The year 1986 overflowed with wonderful one-hit wonder pop records.
"Rumors," by the Timex Social Club. ""Hanging on a Heart Attack, by Device. "I Wanna Be a Cowboy," by Boys Don't Cry. "The Rain," by Oran "Juice" Jones. And "Out of Mind Out of Sight," by the Models.
Then there's "The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)," by Timbuk 3, a one-off hit that became so confused as an optimistic eye to the future that it was used as graduation music fodder, as nobody bothered to notice the obvious references to nuclear annihilation.
One-hit wonders from Regina's "Baby Love" to Billy Crystal's "You Look Marvelous" to Yello's "Oh Yeah," took our minds off the growing arms race of the '80s. And if you were a card collector, you had tiny pieces of cardboard to forget about the cold war.
Even though there were three companies making cards in 1986, there are a fair amount of one-card wonders -- players who received only one card in a major set and no other. With the help of a list that Bo of Baseball Cards Come to Life! provided me a few years back, I was able to determine eight players as '86 one-card wonders.
Donruss has five of them.
The above Carlos Ponce card is the first 1986 Donruss card I ever owned. That's how prominent one-hit wonders were in 1986. One pulled one in one's very first pack.
I knew nothing about Carlos Ponce then nor did I know anything about '86 Donruss. I didn't buy anything but a few handfuls of Topps in 1986. And by the time I got to '86 Donruss I was recoiling from the disorienting horizontal lines. My distaste for '86 Donruss is well-established, despite its Max Headroom nickname.
Here are the '86 Donruss one-card wonders:
32 - Johnny Abrego, Cubs (Rated Rookie)
42 - Rick Surhoff, Rangers (Rated Rookie)
461 - Dave Leeper, Royals
510 - Steve Engel, Cubs
595 - Carlos Ponce, Brewers
Topps features three one-card wonders in its 1986 set.
#451 - Mark Brown, Twins
#502 - Glen Cook, Rangers
#567 - Jeff Barkley, Indians
All pitchers, which is not a surprise considering how disposable pitchers can be.
Fleer, interestingly, does not contain a one-card wonder in 1986. (There is a player on a two-player rookie card that appeared in just the '86 set but I don't count those). One of the close-but-no-cigar players is White Sox pitcher Bruce Tanner, who also appears in the 1985 Fleer Traded set as his only other showing.
So here is the updated list of what I've done so far:
1967 Topps
#344 - Ossie Chavarria, A's
#388 - Arnold Earley, Cubs
#489 - Doug Clemens, Phillies
#497 - Ron Campbell, Cubs
1974 Topps:
#8 - George Theodore, Mets
#33 - Don Newhauser, Red Sox
#37 - Dave Sells, Angels
#77 - Rich Troedson, Padres
#421 - Dan Fife, Twins
#457 - Chuck Goggin, Braves
#573 - Mike Adams, Twins
1975 Topps
#288 - Bruce Ellingsen, Indians
#407 - Herb Washington, A's
#508 - Bob Hansen, Brewers
#524 - John Doherty, Angels
#587 - Chris Ward, Cubs
#651 - John Morlan, Pirates
1977 Topps
#118 - Rick Jones, Mariners
#132 - Chip Lang, Expos
#137 - Jeff Terpko, Rangers
#616 - Tommy Sandt, A's
#641 - Dan Larson, Astros
1978 Topps:
#224 - Jerry Tabb, A's
#303 - Sam Hinds, Brewers
#311 - Jose Baez, Mariners
#386 - Bob Gorinski, Twins
#502 - Pat Rockett, Braves
#516 - Gary Beare, Brewers
#521 - Steve Staggs, Blue Jays
#591 - George Zeber, Yankees
#667 - Jeff Byrd, Blue Jays
#719 - Randy Elliott, Giants
1980 Topps:
#59 - Eddy Putman, Tigers
#72 - Fred Howard, White Sox
#156 - Tony Brizzolara, Braves
#221 - Joe Cannon, Blue Jays
#233 - LaRue Washington, Rangers
#291 - Randy Scarberry, White Sox
#347 - Harry Chappas, White Sox
1981 Topps:
#491 - Gordy Pladson, Astros
1982 Topps:
#356 - Denny Lewallyn, Indians
1984 Topps:
#116 - George Bjorkman, Astros
#159 - Darryl Cias, A's
#163 - Lorenzo Gray, White Sox
#337 - Kevin Hagen, Cardinals
#382 - Chris Nyman, White Sox
#474 - Greg Bargar, Expos
1986 Topps:
#451 - Mark Brown, Twins
#502 - Glen Cook, Rangers
#567 - Jeff Barkley, Indians
1994 Topps:
#491 - John Hope, Pirates
1986 Donruss:
#32 - Johnny Abrego, Cubs
#42 - Rick Surhoff, Rangers
#461 - Dave Leeper, Royals
#510 - Steve Engel, Cubs
#595 - Carlos Ponce, Brewers
I had planned to tackle 1979 Topps next, but I'll save that for the next time. I just happened to hear "The Future's So Bright" on the radio today at about the same time I popped on my sunglasses in the car and I took that as a sign.
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