Recent Acquisitions: Some 1984 and 1986 Topps Supers

I like oversized cards; I had some of the 1981 Topps Supers in my original collection, and a bunch of the oversized Donruss Action All-Stars and Pop-Ups, and Phillies team-issued photo cards.  I've bought a few more varieties of oversized cards in the past year or so, some of which I knew about back in the 80s/90s, and some of which I didn't.  I've posted the 1970 and 1971 Topps Supers I've bought, and my recently purchased Donruss Super Diamond Kings, too.  And I've picked up an odd collection of other oversized cards here and there, such as police set cards, Smokey the Bear, and a couple others.

1984 Topps Supers Jim Rice.

Jim Rice card back.

So at some point I discovered that Topps tried the Super concept again from 1984 through 1986.  I picked up a lot on eBay of 3 of the 1984 Supers plus about 50 of the 1985.  I'll show the 1985's in another post.  Then I bought a handful of the 1986's on COMC.  In the different iterations, Topps tried different concepts for the Supers, and these are just larger versions of the base card, unlike either the circa-1970 or circa-1980 versions.  This Jim Rice card, though, does have one difference from the regular 1984 Topps base set Jim Rice card -- the "***EXTRA***" notation at the bottom of the back, indicating that he led the AL in home runs in 1983.  Otherwise, it's just a bigger version of the base card.

1984 Topps Supers Steve Carlton.

1984 Topps Supers Nolan Ryan.

Then the Steve Carlton and Nolan Ryan cards don't even have such a notation.  These really are just big versions of the base set cards.  These are good Carlton and Ryan cards to have, given that they had just surpassed Walter Johnson's strikeout record.  At the end of 1983, Carlton was the all-time strikeout king.  The lead changed hands for the last time towards the end of the 1984 season.

1986 Topps Supers Mike Schmidt.

Mike Schmidt card back.

For the 1986 Supers, they all have a small extra line on the back justifying their inclusion in the set.  For Mike Schmidt, it's the line at the bottom saying that he led the Phils in 1985 in home runs and batting average.  Schmidt would go on to win his final NL MVP award in 1986.

1986 Topps Supers Lee Smith.

Lee Smith card back.

Recently elected Hall-of-Famer Lee Smith was still with the Cubs back then, and was their leader in games pitched and saves.

1986 Topps Supers Gorman Thomas.

1986 Topps Supers Fernando Valenzuela.

The other two of these I bought were Gorman Thomas, who had moved on from his longtime team the Brewers, to (almost) close out his career in Seattle (he had a brief reprise with the Brewers at the end of 1986).  Then, it's always good to add another card of Fernando Valenzuela, who was still in fine form, going 17-10 in 1985 and leading the NL in wins while going 21-11 in 1986, making the All-Star team both years and finishing second in Cy Young voting in 1986.

Thanks for reading!