I’ve had these cards for 40 years. Ouch.

I was a kid in Flatbush during my formative years as a baseball fan, and that coincided with the 86 Mets, the all time greatest Mets team. The team was the toast of the town! This set was a labor of love- building the 1986 Topps X Once Upon A Time In Queens Collector’s Edition Autograph Set (still missing there Keith Hernandez auto, I’ve only seen one for sale during my searches and lost the auction so my set sits at 28 of the 29 card set)

Gary Carter and Roger McDowell were the absolute hardest for me to track down (the only Carter I’ve ever seen on eBay is now in my set, I couldn’t hit the buy it now fast enough) and the McDowell I acquired in a trade with someone who I really feel was doing me a favor (I haven’t seen one for sale in years).

I have a placeholder Keith in my set from a public signing I attended- still hoping to procure one some day to make my set truly complete.

Also complete, and pictured after the autos are the complete 50 card Blue & Orange parallel set (each card serial numbered out of 86)- the Davey Johnson card 34 was the hardest one to track down! It took my so long and I finally snagged one last summer on BuySportsCards.Com for $5. One of my favorite parallel sets.

1986 Topps celebrates its 40th anniversary this year! I remember when it was brand new and shiny!

1986 Topps Traded Tiffany Kevin Mitchell #74T PSA 9 - New York Mets

One of the greatest seasons ever by a reliever.
These are crazy numbers... 7.3 WAR, 14-6, 1.72 ERA, 157 IP, 105 H, 45 BB, 166 K
He was offered a chance to start one of the final games of the 1986 season in order to qualify for the ERA title, but declined. "To me, it felt selfish to do that."