1986 True Value Super Stars

Set Size: 31 cards, standard size, in panels of four cards

Design Notes: The photos are airbrushed and cropped small, as the border surrounding the card contains the True Value logo at the top, several stars over a red background on the sides, crossed bats and balls towards the bottom, and the player's name, team, position, and the MLBPA logo at the bottom. Backs are black on white and contain some recent stats, biographical information, and and a short highlight paragraph. The cards are often still found in folded panels of four, with only the top card visible. The back of the panel-pack shows the fourth card, which features a product (as you can see, my panel advertises a gas can). The product card has a sweepstakes offering trips and prizes. On this panel, Murphy is joined by Robin Yount and Tom Seaver.

Parallels and Similars: None known. There is one error/variation in the set - Don Mattingly has a card which lists him as being an infielder.

Distribution: Panels were given free to customers who spent at least $5 in the store.

Thoughts: Dale looks like he's staring into the sun, or about to get his teeth drilled. On the other hand, this set has a fairly fun front design for an oddball issue of the 1980s. Too much of the front is used for the design, though - this layout wouldn't fit in today's products. Being a logoless oddball set of the 1980s, its value is quite low but the set has several superstars and Hall of Famers.

1986 Meadow Gold Stat Back

Set Size: 20 cards, 2-9/16" x 3-1/2", issued in two-card panels.

Design Notes: This is the only one of three issues by Meadow Gold in 1986 to have printing on the back. I have a complete panel - Bruce Sutter is paired with Pedro Guerrero. An advertisement is also included in the panel which is found on the back. The logos are airbrushed from the cards as Meadow Gold didn't have an MLB license.

Parallels and Similars: Blank-backed cards with the same design were part of a different release found on ice cream cartons.

Distribution: This version of cards was included with packages of frozen specialty sweets, such as popsicles, fudgesicles, and bubble gum coolers.

Thoughts: While the design is fairly plain, this is supposedly one of the toughest regional issues to complete. Bruce here is sporting a nice beard, and looks ready to play for the local sandlot team with his logo-less hat and shirt.

1986 Jackson Mets TCMA

Set size: 27 cards

Front Design: The fuchsia border surrounds a color photo of the player, with his team name beneath the photo in the border. A black band at the bottom of the card holds the player's name and position.

Back Design: The plain backs have the team and league names, followed by the player's name, jersey number, and position. Vitals and prior year statistics follow. A sponsorship for Mallette's, a sports card shop, is in the middle, with a TCMA advertisement in a banner at the bottom of the card.

Parallels and Similars: All 1986 TCMA minor league team sets have this design.

Distribution: Cards were sold through team stores, hobby means, and TCMA. I'm sure Mallette's got a nice handful for sponsoring the team.

Thoughts: This authorized reprint meant for inclusion with a collectors kit seems to differ only by the banner at the bottom of the card back: this banner is black and white, while I think banners on original cards have a green tint. Thankfully, this is the last of my 1986 TCMAs for a while, but I have some late-70s/early-80s to wrap up over the next week. Mike Santiago is the only player in the group of 1986 cards that doesn't seem to have made the majors, despite having an acceptable record. In fact, he never got past AA Jackson, despite having a 1.86 record in 1987 as a reliever.

1986 Omaha Royals TCMA

Set size: 25 cards

Front Design: A rectangular purple border outlined in black surrounds a colored photo, with the team name in the bottom of the border. A black banner across the bottom of the card holds the player's name an team name.

Back Design: The plain backs contain the team and league names, followed by the player's name and biographical stats. His prior year statistics follow. A banner advertising TCMA cards sits across the bottom of the card.

Parallels and Similars: All 1986 TCMA minor league issues have this design.

Distribution: Cards were sold through TCMA, the team, and hobby channels such as stores and shows.

Thoughts: I ended up with four different team's reprints from this 1986 set in the lot I purchased from the collectors sets. That is a lot of bright colors. Schuler is an interesting card to reprint, because at the time of this printing, his rookie year was about six years in the past. He was never too successful a pitcher in the majors, and 1985 was his last year in the majors. He would go on to coach for a few teams after retiring.

