1986 Fleer Cello

I recently bought some Yount cards on eBay from a huge Yount collector who's slowly paring down his collection. As a little add-on, I picked up this cello pack that the Yount guy was selling with Robin featured on the front. To me, this doesn't represent something different, but I understand the completist mentality. I bought it with the intent to open it, as '86 Fleer is a set I don't have too much of.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:
506 Robin Yount

214 Reid Nichols
181 Andy McGaffigan
41 Tito Landrum
234 Lance Parrish
192 Mario Soto
64 Dennis Lamp (Man, that is one area of growth! That dude shaves after lunch, then has to do it again before washing his hands for dinner. Thickness.)

509 Bruce Benedict
448 John Russell
8 Mark Gubicza
93 Rafael Santana
45 Darrell Porter
565 Mike Mason
261 Randy St. Claire (That's a sweet-ass Starter jacket. One might even say it's worth being killed over.)

Los Angeles Penant Sticker
Oakland Sticker
104 Brian Fisher
484 Cecil Cooper (Cooooooooooooooooop!)

197 Juan Agosto
196 Max Venable
29 Cesar Cedeno
242 Lou Whitaker
178 John Franco
62 Cliff Johnson (Speaking of jackets, Canada was representin' on the outerwear, eh?)

530 Milt Thompson
441 Greg Gross
13 Charlie Leibrandt
83 Danny Heep
36 Brian Harper
573 Wayne Tolleson

That was fun.

1986 Topps Baseball

I recently purchased a couple wax packs of '86 Topps on eBay and here's the first pack I opened.

To watch a video of this pack break click here.

Upon opening there is a broken, brittle piece of 22 year old gum.

218 - Randy Hunt

344 - Jim Wohlford

630 - Fernando Valenzuela

518 - Buck Martinez
Current analyst for ESPN.

767 - Jody Davis

50 - Dan Quisenberry
Nice action shot of his submarine delivery. Led the AL in saves 5 of his first 7 seasons and Topps rewarded him with a star card number here.

79 - Dave Schmidt

Win a Trip to 1987 Spring Training Card

453 - Steve Jeltz

233 - Steve Lyons
This is actually Pycho's rookie card but it's not worth anything.

68 - Ed Lynch
The man of many chins.

701 - Keith Hernandez All Star
As much as I like the '86 Topps base design, the All Star cards from this set have maybe one of the most boring, generic designs Topps has ever come up with.

279 - Al Pardo
Who? Al Pardo. Oh. Wait who?

515 - Darrell Evans
Led AL in homers in '85 with 40 while batting .248. That has to be one of the lowest batting averages for a home run champ. Andy would know this but I'm too lazy/inept to check baseball-reference to find out for sure.

668 - Cecilio Guante
For some reason his jersey is airbrushed while his hat is not. And there's no reason for this as he was still with the Pirates. Very odd.


718 - Jorge Bell All Star
I loved early George Bell cards spelled with his given Dominican name Jorge.

Well that was fun. I could open '86 Topps all day.

1986 Baseball Tattoos

I got this pack from Andy over at 78 Topps Cards. I promised to put Pete Rose's tattoo on my butt if I pulled him from this pack, so if we're all lucky you'll see Pete and my Butt in this post.

This is how to put on the tattoo, just replace the hand with my butt for Pete Rose tattoos.

I was really tempted to chew this, but I have a bad psychological reaction to chewing gum out of packs of cards now. Thanks Topps! Thanks for being cheap and ruining my gum chewing experience!

First strip, top half:

I think that says 22 or 24 up top. Maybe. Lots of Tigers and Expos here. Kirk Gibson is probably the biggest name of the bunch. There's two little tattoos of one guy swinging away and another one bunting. Who would put a tattoo of a bunt on their arm? Then again, who would put a tattoo of Bryn Smith on themselves?

First strip, bottom half:

I'm pretty sure I didn't mix up the scans, but if I did I'm sure some internet detective will point it out. There are only three players on this half, but they out match the ones up top. Boggs is a Hall of Famer, Concepcion is a subject of constant debates on whether he should be in the Hall, and Gorman Thomas is just a badass. The combination of that exquisite mustache and the old school Mariners Trident logo on a two-color tattoo is is so cool it's almost illegal. If Gorman was still with the Brewers and had the glove logo we'd all be under arrest. There are some really crazy mini tattoos in this strip, they all look like they are suffering from St. Vitus' dance.

