1986 Leaf Baseball

 

Donruss, everyone's favorite card company during the mid-1980s, licensed the release of four baseball card sets to the Canadian market from 1985 through 1988. Cards measure the standard size of 2-1/2 by 3-1/2 inches. 

Falling under the "Leaf" brand, the cards from all four sets look just like their Donruss counterparts at first glance. The 1986 Leaf cards, which we are focusing on in this post, feature just one minor difference on the fronts - a small red box near the top that reads "LEAF '86" instead of "Donruss '86". Card backs are also generally similar, with the biggest difference on the Leafs being the inclusion of two languages - English and French Canadian (we're not sure if this strange jibber-jabber is a real language, so we're trusting Google's opinion on this one).

The four Leaf sets are complete at 264 cards each, while the Donruss sets of the day each featured 660. The theory behind the smaller Leaf sets was to include the star and starting players from each team, while trimming the reserve players and unproven rookies. Unfortunately for Leaf, unproven rookies were the hobby darlings of 1986. Speculators bought Donruss cards by the case hoping to find the likes of young prospects such as Jose Canseco, Kal Daniels, Cory Snyder, Paul O'Neill, Harold Reynolds and Lenny Dykstra... None of which were included in the Leaf set. 

While the Donruss set featured a twenty-card "Rated Rookies" subset, the Leaf set featured just three. Two of Leaf's three Rated Rookies were from Canadian teams, and both went on to become bona-fide Major League stars... Fred McGriff of the Blue Jays retired as a five-time All-Star with 493 career dingers, while Expo Andres Galarraga also collected five All-Star appearances and a couple Gold Glove awards. The third and final Rated Rookie to be included in the '86 Leaf set, for reasons that cannot be explained, was Phillies relief pitcher Dave Shipanoff. The back of Shipanoff's card found it difficult to be excited, stating he "...figures strongly in Phillies' bullpen plans for '86." Even though we know today that Shipanoff would never pitch in the Majors again, it still boggles the mind that Leaf chose to include a relief pitcher over one of the hot prospects mentioned above. In addition to McGriff and Galarraga, Leaf did manage to snag a few notable rookies in their 1986 issue, to include Ozzie Guillen, Vince Coleman and Mariano Duncan.

Leaf added two unique cards that were not a part of the Donruss set at all. Titled "Canadian Greats", and featuring portraits painted by artist Dick Perez, the two cardboard bonuses featured Expos pitcher Jeff Reardon and Blue Jays outfielder Jesse Barfield. Perez is also the artist who painted the 26 "Diamond Kings" portraits, a Pete Rose "King of Kings" card and Hank Aaron Hall of Fame card, all of which are included in both the '86 Donruss and Leaf sets.

I love all four Leaf sets released during the 1980s, and would recommend them to anyone looking to add star-filled, inexpensive sets to their collection. Though the Leaf cards were printed in smaller quantities than their Donruss equivalents, there's no monetary premium attached these days. Expect to pay ten to fifteen dollars for a set in nice condition.

Random Fact: Twins first baseman Kent Hrbek participates in a yearly Northern Minnesota snowmobiling excursion called the "Black Woods Blizzard Tour."

1986 Sports Design Products All-Time Great Tigers Set

Sports Design Products was a small company that produced a handful of oddball baseball card sets in the mid-1980s, including two sets of legendary Major League players that were illustrated by artist Doug West (click here to see the 1984 and 1985 sets). A third SDP set illustrated by West is the All-Time Great Tigers, which was released in 1986.

Featuring 22 cards, the set was issued in a dark plastic box with the set name and SDP company logo embossed across the front. The card design is simple and uncluttered, with fronts featuring the player name across the bottom and a large painting of said player occupying the remainder. Backs show career stats for each player and give a few highlights during their time as a Tiger. 

The players in the set appear in order somewhat chronologically, with Ty Cobb kicking off the set (he joined the club in 1905) and John Hiller ending it (he last pitched for the Tigers in 1980). Many of the players are in the Hall of Fame, including Cobb, Harry Heilman, Charlie Gehringer and Hank Greenberg. The rest are certainly fan favorites; Harvey Kuenn, Norm Cash and Willie Horton are three names that continue to be collected by faithful Detroit-loving hobbyists.

Doug West, who was 25 years old at the time of the set's release, was beginning to garner national acclaim for his talents as a sports artist. He continues to be very active in the sports art world today, and places an emphasis on players from the different Detroit sports franchises. Anyone interested in browsing West's current and past projects, or who may have an interest in commissioning a personal painting, can find the information on his personal website.

