1986 Cubs Team Issued Cards

Baseball card day in 1986 at Wrigley Field was held on July 17. A crowd of 30,598 saw the Cubs lose to the Giants 6-4. The 28 card set was given to every fan at the game, so you would figure about 31,000 of these would have been available.

There were several changes from previous team issued sets. First, there was a new sponsor, Gatorade. But a bigger change was.....a bigger card. The cards measured 4 1/4 by 2 7/8, much bigger that the standard baseball card size of 3 1/2 by 2 1/2.



This is what they look like compared to a regular card. That also presented a problem for storage. The oversized cards wouldn't fit in the standard nine-pocket sheet. I had to settle for four pocket pages. The pockets are a lot bigger than the cards, but that was the closest sized page they would fit into.



Among the firsts in the set is a card for manager Gene Michaels, who took over the team in June. The first card of a rookie pitcher is also included, some kid named Jamie Moyer. I wonder if he will last in the majors? And there is a card of a player who had a very brief career with the Cubs, but in about 11 months I can guarantee that I will be showing his card again. Want to guess who that will be??

Again in alphabetical order, here are the 28 cards in the set.