Second strip, top half:

Wow, this is the all-underrated strip. Every single player on here was fantastic, but other than Molly don't get their due. One of them has an MVP award, do you know which one?

Second strip, bottom half:

Pudge!!! What a terrible drawing of Pudge! That doesn't look like Carlton, it looks more like Mark King from Level 42. Mike Scott also looks ridiculous, but Lou manages to become a tattoo while keeping his dignity intact. Check out the wind up of the guy next to Whitaker! If someone did that for real about three joints would pop right out of their sockets. Sorry folks, no Pete. I know you are all disappointed, but I think this pack was pretty good anyway.

1986 Topps

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.

1986 Topps

I was a freshman in high school when this prolific set came out. With 15 cards and one piece of gum for less than a $1.00 per pack originally. The set had 792 cards and Beckett lists it at $25. You can pick up a box for $15 or a set for $15 on Ebay pretty easily. Cards to look for are #1(Pete Rose), #100(Nolan Ryan), #180(Don Mattingly), #200(Mike Schmidt), #254(Ozzie Guillen), #300(George Brett), #329(Kirby Puckett), #340(Cal Ripken), #386(Cecil Fielder), #661(Roger Clemens). Subsets include Pete Rose Tribute, Record Breakers, Turn Back the Clock, All Stars, and Team Leaders. The Parallel sets were Tiffany and Opeechee. These boxes also came with box "bottomers" instead of box toppers, so four cards were part of the bottom of the box. I remember opening a lot of packs back in the day to complete my set. Let's get to ripping.


Manny played for the Athletics, Cubs, Phillies, Indians, Expos, Giants and Reds during his career.


Awesome, a Cardinal who also played for the Mets, Royals, Mariners, Reds and Tigers. Vince and Lou Brock are only two of four players to steal 100 bases in one season. He was National ROY in 1985.


Carlton played for 24 years for the Red Sox and White Sox. He is a HOF player (2000) and had his numbers retired by both the Red Sox and White Sox. He was American ROY in 1972.


Doc played for the Mets, Yankees, Indians, Astros and Devil Rays in his infamous career. He was the 1984 National ROY, who also pitched a no-hitter in 1996 against the Mariners.


Steve played for 14 years with the Dodgers and his last with the Mariners. He was the 1981 World Series MVP.


Rusty played for the Colts, Astros, Expos, Mets, Tigers and Rangers during his 23 years in professional baseball. The Expos retired his #10.


Juan played for a lot of teams including, the Red Sox, Rangers, Yankees, Mariners, Angels, Orioles, Royans and Blue Jays.


Charlie played his 14 seasons for the Brewers and Blue Jays.


Dave, a HOF player (2001) played for the Padres, Yankees, Angels, Blue Jans, Twins and Indians during his great 22 year career. I have to mention that ESPN named him the third best all-around athlete of all time for any sport, wow. He was selected for 12 All-Star games as well as amassing many other awards. The Padres retired his #31.

The rest of the cards are Checklist, "Spring Fever Baseball", Randy Ready, Rick Sutcliffe, Ernie Whitt, Frank Dipino, and Barry Bonnell. I have to admit I have thousands of 1986 Topps cards laying around, but I couldn't resist opening a pack and smelling that old gum. I am glad I pulled the Coleman, Fisk, Gooden and Winfield cards, all amazing players.

1986 Topps Leaders

This is another pack I got from Shane Diaz. Like last time, I'll post the categories that they led the league for them all.

42 Mario Soto

#1 AL Shutouts - 5
#6 (tie) NL Games Started - 36
#6 (tie) Complete Games - 9
#9 Innings Pitched - 256 2/3

An excellent pitcher for some bad teams. Arm problems wrecked his career, but he had a very solid five year run in the early '80s.

