1986 Fleer: Condition Sensitive

August 1, 1986 Bert Blyleven torched the A’s by striking out 15 and becoming the 10^th pitcher in major league history to record 3,000 strikeouts. The other nine pitchers were either already in the hall or headed there. Bert would retire 3^rd on the all-time strikeouts list. He currently stands 5^th.

Fellow Hall Of Famer Kirby Puckett hit for the cycle in the game as the Twins routed

Oakland 10 to 1.

It was Bert’s 10^th win for the team, which were 14 games under .500 at that point.  Pitching for bad teams was Bert's forte.

About The Card

It’s 1986 and no one is taking baseball photography too seriously.

The remarkable thing here is the condition of this card. 

Beckett's Price Guide defines this set as "extremely condition sensitive commonly found with chipped edges" Beckett lays the blame on the blue borders but the fact is these cards were printed on toilet paper and the edges literally crumble apart in your hand. Centering from top to bottom also plagued this set.

For that reason plus the utterly boring design not one was particularly interested in this set. To this day, no one has completed this set in the PSA registry.

Not even Jose Canseco’s rookie card could have saved this set.