I'm a sucker for small boxed sets from the 1980s, and this set is no exception. With that being said, I will repeat a sentiment I felt while reviewing the two baseball sets mentioned in the first paragraph... I don't believe that the design found on the card fronts do the paintings justice. Card blogger Jason Presley and I joked that the design of those sets resembled one you might see if it were issued by the military during the cold war era (either the United States or the Soviets, you pick). Surprisingly, this Tigers set may qualify even more so; all this set lacks is a hotline number on the card backs which should be called if a neighbor or co-worker is suspected of being a spy.

This set has always flown under the collecting radar, and I can find very few card magazine ads that were selling this set in the late 1980s. I'm sure the production number was released but I'll probably have to thumb through some old publications to find it. SDP typically released sets with a run of 5,000  or less, and I'm guessing that this is no exception. I'd place the current value of a NRMT boxed set at ten dollars.

Random Fact: Hall of Fame catcher Mickey Cochrane played for the Tigers just four seasons (1934-1937), and was also the team manager during much of that time.

Click here to hunt for Doug West sets on eBay

1. Ty Cobb, OF/MGR

2. Hughie Jennings, MGR/SS

3. Harry Heilman, OF

4. Charlie Gehringer, 2B

5. Mickey Cochrane, C/MGR

6. Hank Greenberg, 1B

7. Billy Rogell, SS

8. Schoolboy Rowe, P

9. Hal Newhouser, P

10. George Kell, 3B

11. Harvey Kuenn, SS

12. Al Kaline, OF

13. Jim Bunning, P

14. Norm Cash, 1B

15. Mickey Stanley, OF

16. Jim Northrup, OF

17. Bill Freehan, C

18. Gates Brown, OF/PH

19. Willie Horton, OF

20. Mickey Lolich, P

21. Denny McLain, P

22. John Hiller, P

1986 Dairy Pak Cartons Football Set

Click here to hunt for Dairy Pak cards on eBay

Consider yourself a hardcore football collector if you own a set of these. Consider yourself a hopeless collector if you're trying to acquire all of the color variations that were printed for these cards.

Here are the basics: In 1986, Dairy Pak, the company responsible for manufacturing and printing the waxy cartons for countless milk and orange juice companies, released a set of 24 current football player cards. These cards were printed in two colors and were found on the sides of the cartons. Each measures 3 1/4 inches by 4 7/16 inches and is bordered by a dashed line to help interested collectors cut the card off of the carton.

If someone cares to own a complete set, all they need to do is obtain each of the 24 different player cards and call it a day. Where it starts to get difficult is when a player or set collector decides to go for all the different color variations -- and let it be known that some of these said variations are very elusive. For starters, ten different colors were used for the "SUPERSTARS SERIES" title found across the tops of the cards: black, brown, purple, green, lavender, aqua, orange, red, light blue and dark blue. But in addition to this, there are three variations for the color used to print the players' photos: black, red and blue. 

In the photo provided here you can see ten different Eric Dickerson variations, with one of the cards featuring the Hall of Fame running back's photo in red. From what I have personally seen, cards with the player photos in red or blue are much harder to find than the black. As far as I can tell, cards with red photos always have blue Superstar Series titles, and vice-versa... If my theory is true, that brings the total amount of variations up to twelve per player.

These variations exist because of the assorted color schemes used on the packaging of the different brands. I'm sure that certain colors are harder to find than others (as mentioned with the blue or red player photos), but these findings have never been published. 

The cards can be found one of four ways. They are most commonly found cut off of a carton, hopefully with the dashed border lines still intact. The second way to find these are with the partial or full side panel still intact (a special offer is mentioned below the card, either for a poster or set of four superstar cups). Finally, you may be able to find a used carton that has been left fully intact, or an unfolded and unused carton. Used cartons are scarce because of the amount of space they occupy, and unfolded cartons are maybe the rarest of all, as they apparently didn't survive in any meaningful quantities.

The James Lofton card was short printed due to some off-field troubles that were happening at the time. Lofton's scarcity puts him in the top-five valuable cards of the set, along with Joe Montana, Walter Payton, Dan Marino and John Elway.

The value of a nice complete set, cut with full borders and no creases, starts around $40. A set of four cups from the special offer is worth in the $30 to $40 range. I can't recall the last time I found one of the posters for sale, but I'd be willing to pay around $25 for a nice one.