1986 Jacksonville Expos TCMA

Set size: 26 cards

Front Design: The photo is inside a fuchsia border with black edges; the player's team is beneath the photo in the border. A black band at the bottom of the card has the player's name and position.

Back Design: The white backs have black text with the team and league names, player's name and vitals, and statistics. An advertisement for Golden Glove, a sports card store, is beneath the stats; a dark green banner advertising TCMA minor league sets is at the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: All 1986 TCMA sets have the same design.

Distribution: TCMA sets were sold complete through the manufacturer, hobby channels, and the team.

Thoughts: This card is most likely a reprint that was packaged with a collectors set issued by TCMA. The regular cards appear to have a greenish tint to the banner on the back, while this one is black. The very plain design on the front is the least-creative of all the TCMA minor league issues I'm familiar with, and the use of fuchsia in the border is an odd choice. John Trautwein was pretty much a flop in the majors, and even his minor league record wasn't too goo, but around the time printing was one on the reprint issue, he was probably a fairly promising prospect.

1986 Albany Colonie Yankees TCMA

Set size: 32 cards

Front Design: The white bordered cards have a photo contained in a purple frame with black inner and outer edges; the team name appears beneath the photo in the frame. A black bar across the bottom of the car has the player's name and team.

Back Design: The backs follow the same basic TCMA layout as prior years, with the team and league, followed by the player's name, position, biography, and prior-year statistics. A TCMA advertisement banner is at the bottom of the card.

Parallels and Similars: All 1986 TCMA team sets have this design, and this card is a reprint used for a collector set - the TCMA banner on the back is black, while I believe original issues had the banner printed in a dark green ink.

Distribution: Team sets were sold by TCMA, through hobby dealers, and through the team itself.

Thoughts: Purple is an interesting choice for a trading card border. There isn't much to the design here - even less than in prior years. Prior to owning this card, I was unaware of a team in Albany-Colonie (which, really, is two different cities side by side; the team played in Colonie but Albany is the bigger city). The stadium was located right next to the airport but was demolished a couple years ago - all that remains is an empty field and some blacktop.

1986 Woolworth's Topps

Set size: 33 cards

Front Design: A color photo is surrounded by a thin black border with a turning page design like the 1961 Topps issue. Unlike the 1961 set, this has yellow borders; "Topps Collectors' Series" appears at the top, and "Super Star" shoots from behind the photo. The player's name is in the lower-left corner.

Back Design: The blue and green toned backs have a white border; the background resembles home plate, the batters boxes and foul lines. The player's name and position is at the top, along the first base foul line; vitals and career highlights are beneath in "fair" territory. Yearly and career statistics for batting average, home runs, and RBI fill the rest of the card; the card number is in the upper-right corner and copyright information ((C) 1986 TCG) is in the lower right.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: The complete 33-card set was issued in its own small box, similar to a deck of playing cards, and sold in Woolworth's variety stores. The checklist is on the back of the box.

Thoughts: While the box identifies the set as a Woolworth's issue, there is no logo or other identifying information to link the cards themselves to Woolworth's. There are several issues which have this issue. Unlike yesterday's MSA/M&M's release, this Woolworth's set has team logos and better photography. Granted, Topps probably did all the work on the design. Until now, I never noticed the homage to 1961, but it's a nice touch. The yellow isn't as overwhelming as 1991 Fleer, but it detracts a bit from the card.

1986 Southern League All-Stars

Set size: 25 cards

Front Design: The top of the vertical card proclaims this player a 1986 "Future Star" surrounded by six red stars (other words, such as MVP and All-Star are used on other players). A thin black border contains a color photo, the Southern League logo, and the player's name, team, and position.

Back Design: The horizontal backs contain player's vital stats, a short biographical note, 1986 season stats, and team name and logo and set-identifying information at the bottom.

Parallels and Similars: none known

Distribution: Cards were likely sold by Jennings through hobby dealers, and possibly in stadiums.

