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1986 Topps Baseball
Bull_Bear
Posts: 86 ✭✭
Just curious what results other members have had with boxes of 1986 Topps Baseball? Both of my boxes were BBCE authenticated. But for the life of me I could not pull Mattingly, Ripken, Puckett, or Clemens. Perhaps just the sequencing? I was able to get at least one of every other star of the time.
I know some hate the look of the ‘86 Topps but personally I love them. Along with great memories when I first started collecting cards as an early child. 1985-1986 was my rookie year for collecting 😂
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
2
Comments
I really like 86 topps. I haven't do e any boxes so cant respond to that but they are great looking cards IMO.
Absolutely agree, thanks for responding Ringer. Mattingly was my favorite player as a kid, just hopeful that I would pull one. Nope. Little surprised after ripping 2 boxes but '86 Topps is also a gigantic set. I probably had a hoarding issues with Mattingly cards as a child and have way too many as is.
Love the look of '84 through '87 Topps in general some of my all time favorites. '86 and '89 Donruss would be two of my least favorites.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
76 and 87 Topps are my favorite, mostly for aesthetics but also for sentimental reasons. 76 was the first set instarting buying with my allowance money when i was 6. And 87 because that was the peak of my collecting growing up.
Hi,
I opened up a few 86 Topps Vending boxes last winter; I did Ok with Ripken, Gwynn, Boggs, Sandberg and Clemens--Not so good with Brett, Puckett and Mattingly
1986 was the first year I bought as a kid. So a couple years ago I bought a few boxes to build a set from packs. 4 boxes and I was still short a handful of cards. So I can understand not hitting some players in 2 boxes
Those are some great years to start collecting. Wish I was born earlier. I can relate, I remember mowing lawns and shoveling snow to go to the local card shop and spend my hard earned money. Quickly learned the bigger the snow storm, the more cash I could make for cards lol.
Love the look of the ‘87 Topps too.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Thanks for replying, Grocery. Nice to hear other people’s experiences. Can’t believe I forgot Gwynn. No luck on him either. Few of the players I pulled out of 2 boxes- 2 Boggs, 1 Brett. 2 Sandberg. 1 Ryan. 1 Henderson. Pretty much duplicates of all of the 86 Mets. 1 Yount and Molitor. 1 Rose. 3 Dale Murphy. 1 Sutton and Rollie Fingers. 3 Sutton. 1 Winfield. 3 Guidry. 1 Vince Coleman. 2 Ozzie Smith. 1 Hershiser 3 Fernando’s to name a few off the top of my head.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Almost forgot, 1 Eric Davis
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
We might be pretty close in age Centauri. ‘77 here. 4 boxes and still short? I definitely would have been frustrated after 4 boxes. I didn’t look it up but I want to say the complete set was about 720ish? I get it’s a huge set but I was just a little surprised at how many misses I had from 2 boxes from two different sellers. I was wondering if Mattingly, Clemens, Ripken, Puckett, and Gwynn were part of the same sequence for packs/boxes. Assuming you got the final cards to complete the set? Great set to have!
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Shoot, sorry. 3 Sutton and 1 Carew*.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
It's not uncommon to strike out with just two wax boxes. I've had good luck pulling the players I wanted, but condition is abysmal. Out of two wax boxes and 3 vending boxes, I had maybe 3 cards out of the entire lot that had a shot at psa 9. Most cards came out psa 6 or 7.
After that, I just started buying already graded singles and selling my unopened wax on eBay. Too challenging to find gems from 1986 IMO.
1986 Topps baseball set had 792 cards. The black borders are a bear to find nice. Collation in Topps wasn't always peachy.
Eric Davis is a short print.
I have opened more of 1986 Topps than anyone should admit and have gone through 2 rack cases at one stretch and couldn't find one...let alone a really nice one. There are a few others that just seemed short. NO shortages of Joe Orsulak or Dan Bilardello though. Thank God.
"You've gotta be a man to play this game...but you'd better have a lot of little boy in you, too"--Roy Campanella
There were no "short printed " cards in 1986. They were printed on 6 different sheets at 132 different cards per sheet.
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Eric Davis isn't a short print, as @Tibor states. He appears as the very top left corner card on the sheet, which is a contributing reason for the many defects on the card.
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Ripken and Mattingly appear side by side on their sheet. I don't believe they are sequenced directly one after the other in the packs, due to the "shuffling" at the Topps factory, but do seem to recall that they are sequenced in close proximity to each other when opening packs or vending. It's been a couple years since I've opened much of any 86s.
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I like this set too, but I REALLY like the box bottom cards from '86 Topps. I think it's the color variety.
