1996 Pinnacle Conclusion

Alright, folks, it's time to conclude this mid-'90s parade of baseball cards. If I have learned anything from this venture, it's that if I was actually serious about putting together a set like this that I should have stopped after 2/3 of a box. The doubles begin appearing in droves from here on out.

Pack 17:

274 - Matt Williams Hardball Heroes

299 - Ray Durham

231 - Kevin Seitzer (I guess I don't give post-1987 Kevin Seitzer enough credit. He actually put together a pretty respectable 1995 season with Milwaukee, batting .311 with an OPS north of .800.)

265 - Mike Piazza Hardball Heroes

247 - Roger Clemens

343 - Charlie Hayes

372 - Livan Hernandez Rookie (As the sands of time have passed, Livan Hernandez has somehow become the de facto "The" Rookie Card of this set.)

337 - Sean Berry

382 - Osvaldo Fernandez Rookie

335 - Paul Molitor

Pack 18:

275 - Alex Rodriguez Hardball Heroes (Here's A-Rod when he was somewhat less repugnant.)

201 - Frank Thomas

309 - Butch Huskey

241 - Harold Baines

271 - Gary Sheffield Hardball Heroes

373 - George Arias Rookie

315 - John Smoltz

344 - Andy Benes

399 - Chase Checklist (For the record, pictured on this card are Griffey, Thomas, Ripken, Maddux, Chipper and Piazza. And it's still not a good look.)

311 - Erik Hanson

Pack 19:

225 - John Olerud (I think someone out there is a John Olerud collector. I just can't remember at the moment. I have a ton of his cards from the junky era.)

269 - Wade Boggs Hardball Heroes

251 - Bret Saberhagen (Saberhagen is actually the founder of Sabermetrics.)

191 of 200 - Mark Grace .300 Series Starburst (Okay, these doofy dufex cards are starting to grow on me, much in the way that chrome cards started growing on me after I made endless fun of them originally.)

342 - Ryne Sandberg

390 - Bob Abreu Rookie

397 - Greg Maddux N.L. Checklist

362 - Greg Gagne

330 - Tom Gordon

Pack 20:

236 - Randy Johnson

256 - Hideo Nomo Hardball Heroes

206 - Moises Alou

290 - Dwayne Hosey

283 - Raul Mondesi

348 - Ken Hill (I realize at this point that I have yet to show one of the backs of the cards, so here we go. And... now you know.)

377 - Brooks Kieschnick Rookie

320 - Gary DiSarcina

318 - Kirby Puckett .300 Series

387 - Jeff Suppan Rookie

Pack 21:

292 - Rod Beck (I thought about scanning his card, but the thought makes me somewhat uncomfortable.)

224 - Jay Buhner (You get Buhner instead, in all his '90s teal glory.)

268 - Kirby Puckett Hardball Heroes

267 - Tony Gwynn Hardball Heroes

249 - J.T. Snow

324 - Juan Acevedo

334 - Wade Boggs .300 Series

389 - Terry Adams Rookie

396 - Chipper Jones N.L. Checklist

361 - Tino Martinez

Pack 22:

253 - Ryan Klesko (Surfer dude again. The spots on the top of his photo that I originally thought might have been printing defects actually seem like they might be water spots on the camera lens. Cute.)

274 - Matt Williams Hardball Heroes

232 - Lenny Dykstra

266 - Chipper Jones Hardball Heroes (Him again.)

248 - Orel Hershiser

372 - Livan Hernandez Rookie

337 - Sean Berry

335 - Paul Molitor (I realized that I've now scanned 4 Molitor cards for blog purposes and they've all been from 1996, all featuring Molitor on the Twins.)

382 - Osvaldo Fernandez Rookie

308 - Hal Morris .300 Series

Pack 23:

263 - Sammy Sosa Hardball Heroes (I should have scanned this one. I don't think the guy on the front of the card is actually Sosa.)

245 - Vinny Castilla

212 - David Cone

276 - Tim Salmon Hardball Heroes

108 of 200 - Barry Bonds Starburst (Do Bonds cards have any actual value anymore? Could Pinnacle have chosen a worse photo than this?)

325 - Bip Roberts (I've been Bipped! In the... sort of... literal sense, I guess.)

345 - Sterling Hitchcock

306 - Mark Grace .300 Series

338 - Rickey Henderson (Far be it from me to keep track of Rickey Henderson's every move throughout his career, but I did find it somewhat surprising that he actually spent some time with the Padres before his 2001 tour with the franchise.)

374 - Steve Gibralter

Pack 24:

214 - Cal Ripken Jr.

278 - Manny Ramirez Hardball Heroes

204 - Alex Gonzalez

235 - Bret Boone

255 - Ken Griffey Jr. Hardball Heroes

308 - Hal Morris .300 Series (Again? I hate this card.)

