1986 Topps Baseball Forum

Who else out there thinks 1986 Topps is the greatest set, the greatest baseball card of all time?

86 is cool, but 87 woodies are better!

Mark 

I like the simple design. The Mattingly was a cool card. Just suffers from over production and not having a significant rookie in the set. But the set itself I do like. 

I am 100% with you.  It might not be the best set when it comes to rookies or anything, but to me 1986 Topps is what a baseball card looks like.  I am biased since since that was also the first set I actually tried to collect, but who cares.  It is always going to be #1 in my book.

Topps missed the boat in 1986 by not including Canseco and McGriff. By 1988, packs of 1986 Donruss and Fleer were bringing $4, while you couldn't get 35 cents a pack for Topps (their original retail price), making it one of the early junk wax products. That being said, it is a somewhat of a maligned set. The design is unique (albeit incorporating a bit of the 1964 design) and there is a lot of good photography. 

I got my first pack of baseball cards in 1969. I have collected a complete set of Topps since then. 
I like the 1986 set, it's my favorite design of the 80's.  
I can't say it's the greatest, but within my top 15, maybe top 10. 

What a baseball card looks like -- exactly!!! And smells like!!

There is definitely a wide range of card quality that can make them look pretty bad and flimsy, but when you get a good or great one they are stunning with t.e bright colored circus on acid font at the top, and some teams/colors work better than others. The Mattingly, Puckett, Ozzie Smith, and Terry Pendleton cards have outstanding photos (the Puckett one shows you exactly why/how Puckett could hit the ball with power at such a short stature). But then you also have (my personal favorite) Jorge Bell just chillin in the dugout rockin a rally cap and gold chain, that one where the two guys are jumping together down the basepath presumably with a winning run, and the Dave Stewart card with the intense stare that feels like he is looking right at and through you. Its just a wide range that I think is super fun when you flip through a set in your hands, it takes you to different places with the markedly differing photos. True, some are bad, but they can be almost comically bad and add to the fun.

I think for pretty much all of the great players and hall of famers, and parrticulary those who started in 80s, the 86 Topps is basically their second best card, which I think has some value.

I think the overproduction issue isn't really an issue -- sure, they made a ton, but how many good ones did they make? And then how many good ones will exist year after year with the condition-sensitive nature of the cards and the fact that most people aren't going to be taking the greatest care of them. I really think they will be very rare in the foreseeable future.

1984 Topps was far better

I started collecting in 1986, so it's a special set. But I think 1984 Topps is my favorite (but that may be from chasing the 84 Mattingly in 1986).