Abysmal might well be putting it nicely. Agree with you on just buying graded due to the difficulty. My experience was a little different. Out of the two boxes. The first box the cards were brutal. Maybe, maybe 3-4 cards worth sending into grade. The Ricky Henderson miss cut was perhaps the most brutal one I’ve seen in all my years of collecting. I just chuckled. “86 Topps is a needle in the haystack. I knew what I was getting into. But the 2nd box, night and day different on quality and cuts. Me thinks the card gods were smiling down on me.
George Brett- dark spot/mark
Eric Davis- ink smudge in “Reds”
Nolan Ryan- this one the kick in the junk. Beautiful centering, edges, bright colors and a tiny bright neon Orange circle on his left shoulder to match.
Sandberg #1- top fraying
2- ink smudge.
Regardless the enjoyment of opening the two boxes can’t put a price on. Just going back to childhood and 9 years old and racing home to look at the news paper every day after school to check the standings in “The Flag Chase” and read the recaps of every game the night before and see what my favorite players and teams did.
I have a handful worth submitting. The vast majority coming from the second box. Some of the players that might be worthy of submission and praying for a 9, not even fantasizing for a 10:
Mookie Wilson
Lenny Dykstra
Bert Blyleven
Rick Suttcliff
Jack Morris
Brett Saberhagen
Dwight Gooden/ Gooden All Star
Dale Murphy (2)
Tom Seaver
Ricky Henderson A.S.
Ron Darilin
Gary Carter
Rusty Staub
Ron Guidry
Joel Skinner
Ivan Calderon
Tim Raines
Lou Whitaker
Orel Hershiser
Tim Raines
Mike Schmidt
Fernando Valenzuela (2)
Andre Dawson
Pedro Guerrero
Rod Carew
I almost forgot to say if anyone needs help with completing a set, etc. please do let me know and I’ll gladly see what I can do to help another member out.
The one thing that stood out to me is how odd it was that I opened so many Mets and they also seemed to be the best cut/centering of all cards in both boxes.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Thanks Tibor, I knew it was massive but didn’t know specifically how many cards made up the sit. I was preoccupied with my fantasy baseball team last night while writing that reply 🤓 agree totally about the black borders and collation.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Wow, that is some bad luck! I would of felt that I would see Bigfoot first at that point.
The Eric Davis I opened, black ink smeared with “Reds” on the top. Not God awful but definitely enough to make me not even consider sending it in to have graded.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Just ripped a box of 86 Topps from BBCE and the centering was awful throughout. Nothing worth grading. Still fun to open, the kids loved trying really old gum. Still looking for a Ray Miller Twins Mgr that could beat an 8.
Count, thank you for the photos of the sheets. Really neat to look over and helps understanding.
Ripken is my unicorn when it comes to all Topps baseball cards regardless of year for some reason or another. Absolute worst luck pulling Iron Man out of any box of Topps. Nolan Ryan on the other hand is like the sun rising in the East for me.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
LOL. I won't lie, curiosity go the best of me and I tried a piece of the gum too. Dissolved instantly and still breathing.
I'm going to be busy running around like a chicken with it's head cutoff most of the day with the holiday coming but let me look through my 2 boxes tonight and I'll see if I can find/have a Ray Miller card for you. If so, and it's good condition, I'll post some photos for you and you're more than welcome to have it to help you out.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
These were taken a long time ago, and I've posted them several times before in other threads. They probably belong in this one, too. Enjoy...
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ABell, scoured through both boxes and the best I could find were 2 but I don’t think either could beat an 8.
1:
2:
Also just reminded myself that I had every possible Twin, most twice and still no Puckett lol.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Don't tey selling these cards raw. I doubt any of the 1986 topps cards would sell for over $5 without a being a PSA 10. Tons of them, no good rookies, lots of print defects, horrible centering. I know the Sandberg and Ryan sell for a lot, but this mostly has to do with the past. At one time they were hard to get in PSA 10. Now there are many more.
Appreciate the input, Olb. Thank you.
I didn't plan on it. I'm a collector 100%. Zero desire to sell any of my cards in my collection unless I have multiples and only then it would be only to pay for a new card(s) or wax boxes. I'm aware of what to expect with '86 Topps and their market. I made this post simply to hear others experiences with boxes/packs. As I said, '86 Topps have a special place for me because I was a very young kid and it pretty much my first year of serious collecting. Lots of great memories with '86 Topps and baseball in general that year for me. Rookie cards in '86 Topps doesn't matter to me, if that were the case I would have never bought them if I was on the hunt for a good year for rookie cards.
If anyone on the forum needed any, I'd just mail them to them. What comes around, goes around. The information and networking alone on this forum is priceless.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
I appreciate you looking. You're right with the corners, it'd be a mess. If might have a Puckett for you, I'll look tonight.
1986 was the first year I really started collecting. I bought packs before that but not many.
