My Favorite Mail-In Cards Part 1

Another update for my on-going project with the 1980s Topps Glossy Mail sets.  I have set a goal of completing this project at some point during February, so still another month and a half left to track down a few more cards.  I explained the project and gave the original quantities needed for each set here, the update on the 1983 set is posted here, and the 1989 set is here. 

Today, I am going to post the 1986 set, which I finished off over the holidays.  I was out of town and had my mail held.  Had a blast opening up a few different packages from different collectors who helped me put together the final 18 cards that I needed for this set.  You are appreciated.  

There are 60 cards in this set, this is the first third. Have not quite decided if I am going to put the other two-thirds into a post, or do thirds straight across the board.  All of the cards in this set will be up at some point.   This was the first year that Topps used a larger checklist, so some of these cards are prospects from that year.  Let's get into the set, I will explain why I love these cards more than the other glossy mail-in sets.  

Scans are groups of three and remarkably straight.  

Not sure what happened to the Fernando end of the scan.  Did I open the scanner too soon?  It's possible.  There is little difference design wise between this set and the previous sets, or the ones that followed.  First, I love the photography with these cards.  So many little things in here.  Fernando doing that thing he did with his eyes before he threw the ball.  

This was not quite the end of Reggie's career, but this felt like a good possible farewell card, until Topps also put him in the 1987 Glossy Mail-In set.  It's the 1986 Jeter hat tip gif....

but about 25 years earlier. Reggie was around for a few years when I first started collecting, but I am not sure I gave him much thought.  Just an old guy on the Angels.  

Oddibe McDowell was a prospect in this set.  His 1985 Topps Olympic Team card is the first thing that comes to mind when I see him, but this is a nice card too.  Never panned out into anything spectacular, but he played in the Majors for seven years.  That's something.  

Balboni.  Meh.  

Rickey Henderson on the Yankees.  Meh.  Don't get me wrong, I really like Rickey Henderson, just never really got into his Yankees years.   

Jack Clark is something, especially to the 1986 version of me.  I started collecting cards in 1983 and my favorite team was the Cardinals, not the best year for the Cardinals.  Things weren't much better in 1984, but the 1985 Cardinals were the first time that I got to collect current Cardinals players who were on a good team.  

In the end, the first base umpire came up a little short, but still a great season for the Cardinals.  So many great memories of the different players.    

Jack Clark was a favorite and this was the best Jack Clark card in my collection at the time.  He was not a Cardinal for long, but this was one of the best home runs in the history of the team.  

Two minute video, but a minute and half of it is Jack Clark running around the bases really really slowly.  

McGee was another favorite Cardinals player.  Not sure McGee really had a specific great moment in 1985, but he won the National League batting title and won the N.L. MVP.  Solid outfielder for a long time.  

Parrish was a nice player, but I did not really get to see him much until later in his career.  He had that cool catcher's mitt with the orange padding.  

Hernandez was not well liked in St. Louis at this point.  Things have kind of cooled off in recent years with Hernandez becoming eligible of the Cardinals Hall of Fame, and he speaks nicely about the team and his time there.  

Probably not enough time, or space to rehash the reasons the Cardinals dumped him, but you can go look up the Pittsburgh Drug Trials.  You get the idea.  

Nice group of cards here with two Hall of Famers and Dave Parker.  Miss those Expos cards.  Ripken is Ripken, nice player, but I really do not have an opinion on him one way or another. 

I really like the Parker card.  Wrigley Field always makes a nice background, feel like I type that once a month, but this is also how I best remember Parker, with the Reds.  He's not a Hall of Famer, but he's close.  I was pretty young during his Pirate years, still had some great seasons in Cincinnati.  

Three Hall of Famers in this group.  Last year for Carew, not quite the end for Schmidt, but still one of his last few years.  Brett was in his prime at this point.  

Last group of cards, which includes my favorite card in the set.  

First off, Pasqua was a pretty promising prospect for the Yankees.  He played 60 games in 1985 and hit 9 home runs, also a local player from New Jersey. 

Hesketh was probably more than a prospect in this set.  He pitched most of 1985 in Montreal ending the year with a 10-5 record, 2.49 ERA, and a 3.3 WAR.  His season, and in many ways career ended when he was involved in a collision at home plate against the Dodgers.  

From the August 24th, 1985 Washington Post:  

In the second inning with Montreal leading, 1-0, U.L. Washington singled and Hesketh walked. Tim Raines hit a double to shallow center off the glove of Candy Maldonado. Washington scored and Hesketh tried to score all the way from first. But catcher Mike Scioscia blocked the plate and Hesketh tripped over Scioscia's foot, landing hard on his left leg. He was carried off the field on a stretcher and taken to a hospital where it was determined that he fractured his left shin bone. Hesketh, a rookie left-hander, is 10-5.

Hesketh ended up playing almost a decade in the Majors with the Expos, Braves, and Red Sox, but never came close to repeating the success he had in 1985.  All of which brings me to the last card for this post, which belongs to Vince Coleman.  

I have written several different times in my blog space about my 9 year old self loving the 1986 Vince Coleman cards.  His 1986 Topps cards is my all-time personal favorite Vince Coleman card.  A major highlight of my collecting during the 1980s.  

