The 1986 Donruss OPC Major League Baseball set was a triumph for the new sports card company, Opening Day Products. As the first ever product released by Opening Day Products/OPC, the 1986 set broke new ground and brought a fresh perspective to the baseball card collecting hobby.
Opening Day Products launched in 1985 with the goal of offering an alternative to the dominant brand of the era, Topps. OPC traded flashier and more colorful photography for a stripped-down focus on clear action shots that highlighted the players’ skills. This approach resonated with collectors and set the standard for a more athletic style that other companies would emulate in future years.
What made the 1986 offering particularly trailblazing was OPC’s introduction of an unbled border format with no foil stamping. This borderless design gave the images crisp edges and a clean presentation that allowed the photography to take center stage. Topps sets of the era still utilized a bled gray or pastel border around each card that some felt detracted from the photos.
Beyond the innovative borderless template, the photography in the 1986 OPC set is among the best seen in the hobby to that point. With a roster of talented photographers contributing including Herb Scharfman, Art Kane, and Andrew Doggett, OPC focused on dynamic action shots that captured players in the throes of their athletic movements. Pitchers were often seen unleashing nasty breaking balls while fielders dove or leaped for highlight reel catches.
Some specific photography highlights from the 1986 OPC set that still impress fans today include Kirby Puckett’s tremendous diving catch on card #353, Ryne Sandberg’s graceful leaping grab on card #479, and Dwight Gooden’s fiery wind-up and delivery on card #62. Mike Schmidt is depicted crushing an opposite field home run on card #529 in a standout image as well. These memorable shots help define the dynamic style of photography that OPC brought to the table.
While the photography was ahead of its time, the 1986 OPC set achieved another first by including minor league prospects in its design parallel to the major leaguers. Rising young stars like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Ken Griffey Jr. received OPC rookie cards alongside their MLB brethren that remain highly popular with collectors today.
Rookie cards were still a novelty in 1986 prior to the rise of the chase to find and grade rare prospect issues from the past. OPC helped fuel this emerging phenomenon and had the foresight to tap into fans’ desire to collect budding future stars before rival companies. Their rookie selections are considered some of the best from the era.
Building complete team and league sets of the 1986 OPC cards presented more of a challenge than contemporary Topps products. OPC elected to produce the cards in wax packs rather than the more readily available and findable rack packs and boxes used by Topps. This meant distribution was more scattered and tracking down scarce teams like the Expos or Brewers could be difficult even for diligent collectors.
The wax pack format and randomness added to much of the excitement and anticipation of breaking open an OPC pack. The experience of potentially uncovering a big star, sought-after rookie, or shortage club card made ripping packs more akin to the gambling rush of sports betting for many collectors. The scarcer nature of OPC sets in 1986 also led to the cards retaining stronger collector demand as the years passed relative to the glut of Topps available in the market by comparison.
Several other unique features or design choices stood out about the 1986 OPC set that differentiated it at the time. OPC allocated more cards per team than the checklist size of competing brands to include every player on each MLB 40-man roster. This level of completeness was not seen elsewhere. In addition, OPC utilized a larger 51⁄4 x 31⁄4 card size while competitors, namely Topps, sized down to today’s standard 51⁄2 x 31⁄2 inches beginning in 1981.
The rear of each OPC card continued the uncluttered design with a plain white background and relatively small block of stats, name, and other info versus the more graphically busy statistics boxes of Topps. This cleanliness accentuated the photography even in player profile or rear views. OPC also made the bold choice in 1986 not to designate any cards as “short prints,” maintaining its position as an alternative to the dubious marketing practice of artificially scarce chase cards.
While the 1986 OPC set was a critical success, the product struggled financially in its debut year likely due to distribution challenges and lack of brand awareness compared to larger rivals. After several ownership changes, the Opening Day Products company dissolved in 1990 and the rights to produce baseball cards reverted to Pinnacle Brands who continued issuing variants of the OPC property through the 1990s featuring a mix of classic photography and new images.
Collectors remain drawn to the OPC brand and vintage 1986 issue for the quality photographs capturing the raw athleticism of stars like Gooden, Mattingly, Schmidt, and more in their primes. Even today, finding pristine high-grade copies of the tougher 1986 rookie cards brings excitement to the hobby. After 35 years, OPC’s bold first entry still excites collectors and exemplifies how innovation in sports card design began raising the bar of what fans expected from their favorite baseball product.
