The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1986 Topps

The 1986 Topps set is a 'tweener as far as 1980s baseball cards go. Nestled between two seasons, 1985 and 1987, that brought collectors some of the decade's most pursued rookie cards, the biggest and perhaps only huge rookie out of 1986 Topps was Cardinals speedster Vince Coleman. The set also marks, by at least some measures, the beginning of the Junk Wax Era. While many Hobby historians will date things earlier, all one needs to do is hunt for unopened packs today to see the vast price difference between anything 1986 and after vs. anything produced earlier.

With complete sets routinely available in the $20 range, collectors could rightly claim none of the set's 792 cards are truly essential. Certainly from a monetary standpoint that would be correct. However, baseball cards are and have always been more than a mere commodity. They are also records of the game's history and, as importantly, our nostalgia for it. Without further ado then, reflecting a combined dollar value of a nickel ninety-five or so, here are the Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1986 Topps.

1986 Topps Pete Rose Record Breaker

The caption on the card tells the story: "Most Hits, Lifetime." Though the one-time surefire Hall of Famer has since fallen out of favor, his pursuit of Ty Cobb's 4,191 hits (later adjusted by researchers to 4,189) may have been the decade's biggest story, at least until a new Pete Rose headline took its place.

1986 Topps Rickey Henderson

Let's face it. All of Rickey's 1980s cards are solid gold. His 1986 stands out, however, due to his move to the Bronx. For a player so synonymous with Oakland, there is something not just bittersweet but downright wrong about this card. Still, from another viewpoint, here is the decade's greatest player taking his talents to the most storied franchise in the history of professional sports. And of course the Man of Steal did fantastic. Flip the card over the see a stat line that would have been unthinkable just a year or two before: 24 homers and 80 steals?!

1986 Topps Dwight Gooden

Granted this card is a staple of card show dime boxes today, but that doesn't change the fact that it's an incredible piece of cardboard. Never mind the 24-4 record and 1.53 ERA on the back. Never mind the fact that Doc's Mets won their first championship in 1986 since the "Miracle Mets" of 1969. Never mind the awesome Dr. K nickname. Collectors back in 1986 weren't yet aware that everything but rookie cards and low-numbered parallels were worthless. For at least the very best young phenoms, collectors genuinely imagined even second-year cards would ultimately fund their early retirements. While the biggest rookie out of 1986 Topps was Vince Coleman, this Doc card may well have been the set's biggest "hit."

1986 Topps Tony Perez

Glenn Burke and Dusty Baker may have invented the "high five" back in 1977, but where's the cardboard documenting it? Meanwhile, here is a "high ten" featuring a Reds Hall of Fame legend and baseball's ultimate video game cheat code, Eric Davis.

1986 Topps Don Mattingly Box Bottom

Though technically not part of the 792-card set, the four different box bottoms provided collectors with three things taken for granted in today's Hobby but quite innovative back then. First off, the cards of the 16 players included are all SP relative to their base cards in the set. Second, the swap out of black for red provided collectors with early examples of parallels. And finally, the use of alternate photos offered collectors what today are known as image variations. Of course, beyond all that, it's Donnie Baseball.