I’ve opened two rack cases in the last few years and have maybe 20 cards that could get a 10 but I never sent them in. The best player of that group is Rod Carew which I don’t think is a tough 10. Collation was standard 80s Topps - better than Donruss, worse than Fleer.
Anytime, always feel free to ask me. Baseball ‘85 to present day. ‘88 through ‘91 basketball. ‘85-‘90 football. Basketball and football just doesn’t do it for me like baseball does. Appreciate the Puckett look up when you have time.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Definitely keep my expectations low when it comes to ‘86. Out of the 2 boxes I think there’s about 20 that have a good shot at a 9. Maybe, just maybe 3 or so a 10 and im extremely critical when it comes to grades w my cards. Ironcailly, one of those possible 10’s for me is a Carew too. Him and I swear any Met from either box has the best cut and centering. That probably sounds crazy. Mookie, Dykstra, Staub, and Gooden were 4 of my best card condition wise out of 2 boxes.
Any experience with ‘85 and ‘84 Topps or Donruss? Anyone else on this thread for that matter.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
If I had told you in 1986 that 35 years later exactly two of the six would be in the HoF there is no way any of you would have guessed which two. In fact, I bet most would have guessed Rose and Mattingly.
Many of you were very young or not with us in 1986. Card collecting was on fire and only getting
better. Collectors had 3 main issues to choose from, Topps, Donruss and Fleer. Dozens of food
issues and small box sets. Card shops were everywhere and we were just having fun. Sports
Collectors Digest and Tuff Stuff were the magazines to read. Beckett Price Guide was the pricing
bible. If you would have gone into any card shop at the time stated that Bo Jackson, Cecil Fielder,
Don Mattingly, Darryl Strawberry, Dwight Gooden, Eric Davis and Dale Murphy would not be elected
into the Hall of Fame you would have been laughed out of the store and be committed into a
mental institution. Most collectors at the time knew of the rumors about Pete Rose. The situation
currently playing out at Target for a few "Blaster Boxes" is old hat compared to mid to late January
and February of the 80's with wax boxes. The first couple of weeks many card shops had limits of
1-2 boxes a week for the customers. This eased by middle April.
I was 9 years old fell in love with collecting in ‘85-‘86. Your post brought back many great memories. Back then I want to say a pack of cards cost .25 to .35 cents a pack. Wax was maybe $16.00 or so. I know Topps were the cheapest, I want to say Donruss was second and Fleer was most expensive back then. Might be wrong and flip Donruss with Fleer. Maybe Fleer was the least common in stores (not hobby shops)?
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Thank you for pointing out the sheets and his position. I understand the sheet allocation as to how they were printed. Whether or not those cards made their way into distribution equally is another matter. Still, there are about a dozen cards that are--in my product--sharply in less supply, it creates curiosity for me.
My factual experience remains...
4 rack cases, a vending case, hundreds of boxes of wax...the stuff was so cheap I opened wax and rack boxes with my collecting buddies in the late 90's while eating at the Gene & Judes counter routinely after shows...
less than 100 Eric Davis cards. That's not bad luck. That's just short of an alien encounter. There are others, but Davis was a guy I targeted and we could never fathom how elusive he was.
"You've gotta be a man to play this game...but you'd better have a lot of little boy in you, too"--Roy Campanella
Any consultation, the 1 Davis I pulled out of 2 boxes is nowhere near worth sending in to be graded. But the memories of Davis with the Reds were priceless.
OT- Buck, my daughter and I just walked inside from feeding 3 does a few old green apples. Amazing how they have the ability to recognize regulars from strangers and their immediate reactions.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
I've also posted this before in another thread, but since we're talking about Eric Davis...
https://www.mlb.com/news/eric-davis-put-up-video-game-stats-for-reds-c279109048
For a brief period of time, there wasn't a bigger star in the game. It was very easy to figure out the Topps sequencing back then, so I'm going to assume that a lot of your bad luck was due to the fact that your rack packs and wax boxes had already been cherry picked for the comet that was Eric Davis.
It’s a shame this thread wasn’t a few years ago. A former Dodger player...can’t remember if it was Steve Yeager or Wes Parker...used to own a card shop and a few years ago donated a bunch of junk wax to the Dodgers Memorial Foundation. They sold these at Dodgers Fanfest in 2015. There were several cases of 1986 racks. I of course was prescient enough to only buy one rack box at $20.
Great story, Dodger. One of my best friends who happens to be in our fantasy baseball league is a die hard Dodgers fan who lives near Tampa. His grandfather moved there from the Bronx and took him to a ton of spring training games as a kid. Jarrod’s (and myself) only old enough to know them as the LA Dodgers. He has one heck of a collection of Dodger memorabilia and autographs. Of course his fantasy team is named “Blue Crew”.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
I love 1986 Topps...right when I started seriously collecting too. Such a clean and classic design. Thanks for sharing your memories. I have ripped tons of 1980s cards over the years searching for flawless PSA 10 candidates. 1986 Topps ranks right up there on toughest condition straight out of the pack. Here is the Eric Davis and Cal Ripken I pulled awhile back that have a chance...
