Team MVPs: 1986 Fleer

 

I'm not doing a very good job banging out these Team MVP posts like I wanted to. After discovering back in March that it had been a year-and-a-half since the last one, I resolved to quicken the pace on these.

 

But this is the first one since March. Oh well.

 

My overall goal in this series is to find the "best" card for each team for every set I've completed. I began by going in reverse order from the year of the set. I reached back all the way to 1981. Then I backtracked for sets I've completed since.

 

Now I'm all over the place, basically tackling sets however I feel, arbitrary rules be damned!

 

So, right now it's 1986 Fleer. Fleer is the best brand for when you want to write a quick post, because the set's ordered by team, as if it had this very series in mind! Thanks, Fleer!

 

On the other side -- woof, this is a hurting set. I've mentioned many times that I've overlooked '86 Fleer for decades before finally completing it -- forgot it even existed a time or two. Now when I review every card, there are so many dark shots, blurry shots and poorly cropped shots everywhere. And there's a whole lot of "just stand there". Thank goodness for the Super Star Specials (which I didn't count in this exercise). But all the sub-par and average is what makes the notable shots stand out ... you know the ones.

 

Let's get to it -- in 1986 division style:

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE EAST

 

Orioles: Rick Dempsey; Red Sox: Roger Clemens; Indians: Ernie Camacho; Tigers: Kirk Gibson; Brewers: Jim Gantner; Yankees: Billy Sample; Blue Jays: Jesse Barfield

 

Team with the best cards: I don't think any team in this entire set can be described in terms of "best" but I'll say Orioles or maybe Yankees.

 

Team with the worst cards: Indians or Blue Jays.

 

Team I should review again: Tigers. Grandma's appearance on Kirk Gibson's card won me over immediately.

 

 

AMERICAN LEAGUE WEST 

 

Angels: Ruppert Jones; White Sox: Carlton Fisk; Royals: Steve Balboni; Twins: Mickey Hatcher; A's: Dave Kingman; Mariners: Bob Long; Rangers: Glenn Brummer

 

Team with the best cards: White Sox, I guess, although maybe it's those strange SOX uniforms that's making me say that.

 

Team with the worst cards: A's.

 

Team I should review again: I'm still wondering whether Reggie Jackson is the better Angels card. Such a classic home run pose, but the Ruppert Jones is just a little better (yet he's knocking his head on the top border which is a repeated issue in this set).

 

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE EAST

 

Cubs: Keith Moreland; Expos: Andre Dawson; Mets: Darryl Strawberry; Phillies: Charles Hudson; Pirates: Johnny Ray; Cardinals: Willie McGee

 

Team with the best cards: Possibly Phillies.

 

Team with the worst cards: Cardinals were pretty boring.

 

Team I should review again: Cubs. I think I skipped over the Ryne Sandberg card.

 

 

NATIONAL LEAGUE WEST

 

Braves: Dale Murphy; Reds: Andy McGaffigan; Astros: Glenn Davis; Dodgers: Steve Sax; Padres: Tony Gwynn; Giants: Jeff Leonard

 

Team with the best cards: Maybe the Astros.

 

Team with the worst cards: Dodgers aren't great, I mean that Sax photo is very dark.

 

Team I should review again: Padres. There are a fair amount of action photos in that team set, yet I stuck with Gwynn.

 

My overriding feeling when going through these cards from a 40-year-old set is how slap-dash they feel. The back half of the 1980s seems to have its share of those sets, mostly with Donruss but also some with Fleer and even Topps. The card stock from the time has a lot to do with it as I've written about before. It makes me glad again that I grew up with cards in the 1970s and even in the early '80s, they feel more substantial. 1981 Donruss, I think, ushered in a dark and flimsy world.

 

And there you are, another list of individual MVPs determined.

 

Next time I can tackle 2024, 2022 or 2021 Topps (weee) or go back to Fleer and see if 1985 Fleer was at least a little bit better.