on '86 Topps cards, though.)166 - Dickie Thon (has a weird name is the end of that sentence.)
742 - Frank Viola (Viola averaged 8 complete games a season between 1984 and 1990. Gooden ended up with more career victories, however.)- "Spring Fever Baseball" ad
68 - Ed Lynch (I heard this guy is popular on The Internet.)427 - Joe Cowley
717 - Dave Winfield All-Star (I love the All-Star cards in this set. Again, huge, loud, easy-to-read block letters. Close-up shots. Did anyone tell these players they were being photographed for their All-Star cards?)515 - Darrell Evans (Evans hit 414 career HRs. Sometimes he'd hit 12, other times... 40 or more. He must have been a rough fantasy pick.)
318 - Terry Whitfield
263 - Checklist 133-264
367 - Aurelio Lopez
Well, the pack pretty much trailed off after the Winfield card. Still, for only 35 cents, I would have been thrilled. I probably would have traded or sold off the Gooden for several Cardinals cards and put the Winfield in a big plastic binder.
Put the Winfield in a big plastic binder today! Keep it real and stay young!
ReplyDeleteanyone who searches through a pack of these for the fielder rc then reseals it should be shot! ps - i have a graded fielder.
ReplyDeleteI actually wouldn't mind getting one of these in a repack box. This was my second year of collecting and all of my cards are not in the best of shape. It would be better than the 1990 Donruss I usually get in repacks.
ReplyDeleteThis was my very first year of collecting, though I didn't really get into it until the next year, hence my absurdly large 87 Topps collection.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know of somebody who won one of those trips to spring training? Also, I love how to get one of those glossy sets you need to send in a check for a dollar... oh how the times have changed!