The 1986 Topps Glossy Send-In cards represented my second best Vince Coleman card.  At least according to the nine year old version of me.  The Glossy Coleman card was part of the 42 cards that I started out with when I starting working on this project, but after looking over my copy of the card, I decided that it had received a little too much love.  So, I actually found 19 cards to close out this portion of my project with an upgraded Coleman card without rounded corners and finger prints on the glossy finish.  

In case you thought Vince Coleman was just some failed Mets free agent....

he was a pretty spectacular weapon for the Whitey Herzog era Cardinals who did a lot of running.  He put a lot of pressure on defenses.  If you have five minutes and enjoy great base running, there is a video of him creating his own run with nobody else on the National League putting the ball into play during the 1988 All-Star game.  

2014 Donruss Box

I have been a little intrigued over the past week or so by some of the posts other bloggers and collectors have made about the 2014 Donruss set.  The design of the set and different card elements within the set are very reminiscent of the old 1980s Donruss set.  The only real draw back is the whole Panini thing.   It's not a state secret that I am not a huge fan of the Panini, non-licensed, card releases.  Well, I decided to go for it and picked up a box of 2014 Donruss from Big D's Card Shop in Raleigh.  Here's a break down of the cards:

The base set of the 2014 Donruss cards have a white border which was common on the earlier 80s Donruss sets.  The logo at the top is also an older design of the Donruss logo.  The colored lines on the logo are new, but the card has a good early 80s feel to the card design.  The baseball design on the side of the card is almost identical to the 1987 Donruss cards.  

Many of the elements from the back of the old Donruss cards are also visible on this new relaunch.  Not perfect, but close.  The number in the corner in a baseball, the full name, and blurb at the bottom are all consistent with the 1980's Donruss cards, but the stat box used to show five years of stats, not just one, and the player's contract information was posted in between the stats and the blurb on the bottom of the card.

The 2014 Donruss set is a 200 card set and the box was really well collated.  I did not complete the whole set, but some of that had to do with short printing.  Really I had very few dupes out of my box and could easily spend a small amount of time on Ebay or COMC and have the rest of the set finished quickly.  The biggest pieces missing from my set come from the first 30 cards which are the Diamond Kings cards.  Just like old times....

These look a lot like the original Diamond Kings cards.  I am not sure if the Diamond Kings cards are advirtsed as a short print, but I only pulled five of them, plus a jumbo Diamond King.  The other cards at the beginning of all the Donruss sets?  Don't scroll down...

The Rated Rookie.  There is a good mix of prospects in this set and these cards seem like they might also be slightly short printed.  Some of the pictures seem like they might be Minor League pictures too which is totally cool in my book.  I am taking this Billy Hamilton card as a picture from the Louisville Bats.  Way cool.  There are also is a picture of Chris Archer wearing a Durham Bulls uniform.

Overall the 2014 Donruss base set is excellent.  If you did not collect baseball cards during the 1980s this set may not be for you, but the good vibes generated from cards is well worth the price of the box of cards.  Yes, I bash Panini for not using logos, but I was not even looking at that while I was opening these cards up out of these packs.  I saw that Adam Dunn card and thought about him oleing some ground balls at first base.....

and not the fact that I could not see the White Sox logo on the front of his jersey.  Of course there is so much more to the 2014 Donruss set than just the base set.  Let's look at some more cards.

There are Rookie cards.  The Rookie insert kind of look like the 1988 Donruss cards, but that's a stripe and not a plaid design.  I love the Beckham card on the right.  Durham Bulls uni?  I vote yes.  Again, these cards were a part of the early Donruss years right down to the little logo in the corner.  

There are some elite themed insert sets complete with serial numbers.  A classic of the early 1990s.  The scanner did not do these cards enough justice.  The have a cool foil finish.  Both sets are serial numbered out of 999.  I believe that there are autographed versions of these cards.  

There are also the usual jersey cards.  The Moore card is cool.  I am not sure about Jordan Lyles, but why not.  It's got a pinstripe.  There are also some cool autographs...

Really like the Gausman autograph.  He seems like a really good pitcher and the Cobra is also cool to land.  There are a few Donruss autographs that I will have to chase down now that I have opened my box.  Namely, Kolten Wong.  

The set is not a complete throwback to the 1980s and 1990s Donruss sets.  Panini also borrowed a few elements from the first Donruss relaunch which took place in 2001.  The cards were definitely a 2000s set with autographs, serial numbers, and a lot of foil and gloss.  Here are two cards that fit the 2000s Donruss mold:

The Press Proof cards actually started in the late 90s, but they became really prevalent in the early 2000s.  Pinnacle used the Press Proof concept across their card brands beyond Donruss which made the concept get old really fast.  Search out Press Proof on Ebay and your screen will be littered with a rainbow of different colored Press Proofs from Donruss, Donruss Elite, Leaf, Leaf Certified, Leaf Cuts, Playoff, Playoff Prestige, etc, etc, etc, etc.  

Panini also used the Stat Line cards.  Slightly cooler than the Press Proof cards, but still a product of the 2000s Donruss relaunch.  Player collectors really like these cards, I have dozens of these for Ray Lankford, and they create a good chase.