7 Gary Pettis

#2 NL Stolen bases - 56
#7 (tie) Triples - 8

Great speed, great defense, lousy hitter. Nobody's perfect.

38 Keith Moreland

#4 NL RBIs - 106
#7 NL Batting Average - .307
#9 (tie) NL Hits - 180
#10 NL On Base Percent - .374

I had no idea his nickname was Zonk. Thanks Wikipedia! 1985 was probably Keith's best year, although he hit a career high 27 homers in 1987. He must have been competing with Hawk.

10 Britt Burns

#2 (tie) AL Shutouts - 4
#3 (tie) AL Victories - 18
*#6 AL Strikeouts - 172

The back notes that Mike Witt was rated #5 in the AL in strikeouts, but he's not pictured. Witt would win 18 games in '86, so I'm sure he's featured in the 1987 version of this set. Britt developed a hip problem after this season and never pitched in the majors again.

27 Rickey Henderson

#1 AL Runs - 146
#1 AL Stolen Bases - 80
#4 AL Batting Average - .314
#4 AL On Base Percentage - .419
#4 AL Walks - 99

RICKEY!!! This card shows why he's the greatest lead off hitter of all time.

3 Wade Boggs

#1 AL Batting Average - .368
#1 AL On Base Percentage - .450
#1 AL Hits - 240
#3 AL Doubles - 42
#4 AL Total Bases - 312

Boggs right in the middle of his peak years. 240 hits is good for 13th all time for hits in a season.

Garbage Pail Kids Series 3

Believe it or not Topps has a long and storied history of causing recess ruckuses. Back in the 1960s they had a card of a dog getting zapped by an alien in the classic Mars Attacks! set. A decade ago (yes, it's been that long) kids were bringing their Pokemon to school and rather than work the battle points into a math lesson, teachers banned them from their classrooms. But the set that I remember most fondly as a child of the 80s was Garbage Pail Kids. With their origins as a spoof of the Cabbage Patch Kids, GPK was a school kid's dream of pee, puss, potties and other pre-pubescent grossness. GPK  were so big during the mid-1980s that they were able to churn out 15 series between 1986 and 1988. Today's pack hails from the early part of the run with Series 3 from 1986.

 

Before you rip in you can see Topps laughing in the face of Cold War propaganda. Adam Bomb is taunting ole' Gorbie to a game of chicken (or with that remote control, maybe it was Pong).

 

88a. DINAH saur

In case you're not familiar with GPK, they're cards with stickers on the front and a surprise on the back. Each image had an "A" version and a "B" version where the only thing that changed was the name.

Looks like there's going to be an Uncle Sam puzzle. Dinah's pretty tame for GPK standards.

 

 84a. JOE blow

It's nice to see there was a time when Topps Corporate knew not to take themselves too seriously. JOE is a polite send-up of Topps Gum mascot Bazooka Joe. No runny noses or missing body limbs but it still gets a solid. The wanted poster is a nice touch, although the gum stain is scaring me a little seeing as how there's still three cards to go after this. If I die from the toxic fumes produced by the 22-year-old gum, please tell my family I loved them and tell Topps that their gum is deadly.

 104a. silent SANDY

Where's the blood and guts? There's a little on the back but I want the grossness on my stickers. Bigger gum stain. It's now on the front too.

 

99a. beaky BECKY

We have blood! Bonus points for animal parts. 

115a. warmin' NORMAN

No blood, guts or bodily fluids for Norm. Just old-school stereotypes about how the West was won. On the back, that's what you can call a gum stain. Me - I'm going to frame it and put it on eBay as a piece of modern art.

Overall, this was not a good pack for the GPK. Although JOE blow is iconic, there's simply not enough ickiness. If I showed my mom this pack as an eight-year-old she would have pinched my cute little A-Team-loving cheeks and sent me to bed with a, "Gee, son. They're awfully cute."

The reaction I want with my GPK would be more along the lines of, "Those are horrid, vile, disgusting, something your shady friend would think of. We're going to march right back to the store where you bought these and I am going to demand a refund. Let's make a fire and burn these buggers before the neighbors see them."

One final note: avoid the GPK Movie from 1988 but enjoy the clip to keep you in the spirit.