Random Fact: Lions quarterback Eric Hipple is found on card number six, but doesn't really qualify for "superstar" status. Through the 1985 season Hipple had 25 wins versus 21 losses, along with 46 touchdown passes versus 56 interceptions. As far as the 1985 Lions roster is concerned, Hipple was still probably the best choice if a Detroit player had to be included in the '86 Dairy Pak set.

Click here to hunt for Dairy Pak cards on eBay

1. Joe Montana, 49ers

2. Marcus Allen, Raiders

3. Art Monk, Redskins

4. Mike Quick, Eagles

5. John Elway, Broncos

6. Eric Hipple, Lions

7. Louis Lipps, Steelers

8. Dan Fouts, Chargers

9. Phil Simms, Giants

10. Mike Rozier, Oilers

11. Greg Bell, Bills

12. Ottis Anderson, Cardinals

13. Dave Krieg, Seahawks

14. Anthony Carter, Vikings

15. Freeman McNeil, Jets

16. Doug Cosbie, Cowboys

17. James Lofton, Packers (SP)

18. Dan Marino, Dolphins

19. James Wilder, Buccaneers

20. Chris Collinsworth, Bengals

21. Eric Dickerson, Rams

22. Walter Payton, Bears

23. Ozzie Newsome, Browns

24. Chris Hinton, Colts

1986 Fleer Baseball's Best Boxed Set

There's a good chance you wound up here on this blog because you found some baseball cards... In the group was a small box titled "Fleer 1986 Limited Edition Major League Baseball's Best," followed by "22 of the Best Sluggers and Pitchers." If that's the case, I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news.

But before I report the news, here's a brief history of these types of small baseball boxed sets that were sold in retail stores. In 1982, Topps and K-Mart partnered to release a 44-card boxed set in honor of K-Mart's 25th Anniversary. Initially snapped up by speculators at the time, Topps ran the presses overtime and eventually printed more sets than could ever be sold; because of overproduction, the K-Mart set can usually be found at the cost of a dollar or less today. It was about four years later, in 1985, when three more boxed sets showed up on retailer shelves... A 44-card "All-Time Home Run Kings" set was produced by Topps for Circle K, a 44-card "All-Time Record Holders" set was issued by Topps for Woolworth's, and a 44-card "Limited Edition Baseball Superstars" set was created by Fleer for several different retail chains. Dozens of similar boxed sets would be released from 1986 until 1990, with the final hurrah being the 1991 Topps/Toys R Us Baseball Rookies set. Collectors had shifted their focus to the premium card market by this point, and the era of small, co-branded, retail boxed sets had come to a perfunctory end. 

Here's the good news for owners of the 1986 Fleer Baseball's Best set... It's really a cool little issue that features most of the big stars of the day. Boggs, Brett, Clemens, Reggie, Ripken Jr., Rose and Seaver are just a few of the big names you'll find inside that colorful box. Another neat point that has been lost over time is how the set features four young prospects who are pictured before or during their rookie card year. Oakland slugger Jose Canseco is represented here during his rookie card year, while San Francisco first baseman Will Clark, California first baseman Wally Joyner and Texas pitcher Bobby Witt are all included a full year before their true rookie cards were printed. Though none of these four players will end up in the Hall of Fame anytime soon, each of them enjoyed solid success in the Majors for many years afterwards.

So, what is the value of a set like this? Well, that's kinda where the bad news comes in. Like the K-Mart set mentioned above, the presses rolled long and often on these cards. The demand for these kinds of boxed sets have never bounced back, and probably never will. These days you can grab a set off of eBay for two to four dollars, and a searcher can often find an example bundled in a lot with several other similar types of sets at bargain basement prices. 

And so goes the world of oddball card collecting. Collectors will always be interested in sets of all shapes and sizes, but the value always ultimately boils down to supply and demand. In the case of most sets printed during the 1980s, including all of these neat little boxed sets, today's supply exceeds today's demand by an awful lot.