I have ripped multiple cases over the past few years and I hit the Davis at the same rate as the other players, so I don’t think they were any harder to pull. The card is one of the best looking of the set along with the Mattingly. Here are my stacks from my rips...
Welcome, thank you for responding. Your Ripken and Davis are beautiful! The Ashby and Davis cards brought back memories, thank you. Haven't heard those 2 names in a while but clearly remember both as a child. You have a very nice stack from years of ripping and I bet frustration given the odds of a clean '86 Topps. Makes it all the sweeter though. It was weird but my first box was God awful but the second box actually provided a decent amount by '86 standards worth submitting for me.
I might be the minority but I also like the clean and simple design of the All Star cards for '86 and the Record Breakers are fun for flash backs and being able to recall those moments. Sounds like there's several of us that started our "serious" collecting with '86 Topps. '86 and '87 will always be 2 of my favorite Topps designs.
Thanks again for the photos, probably will admire them and take in the beauty several more times .
One of my best friends who I've been trying to get back into collecting just text me and said he bought a jumbo of '21 Topps Series 1. I might be more excited for him than he is. '83 Topps is his '86 Topps. Told him text me with any questions, send photos. Tried explaining to him about inserts, etc. and how much cards have changed since back thank. Pretty sure his head's spinning. lol
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
1986 Topps is a classic 80's issue. SO many love the quarter black border on most cards in the issue. This was still vintage old school Topps. It's biggest detriment is the lack of anchor RC. I think Cecil Fielder is the biggest rookie from the issue. So that is a big reason it doesn't get the love of 1985 or 1987. (Not talking the traded set obviously). Much different story there.
ISO 1978 Topps Baseball in NM-MT High Grade Raw 3, 100, 103, 302, 347, 376, 416, 466, 481, 487, 509, 534, 540, 554, 579, 580, 622, 642, 673, 724__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ISO 1978 O-Pee-Chee in NM-MT High Grade Raw12, 21, 29, 38, 49, 65, 69, 73, 74, 81, 95, 100, 104, 110, 115, 122, 132, 133, 135, 140, 142, 151, 153, 155, 160, 161, 167, 168, 172, 179, 181, 196, 200, 204, 210, 224, 231, 240
The Vince Coleman card used to be pretty desired back in the day.
Cards are aesthetically nice but need the team logo on front.
I remember the Cardinals were very exciting back then. Ozzie doing flips running out to SS. Vince Coleman terrorizing the base pads. Willie McGhee. Herzog coaching. Terrible when Coleman broke his leg when the grounds crew brought out the tarp for a rain delay.
Never crossed my mind about the lack of the team logos on the front. Just loved the look of the card as is. I would have been okay w a logo too though.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Agreed. I think you’re correct with Fielder, off the top of my head. ‘83 through ‘87 are some of my absolute favorites. I’ve discovered from this thread that ‘86 is a big deal to several others because it was the first year in early childhood when they became a serious collector like myself. Funny how a certain year might not be a great one for rookies but the memories from that season or summer make it special to the collector. I think that’s terrific and one of the best things about collecting. The simple ability of a baseball card that takes you back to childhood or a single event.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
What a great time for this thread... making space in closet and wife forced me to do something with my old rack packs from the 80s.. I opened up my last 3rack boxes from 86 this weekend! So fun
I pulled a lot of Eric Davis cards , and after awhile , the sequencing became very predictable.. Everytime I got an Orel, the very next card was a Nolan....one box had zero cards in perfect shape, one box had a ton...
One pack had cards so mis cut, I had two names on one card!
My Pucketts all looked identical, with the exception of one!
Great post, glad you had good luck on your packs! Bet she didn’t have to ask you twice on making closet space lol. A few members have said Eric Davis was like Bigfoot for them. Had the same experience with Orel followed by Nolan as well as the first box the cards were just down right awful but the second box was night and day better. Some worth submitting. Couldn’t pull a Puckett to save my life. I should post a photo of my Ricky Henderson mis cut that I pulled. It was so bad I instantly started laughing. Probably worst mis cut I’ve ever pulled over 36 years. Congrats again on the pulls, thanks for posting some photos!
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Thanks Bull, been reading this forum for a bit, had to post that!
Find the Henderson, would be cool to see
Welcome. Glad you did. Could talk baseball and baseball cards all day and not grow tired of it. Found the Henderson and here’s the photos. It’s pretty bad 😂
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Don’t overlook the gum residue on the back. Adds character.
"I'd walk through Hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"
Charlie Hustle
Yeah it’s bad. I hope I can dig up the miscuts I pulled that had two names on then