347 - Julio Franco

376 - Jason Kendall Rookie

355 - Rick Aguilera

365 - Ernie Young

And that's it. It's time to unleash these cards on the unsuspecting masses.

Shiny Gold Triangles

Here's part two of my 1996 Pinnacle Series 2 box break. If you're sensitive to light or flashy gold colors, you may want to look elsewhere or at least dim the setting on your monitor a bit.

Pack 9:

226 - Jeff Conine (Fancy bit of photography here to catch the reflection in Conine's shades... if it's real, that is.)

270 - Will Clark Hardball Heroes

289 - Bob Hamelin (Yeah, yeah, yeah. Photo day is so hilarious. This shows you how fresh Upper Deck's ideas were last year with the OPC set. But honestly, these days, could anyone pick Bob Hamelin out of a lineup?)

218 - Carlos Baerga

5 of 16 - Chipper Jones Christie Brinkley Collection (These are inserted at a 1:23 ratio. Wow, I really don't know what else to say about this.)

Yeah, again, I'm not sure there are words for this. Apparently Brinkley fancied herself a photographer at this point in her career.

336 - Tony Gwynn .300 Series

398 - Mike Piazza NL Checklist

363 - Mike Kelly

331 - Ben McDonald

371 - Jason Schmidt Rookie

Pack 10:

246 - Cecil Fielder

213 - Will Clark (Back to back Clark packs.)

277 - Johnny Damon Hardball Heroes (Now that he finally has a job, I guess we can stop reading about him.)

203 - Kirby Puckett (One reason for me to hate the Twins less.)

234 - Rondell White

326 - Javier Lopez

314 - Kurt Abbott

307 - Don Mattingly .300 Series (Nice to see that Mattingly went out at the top of his game.)

346 - Bernard Gilkey

375 - Jermaine Dye Rookie

Pack 11:

295 - Willie Greene

227 - Dean Palmer

261 - Mo Vaughn Hardball Heroes

243 - Mark Grace

253 - Ryan Klesko (Dude!)

311 - Erik Hanson

364 - Tim Raines (I saved Rock fans from seeing him in a Yankees uniform.)

353 - Darryl Hamilton

391 - Quinton McCracken Rookie

305.3 - Paul Molitor .300 Series

Pack 12:

296 - Ismael Valdes

228 - Jim Abbott

262 - Albert Belle Hardball Heroes

244 - Derek Bell

211 - Craig Biggio

383 - Wilton Guerrero Rookie

354 - Shawon Dunston

392 - Mike Busby Rookie (First Cardinal of the second post.)

305.6 - Jeff Bagwell .300 Series

394 - Ken Griffey Jr. AL Checklist

Pack 13:

266 - Chipper Jones Hardball Heroes (Yeah, him again.)

248 - Orel Hershiser

215 - Wade Boggs

279 - Derek Jeter Hardball Heroes (Jeter looks like a little leaguer here.)

284 - Terry Steinbach

360 - Todd Zeile

328 - Mark Lewis

368 - Karim Garcia Rookie

301.8 - Ken Griffey Jr. .300 Series

349 - Russ Davis

Pack 14:

281 - Ozzie Smith Hardball Heroes (Ozzie! Hit of the box as far as I'm concerned.)

286 - Dave Justice

238 - Jim Thome (Thome is listed at 3B here, but you hardly ever see pictures of him fielding on cards.)

258 - Cal Ripken Jr. Hardball Heroes (People seem to like this guy for some reason.)

208 - Barry Bonds

370 - Sal Fasano Rookie

303 - Mike Greenwell .300 Series (I wonder what Red Sox fans think of Greenwell today. I could use this as a good barometer for telling whether a self-professed Boston fan is a real fan or if they just saw the crappy Jimmy Fallon movie.)

351 - B.J. Surhoff

380 - Rey Ordonez Rookie

332 - Dan Wilson

Pack 15:

282 - Garret Anderson Hardball Heroes

287 - Eric Anthony (I remember when Anthony's 1989 Topps card was highly sought after.)

239 - Edgardo Alfonzo

259 - Jeff Bagwell Hardball Heroes (The doubles are finally starting to appear.)

209 - Fred McGriff

304.9 - Carlos Baerga .300 Series

352 - Lance Johnson

381 - Jay Powell Rookie

333 - Ron Gant (First Cardinal double. This goes to one of the 10 boxes of Cardinals doubles I have in the corner of the room.)

310 - Ozzie Guillen

Pack 16:

254 - Greg Maddux Hardball Heroes

273 - Randy Johnson Hardball Heroes

221 - Jim Edmonds (Oh man. Yeah, I collect this guy. This card is terrible. How embarrassing.)

297 - Glenallen Hill

229 - Raul Mondesi

317 - Mark Carreon

339 - Wil Cordero

385 - George Williams Rookie

313 - Edgar Martinez .300 Series

357 - Todd Stottlemyre (Perfect way to finish off the post, with a Cardinal that I haven't pulled yet.)

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.