Click here to find Fleer Baseball's Best Sets

1. Bert Blyleven, Minnesota Twins

2. Wade Boggs, Boston Red Sox

3. George Brett, Kansas City Royals

4. Tom Browning, Cincinnati Reds

5. Jose Canseco, Oakland A's

6. Will Clark, San Francisco Giants

7. Roger Clemens, Boston Red Sox

8. Alvin Davis, Seattle Mariners

9. Julio Franco, Cleveland Indians

10. Kirk Gibson, Detroit Tigers

11. Dwight Gooden, New York Mets

12. Goose Gossage, San Diego Padres

13. Pedro Guerrero, Los Angeles Dodgers

14. Ron Guidry, New York Yankees

15. Tony Gwynn, San Diego Padres

16. Orel Hershiser, Los Angeles Dodgers

17. Kent Hrbek, Minnesota Twins

18. Reggie Jackson, California Angels

19. Wally Joyner, California Angels

20. Charlie Leibrandt, Kansas City Royals

21. Don Mattingly, New York Yankees

22. Willie McGee, St. Louis Cardinals

23. Jack Morris, Detroit Tigers

24. Dale Murphy, Atlanta Braves

25. Eddie Murray, Baltimore Orioles

26. Jeff Reardon, Montreal Expos

27. Rick Reuschel, Pittsburgh Pirates

28. Cal Ripken Jr., Baltimore Orioles

29. Pete Rose, Cincinnati Reds

30. Nolan Ryan, Houston Astros

31. Bret Saberhagen, Kansas City Royals

32. Ryne Sandberg, Chicago Cubs

33. Mike Schmidt, Philadelphia Phillies

34. Tom Seaver, Chicago White Sox

35. Bryn Smith, Montreal Expos

36. Mario Soto, Cincinnati Reds

37. Dave Steib, Toronto Blue Jays

38. Darryl Strawberry, New York Mets

39. Rick Sutcliffe, Chicago Cubs

40. John Tudor, St. Louis Cardinals

41. Fernando Valenzuela, Los Angeles Dodgers

42. Bobby Witt, Texas Rangers

43. Mike Witt, California Angels

44. Robin Yount, Milwaukee Brewers

1986 Donruss Baseball Highlights

While the inaugural 1985 Donruss Highlights set is probably the most controversial set of the decade (too few sets were printed to fulfill dealer orders), the 1986 edition of the set was released in quantities abundant enough to make everyone happy. Once again consisting of 56 cards, the set has a design similar to the regular 1986 issue, with the biggest difference being gold/yellow borders instead of blue borders on card fronts. In addition, the year-end boxed set has a "Highlights" logo near the bottom left of each player card. Each set was issued in a blue box with gold foil stamping, and also includes a Hank Aaron puzzle the size of a standard card. Released near the end of 1986, the set sold in the $9 to $12 upon its release. Today, an unopened complete set can usually be found in the $2 to $4 range.

Click here to find Donruss Highlight Sets on eBay

Several players can be found on more than one card, with set-hog Roger Clemens appearing on five. Donruss capitalized on several hot rookies from the 1986 season, including Bo Jackson, Will Clark and Wally Joyner.

1. Will Clark, Giants

2. Jose Rijo, A's

3. George Brett, Royals

4. Mike Schmidt, Phillies

5. Roger Clemens, Red Sox

6. Roger Clemens, Red Sox

7. Kirby Puckett, Twins

8. Dwight Gooden, Mets

9. Johnny Ray, Pirates

10. Reggie Jackson, Angels

11. Wade Boggs, Red Sox

12. Don Aase, Orioles

13. Wade Boggs, Red Sox

14. Jeff Reardon, Expos

15. Hubie Brooks, Expos

16. Don Sutton, Angels

17. Roger Clemens, Red Sox

18. Roger Clemens, Red Sox

19. Kent Hrbek, Twins

20. Rick Rhoden, Pirates

21. Kevin Bass, Astros

22. Bob Horner, Braves

23. Wally Joyner, Angels

24. Darryl Strawberry, Mets

25. Fernando Valenzuela, Dodgers

26. Roger Clemens, Red Sox

27. Jack Morris, Tigers

28. Scott Fletcher, Rangers

29. Todd Worrell,Cardinals

30. Eric Davis, Reds

31. Bert Blyleven, Twins

32. Bobby Doerr, Red Sox

33. Ernie Lombardi, Reds

34. Willie McCovey, Giants

35. Steve Carlton, Giants

36. Mike Schmidt, Phillies

37. Juan Samuel, Phillies

38. Mike Witt, Angels

39. Doug DeCinces, Angels

40. Bill Gullickson, Reds

41. Dale Murphy, Braves

42. Joe Carter, Indians

43. Bo Jackson, Royals

44. Joe Cowley, White Sox

45. Jim Deshaies, Astros

46. Mike Scott, Astros

47. Bruce Hurst, Red Sox

48. Don Mattingly, Yankees

49. Mike Krukow, Giants

50. Steve Sax, Dodgers

51. John Cangelosi, White Sox

52. Dave Righetti, Yankees

53. Don Mattingly, Yankees

54. Todd Worrell, Cardinals

55. Jose Canseco, A's

56. Checklist