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In 1986, as in 1985, I acquired my Topps set by simply purchasing it complete. I bought it from a dealer at a large indoor flea market in Wallingford, CT. I was unimpressed with the set from the start and it honestly hasn't grown on me much over the years. While not terrible in concept, the execution of the design seems a bit drab, and as was usual during what I have started calling Topps' Lazy Period, too many images are grainy or otherwise unclear and the set still includes paint jobs. More on that particular complaint farther below.
Cards are bordered in white except for the top quarter or so which is a bold black. Along the top is the team name in large, stylized lettering in one of several bright colors. The player's name rest along the bottom edge in an attractive, slim font and his position appears in a circle colored the same as the team name, inset into the lower right corner of the image. The Topps logo appears in the upper right of the image.
Backs are printed in black against a background made primarily of shades of red with some white spaces. A "Talkin' Baseball" trivia board sits at the bottom of the reverse, space permitting, offering up some tidbit of occasionally VERY trivial baseball history.
"A" Sheet
"C" Sheet
"E" Sheet
"B" Sheet
"D" Sheet
"F" Sheet
6 different printing sheets each held 132 unique cards, for a complete set total of 792 cards.
Wax packs contained 15 cards (along with a stick of gum) as well as a 'Spring Fever Baseball' game card. Packs sold for 35 cents each and were packed 36 per box, with cases containing 20 boxes each.
Wrappers came in 3 varieties - each one contained information on the Spring Fever Baseball game and provided a no-purchase-necessary way to obtain a game card. Each provided a listing of the players included in 2 of 6 sets of 10 glossy cards which were available via the game card. Wrappers listing sets 1&2 and 3&4 also contained an offer of 10 collector sheets for $2 plus 60 cents shipping (seems Topps had a warehouse full of these, much as it had of the collector boxes previously).
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'Spring Fever Baseball' offered an opportunity to enter a sweepstakes for which the grand prize was a trip for 4 to the 1987 spring training camp of the team of the winner's choice.
By sending in 6 of these cards along with $1, you would receive one of 6 "1986 All Star and Hot Prospects Collector's Edition 10-Card Sets", known in the hobby as simply 'glossy send-away cards'.
The full glossy set included 60 cards.
In 1986, Topps began a dubious 6-year run of 'box bottom cards'. The bottom of each wax box contained one of four panels of 4 cards of popular players. The idea was that purchasing full boxes would enable you to obtain these 'limited' cards. Card fronts replaced the black of the basic set with red, and backs were identical to the players' basic cards, except for being lettered A-P and in the pose of the litle baseball guy in the "Talkin' Baseball" box.
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Certain cases were shipped to 'big box' or club stores such as, in this example, Price Club. Note the label with "PC" rather than the typical printed '86'. Boxes inside were individually wrapped in cellophane so they could be sold as units.
Something of a mystery are cases which carry a 362-86J sticker and contain boxes sealed with small yellow stickers marked "SWC #2365" - point of sale for these is unknown.
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1986 grocery packs contained three individually wrapped packs of 14 cards which each contained a stick of gum. They carried no MSRP. They were presumably available in 24 count display trays which came 3 per case, but imagery is not available. We do know Topps again produced large 100+ pack cases which could be expanded to become large store displays.
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Cello packs contained 28 cards and a stick of gum, as well as a Spring Fever Baseball game card. Packs sold for 59 cents and were packed 24 per box. Cases contained 16 boxes.
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In 1986 Topps introduced 'jumbo' cello packs. These held 50 cards (no gum) and a Spring Fever Baseball game card. The sold for 99 cents and were packed 24 per box. It is not known how many boxes a case held. Wrapper backs listed all 60 of the special glossy cards.
'Jumbos' consisted of 2 individually-wrapped 25-card cellos, with the game card topping the second cello. These interior cello wrapers were blank.
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Rack packs held 48 cards plus one special Glossy All Star Card, and carried no MSRP. They were packaged 24 per box and cases contained either 3 or 6 boxes.
The 1986 version of the Glossy All Star set contained 22 card. All 18 starters from the 1985 All Star game are featured, as well as each manager and a team photo of each squad.
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Vending boxes contained 500 cards and came packaged 24 per case.
Factory sets came in 3 varieties - a plain brown cardboard box, a white box with some printing and a full-color version with card images. Sets with the full color exterior came packed 16 per case. White sets likely came 8 per case, and it is unknown how the brown cardboard sets were packaged.
It is unclear today how the 3 different varieties were sold (retail, card shops, etc.), but a larger image of the case on the left below, containing full-color boxed sets shows it was shipped by Topps to a card shop.
