The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1986 Fleer

Sandwiched by its rookie-rich neighbors of 1985 and 1987, the 1986 Fleer set is fairly thin when it comes to the most obvious Essential Baseball Cards. In fact, the set does not include a single Hall of Fame rookie card. On the other hand, it's exactly this lack of premium cardboard that makes the Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1986 Fleer much more interesting.

1986 Fleer Rickey Henderson

RELATED: The Five Essential Baseball Cards of 1986 Topps

Rickey was the decade's greatest player, and he also happened to have some of the decade's best looking cardboard. True, the Man of Steal grew up in Oakland and embodied the Town's green and gold, but his Fleer flagship debut as a Bomber shows he could rock Yankee gear with the best of them, not to mention deliver the first two 20-80 campaigns in baseball history in his first two seasons with New York.

1986 Fleer Charlie Hustle & Dr. K

RELATED: Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson Baseball Cards Still a Gamble

Who could have imagined in 1986 that neither of these players would be Hall of Famers when their careers were done? As the "hidden" image underneath his mesh jersey shows, Pete Rose had just passed Ty Cobb to become baseball's Hit King. Meanwhile, a 20-year-old Dr. K had just put together the greatest pitching season of the Live Ball era. Rose's baseball resume was a mile long, and Gooden's future appeared limitless. Good chance somewhere out there is a collector who paid $300 for an "investor's lot" of 1000 of these cards thinking they'd be worth at least 20 times that in 40 years. On one hand, they didn't exactly strike it rich. On the other hand, they got a heckuva card!

1986 Fleer All-Star Team Cal Ripken, Jr.

The 1986 Fleer All-Star Team inserts may have been the Hobby's first great insert set. The star-spangled backgrounds, red for the American League and blue for the National League, were reminiscent of the outstanding Topps All-Star cards of 1958, and the player selection was top notch. Ripken was one the set's five Hall of Famers, fortuitously numbered in a row as cards 3 through 7.

1986 Fleer Don Mattingly in Action

RELATED: Donnie Baseball and the Quest for the Greatest Rack Pack of All-Time

Don Mattingly was the King of the Hobby in 1986, and this may well have been his coolest card to date. Heck, it's still a cool card. The baseball savants tell us Donnie Baseball might have been a Hall of Famer had he taken more walks, but the real ones know that baseball at its best was the Hit Man swinging his bat, not leaving it on his shoulder.

1986 Fleer Boggs & "Hero"

The Five Essentials list finishes with a card so awesome it needs its own buddy film. Plus, between 1980 and 1990, you're looking at SEVEN batting titles. So the bad news is this card is worth well under a dollar today, but guess what...that's also the good news!