Wednesday, October 8, 2008

1986 Topps


My apologies to the three people who are regular readers here. Between the need to take a step back at the end of the disappointing season and having a couple of friends come to visit Chicago on nights that I might have otherwise blogged, things got a little slack around here. No worries though, things should be getting back on track.

I think part of the slack though is that I've been sort of reluctant to go forward. 1986 was the year I graduated high school, and it was probably the first year that I just didn't get into collecting like I had in years past. It didn't help that the card companies made some of the ugliest and lackluster cards ever in 1986.

I can still remember my buddy Brian and I walking to the old card store that used to be on Maine St. in Brunswick, Maine on a sunny, cold morning in January when these cards first came out. I can also remember going back to his house and opening our packs and looking at these like someone had just farted. 

I could go into detail, but I won't. These cards suck. You know it and I know it. So here they are. (Ok, so maybe the team leaders card is cool, but I swear you got two of these in every pack, and one was always Greg Minton.....)


The 1986 Topps Detroit Tigers:
20 Lou Whitaker
36 Tigers Leaders - Lance Parrish
47 Juan Berenguer
73 Randy O'Neal
101 Dave Bergman
121 Nelson Simmons
130 Alan Trammell
160 Chet Lemon
192 Milt Wilcox
217 Bill Scherrer
243 Johnny Grubb
270 Jack Morris
295 Kirk Gibson
367 Aurelio Lopez
393 Chris Pittaro
411 Sparky Anderson
436 Doug Flynn
461 Walt Terrell
479 Bob Melvin
515 Darrell Evans
540 Dan Petry
563 Alejandro Sanchez
592 Frank Tanana
609 Barbaro Garbey
643 Tom Brookens
670 Willie Hernandez
688 Larry Herndon
740 Lance Parrish
788 Marty Castillo


Topps again released the Glossy All-Star cards in rack packs:
3 Lou Whitaker
10 Jack Morris

I can't remember how they were released, but Topps also issued a Glossy Rookies set too:
8 Eric King


And of course they issued a traded set.

1986 Topps Traded:
17T Bill Campbell
26T Darnell Coles
27T Dave Collins
53T Eric King
59T Mike Laga
61T Dave LaPoint

Not even bad ass Darnell Coles cold make these cards look cool, and if he couldn't do it, nobody could.

7 comments:

lookjona said...

1986 Topps All-Star Send-Ins
Feeling generous, Topps expanded the set to 60 cards...hey, a green border!
8. Lance Parrish
29. Kirk Gibson
60. Darrell Evans

lookjona said...

1986 Topps Mini Leaders
Mini cards now...2-1/8" x 2-15/16" featuring players who led various statisical categories in 1985. Design very similar to the Team Leader cards from the base set...white background framing player picture.
13. Darrell Evans
14. Jack Morris
15. Lance Parrish
16. Walt Terrell

lookjona said...

1986 Topps Tattoos
Topps returned to tattoos in 1986, marketing a set of 24 different tattoo sheets. Each sheet of tattoos measures 3-7/16" x 14" and includes both player and smaller action tattoos. The "action" tattoos are simply cartoon drawings of non-specific baseball guys. 192 tattoos in all...this set was evidentally aimed at the biker demographic of baseball card collectors. The numbering of the set is wacky..some numbers don't exist, some number are shared by multiple tattoos. For example, the Trammell/Lemon tattoo was given number 10..as was a solo tattoo of Mike Smithson of the Twins, and possibly others. Probably the most unneccesary set of all time.
4. Darrell Evans
8. Willie Hernandez
10. Alan Trammell/Chet Lemon
11. Jack Morris
22. Lance Parrish/Kirk Gibson
23. Lou Whitaker

lookjona said...

1986 Topps Super
Huge cards. Same design as base set. Different photos (sometimes). 60 in all. Numbered in alphabetical order, for the obsessive/compulsive collector.
21. Darrell Evans
25. Kirk Gibson
38. Jack Morris

lookjona said...

The Eric King glossy rookie you mention is actually a 1987 card.

Sam said...

Hello, Just wanted to add a card - the 1986 Topps Glossy All-Star set there is also a #1 Sparky Anderson. I have enjoyed reading your post. I just found your blog a couple weeks ago and am starting to put my Tiger collection together.

robbyt said...

Welcome Sam! It's always nice to see a new face around here. Things are always slow around here this time of year but usually pick up at it starts cooling off. I plan to get a ton of stuff put up during October while I'm sitting home watching the post season. Thanks for your contributions. Eventually I'd like to get all Tiger Cards listed on here to make it a great place for Tiger collectors to discuss Tigers cards (and other stuff too!)