1996 Pinnacle Series 2, Part 1

Inspired by the recently flurry of mid-'90s breaks by the likes of The Collective Troll and possibly others, I found myself grabbing a 1996 Pinnacle Series 2 hobby box from a recent card show on the cheap. Lately, I've found it hard to resist passing up stuff like this as long as it is in my extremely small price range. I had a somewhat stealth poll about what to do with this box and the results were a split decision between posting it all in a recap-style post or just doing a full blow-by-blow report in a few parts. I'm opting for the latter this time, but I will keep my comments brief and let the images tell the story.

Pack 1:

216 - Pete Schourek

280 - Eddie Murray Hardball Heroes (You can see right away that there's no shortage of gold foil on these cards.)

285 - Carlos Garcia

237 - Paul O'Neill (With this only being a 200 card set, aside from the usual crop of unproven rookies and youngsters, this is a pretty star-studded offering. Paul O'Neill is about as bad as you can get, and that's not bad.)

193 of 200 - Hal Morris .300 Series Starburst (Starburst is a near-parallel set - there's only 100 cards per series rather than 200 - made with Dufex technology. I don't know what that is, but it looks kinda crazy. These are inserted at a 1:7 ratio.)

329 - Royce Clayton (First Cardinal of the box.)

369 - Paul Wilson Rookie

302 - Will Clark .300 Series

350 - Mike Blowers (I never knew Blowers played for the Dodgers. He's been a broadcaster with the Mariners for awhile now.)

379 - Alan Benes Rookie (Rookies get their names in red instead of black on the gold foil background on the front of the card.)

Pack 2:

239 - Edgardo Alfonzo

259 - Jeff Bagwell Hardball Heroes

209 - Fred McGriff

293 - Shane Andrews

14 of 18 - Manny Ramirez Project Stardom (More Dufex here, and I guess this would be considered the first "hit" of the box. These are inserted at a 1:35 ratio.)

304.9 - Carlos Baerga .300 Series (This is numbered oddly to distinguish it from other players who hit .304 in 1995.)

352 - Lance Johnson

381 - Jay Powell Rookie

333 - Ron Gant

310 - Ozzie Guillen

Pack 3:

288 - Benji Gil

240 - Terry Pendleton

260 - Barry Bonds Hardball Heroes (What do I do with Barry Bonds cards? Seriously...)

210 - Dennis Eckersley

294 - Julian Tavarez

395 - Frank Thomas A.L. Checklist (Kind of a strange concept here. The checklist only shows American League players on the back so the numbering is not very sequential.)

359 - Jack McDowell

327 - Benito Santiago

367 - Wally Joyner

300 - Jeff Conine .300 Series

Pack 4 can be found here at A Pack to be Named Later.

Pack 5:

309 - Butch Huskey

241 - Harold Baines

271 - Gary Sheffield

219 - Larry Walker

106 - Moises Alou Starburst (That's a lot of... effex.)

373 - George Arias Rookie

315 - John Smoltz (I think this was in the height of the Chicks Dig the Longball era.)

344 - Andy Benes (I like horizontal cards and all, but it's really annoying that you only get the first initial of the player on these. It's especially annoying when you're talking about a player who shares the same last name, first initial and team of another player also in this set.)

383 - Wilton Guerrero Rookie

399 - Chase Checklist (This is just a terrible looking card all the way around. I think a card that just said "CHECKLIST" in bold print without any pictures on the front would have been better than this.)

Pack 6:

202 - Michael Tucker

233 - Brian Jordan

242 - Roberto Alomar

272 - Dante Bichette Hardball Heroes

220 - Denny Neagle

316 - Ariel Prieto (I've never heard of this guy.)

393 - Cal Ripken A.L. Checklist

384 - Eric Owens Rookie

312 - Kenny Lofton .300 Series

356 - Danny Tartabull (Or D. Tartabull if you prefer.)

Pack 7:

257 - Frank Thomas Hardball Heroes

207 - Albert Belle (Coming off a .317, 50 HR, 1.091 OPS season.)

291 - Andy Pettitte

223 - Jason Isringhausen

232 - Lenny Dykstra

378 - Jeff Ware Rookie

321 - Trevor Hoffman

341 - Kenny Rogers

388 - F.P. Santangelo

323 - Frank Thomas .300 Series (Completing the Frank Thomas Pack.)

Pack 8:

225 - John Olerud

269 - Wade Boggs Hardball Heroes

251 - Bret Saberhagen (It's weird to see Saberhagen on the Rockies. You don't get to see it, however. I'm holding this card hostage until someone can find a Rockies fan to take all of these Rockies cards off of my hands.)

250 - Rafael Palmeiro

217 - Darren Daulton

342 - R. Sandberg (What's his first name? I can't remember.)

390 - Bob Abreu Rookie (Just Bob.)

397 - Greg Maddux N.L. Checklist

362 - Greg Gagne

330 - Tom Gordon

I'll try to finish off parts 2 and 3 before the week is out. I think I could come close to completing the series 2 set with this box as I have yet to get a double so far, but I have no interest in it so everything here is up for trade or claim besides the Cardinals cards.