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Out of 792 total cards, the set contains 694 basic player cards.
Again in 1986, the set did not recognize members of the previous season's Rookie All Star Team with small gold cups or trophies. The 1985 Topps All Star Rookie Team as it might have been designated in the 1986 set consisted of:
* - Fisher and McDowell tied for the RHP slot
389 - Glenn Davis, Astros 1B
398 - Earnest Riles, Brewers 2B
254 - Ozzie Guillen, White Sox SS
383 - Chris Brown, Giants 3B
370 - Vince Coleman, Cardinals OF
480 - Oddibe McDowell, Rangers OF
147 - Larry Sheets, Orioles OF
537 - Mark Salas, Twins C
584 - Brian Fisher, Yankees RHP*
547 - Roger McDowell, Mets RHP*
652 - Tom Browning, Reds LHP
Cards 2-7 make up "The Pete Rose Years" in recognition of Rose breaking Ty Cobb's all-time hit record in 1985. Fronts feature images of Rose's Topps cards from 1963-1985, and backs offer year-by-year career highlights. Pete Rose's basic 1986 Topps card is #1.
Cards 201-207 highlight record-breaking performances from 1985, with newspaper-like accounts of each on the reverse.
Cards 401-405 highlight the events of five past seasons - 1981, 1976, 1971, 1966 and 1961 - in a Turn Back the Clock subset, similar to that included in the 1977 set. Fronts feature a Topps card image from that year, and backs provide narrative descriptions of some of its most memorable events.
Cards 701-722 depict NL (701-711) and AL (712-722) All Stars. By this time, Topps' selection of players for this subset had veered far from simply those who actually started the previous year's contest (as with the Glossy All Star inserts above) or even who were reserves. Topps seems to have to selected its own "All Star Team" based upon performance across the entire 1985 season, rather than simply the first half, which was the basis for selection to the All Star teams. Any matches between the 1985 clubs, then, and those players selected for the subset in 1986 appears to have been coincidental.
NL cards had a blue All Star banner on the front and AL cards had a red one. Card backs provide the top 10 performers, by league, in a variety of statistical categories, as well as a few brief season highlights of the subject.
Scattered throughout the set are 26 team leader cards. Featured on the front is that club's longest serving veteran (identified and referred to on the reverse as the 'Dean' of that particular team).
Card backs provide the team's leaders in a variety of statistical categories from 1985.
The set includes cards depicting the current managers of the 26 clubs. Card backs provide brief information about the manager and a team checklist.
6 checklist cards mark the set off in increments of 132: 1-132, 133-264, 265-396, 397-528, 529-660 and 661-792.
A full checklist of the 1986 set, including printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
The only player of note who debuted in the 1986 set was Cecil Fielder (375). However, Hall of Famers Tony Perez (85), Rollie Fingers (185) and Rod Carew (400) take their bows, as do Mike Hargrove (136), Cesar Cedeno (224), Jerry Koosman (505), Rusty Staub (570), Garry Maddox (585), George Foster (680) and Al Oliver (775).
This sell sheet depicts a wax box, while providing ordering information for cello boxes.
Topps again produced a 132-card boxed Traded set late in the season to reflect those players who had changed teams and rookies not included in the base set. Cards are numbered 1T-132T.
The set contains 123 basic player cards, 8 managers and a checklist. Cards were printed on thinner, white card stock and were only available via dealers. Sets came packed in cases of 100.
Barry Bonds (11T), Jose Canseco (20T), Will Clark (24T), Andres Galarraga (40T), Bo Jackson (50T) and Wally Joyner (51T) make their first appearances in this set.
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In 1985 Topps again produced what the hobby has come to call "Tiffany" editions of both their basic and Traded sets. Cards in each were printed on heavier, glossy white card stock. Production occurred at Topps' facility in Ireland. Each set was limited to 10,000 units (each set's box was stamped on the bottom panel with its serial number) and each was packed 6 per case. Sets were only available via dealers.
As referenced at the top of this page, the 1986 set included paint jobs - three, to be exact. All 3 players spent part of 1985 with their painted-on team. Fleer managed to include cards of each with these same teams but with real photos, and Donruss included both Nichols and Lollar (Donruss' 1986 set did not include a card of Jackson, painted or otherwise).
This issue would repeat itself in subsequent years and can only be taken as a sign of complacency on the part of "The REAL One".
Card 51, Braves' manager Bobby Wine, is misprinted as #57 (in actuality #57 is Bill Doran) and card 171, Expos' manager Bob Rodgers, is misprinted as #141 (actually Chuck Cottier).