Thoughts: There's a lot of white space on these cards, but it features a design that's somewhat unique among minor league card sets. Canseco, McGwire, and Glavine are also in this set, but my SC guide lists it at only $9, which means it was probably produced in much greater quantities than normal team sets. The stats are accurate through August 18, 1986, which might have been the end of the season. It's very difficult to readily find information like this! If that is the case, the set may not have been sold in stadiums until 1987 if at all. However, the hobby network would have seen this set soon as it could be printed.

1987 Chattanooga Lookouts Best

 Set size: 26 cards

Front Design: A purple border surrounds a color photo with diagonal horizontal borders. The team's city and year of issue appears at the top, while the player's name and position are in a yellow-bordered white band at the bottom of the photo. The team logo also appears at the bottom of the card.

Back Design: The black on white/gray backs have the player's name and position and vital statistics at the top, while a professional career summary and prior minor league experience. The card number is in the upper left inside a baseball.

Parallels and Similars: Other Best minor league issues of the year will have similar designs.

Distribution: Sets would be sold through the company, dealers, and sometimes through the team store.

Thoughts: The design reminds me a LOT of 1986 Donruss. See both images for examples (the card back for the Best card is below). While others don't like the '86 Donruss design, it doesn't really turn me off. I never saw enough of it to get tired of the (admittedly plain) design, and the Canseco card was the first real, expensive card I ever owned... back when it was expensive. Is there any connection between Best and Donruss? It is very difficult finding information online on "Best minor league cards" given that everyone wants to tell you about their best minor league cards in their collection.

Additional Images: card back (different back shown):

1986 Topps Traded

Set size: 132 cards

Front Design: A color photo is surrounded by a border that is black on the top 1/4 and white on the rest. The team name appears in the thick top black border in a team color, the player's name is on the bottom white border, and his position is in a circle positioned over the photo.

Back Design: The red backs contain a black and white box similar in design to the front of the card, with the player's name and vitals and card number. The majority of the back contains the player's complete major league statistics and usually a very short biography or career highlights.

Parallels and Similars: The Traded set follows the same design as the regular issue, except for a T suffix in the card number. A parallel Tiffany set, with a glossy finish, was printed to 5000 copies.

Distribution: Cards were issued in complete set form through hobby dealers.

Thoughts: Continuing a look at '80s set design, the 1986 Topps set is very uninspired. I don't like most of the 1980s Topps designs, and this is most likely my least-favorite set. The black borders chip very easily, and the gray cardboard dulls the image. The set checklist is filled with a strong rookie crop, led by Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, and Bo Jackson. You don't have to like them to appreciate their importance in this set in the early 1990s.

Additional Images: card back:

1986 Expos Provigo Panels

Yesterday was the first day since starting this blog that I missed a post. Oops. We're getting into the regular-sized-or-smaller cards now, and I ran out of scans. I'll have to tear myself away from other tasks to do that!

Set size: 28 standard-sized cards, issued in perforated panels

Front Design: A color photo is surrounded by a white border. The Expos logo and "Collection 1986" appear in an upper team-colored banner while the player's name and jersey number and the Provigo logo appears on a bottom yellow banner.

Back Design: The backs are printed in team colors, repeating the top border and bottom border (this time in red). The player's jersey number and name appears below the top banner, while most of the card is filled with the player's vital stats and biography in both French and English. The cards are numbered in the lower right.

Parallels and Similars: Despite the year markings indicating there were other similar sets, it doesn't appear that the Expose released standard-sized team sets in surrounding years. Provigo has issued other non-card Expos products in the 1980s, including posters in 1986.

Distribution: I can't find any information on how they were distributed, but it is my guess that they were given out at Provigo. The intact panels contain two cards plus an offer card (see below). An album was available, but required the cards to be separated.

Thoughts: As far as team sets go, this is fairly standard quality. They're not as good as Mothers Cookies cards from the era, but they're a bit better than the Police cards I've featured here so far. The photography and printing is above-average for its time period, but the card stock is thin - something necessary if you're tearing the cards, I suppose. It's fun seeing French writing on cards, but takes space away from the card's ability to provide either a larger biography, larger print, or statistics. I wonder (if Provigo still exists) if I could try to use the coupons. I'm not sure what I'd do with a 1986 Expos ticket today, but that coupon has no expiration date.

Additional Images: The entire set, in panel form (not necessarily in order):