1998 Pinnacle Certified

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Description

1998 Pinnacle Certified was supposed to be a 150-card release, intended for release in early August, 1998. The product was never released due to Pinnacle Brands' bankruptcy in July, 1998. However, in October of 2017, a full base set along with a complete set of Certified Red, Mirror Red, Mirror Blue, and Mirror Gold parallels emerged on the secondary market, which some have dubbed the "Pinnacle Baseball Find" (PBF). While many players had base or parallel versions surface since 1998, the emergence of these sets marked the first time copies of certain players were confirmed:

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/previously-unknown-1998-pinnacle-certified-cards-emerge/

According to the sell-sheets issued by Pinnacle Brands, parts of the Totally Certified product introduced the previous year were to have been absorbed into 1998 Pinnacle Certified as parallels. The final batch of Epix inserts were also to have been included in this set.

Over the years since Pinnacle's bankruptcy, a number of cards from this set, especially from the Mirror Red and Totally Certified Platinum Gold parallel sets made their way into the secondary market. Just like with most 1998 Select, Donruss Signature, and high-numbered Donruss Crusade cards, they were likely "backdoored."


Distribution

Sell-sheets stated that a pack of six cards would have retailed for $4.99.

Insertion Ratios

Cards Total Cards Numbered To Odds
Base 150 - ?
Epix 24 - 1:13
Certified Destiny 10 - 1:9
Certified Team 20 - 1:19
Certified Gold Destiny 10 - 1:59
Certified Gold Team 20 - 1:119
Certified Red 150 - 1:3
Mirror Red 150 varies 1:39
Mirror Blue 150 varies 1:149
Mirror Gold 150 varies 1:299
Totally Certified Platinum Red 150 4,999 ?
Totally Certified Platinum Blue 150 2,499 ?
Totally Certified Platinum Gold 150 30 ?
Mirror Black 150 one-of-one ?

Checklist

Juan-Gonzalez.jpg?id=6b986931-5713-41e1-a2c8-742aaa0cf6b7&size=original&side=front&.jpg Juan-Gonzalez.jpg?id=6b986931-5713-41e1-a2c8-742aaa0cf6b7&size=original&side=back&.jpg

The following was the provisional checklist provided by Pinnacle Brands before their bankruptcy. This full checklist (1-150) has since been fully confirmed and at least one copy of every card in the base set exists. Cards 100-135 were part of the "Certified Future" subset and cards 136-150 were part of the “Certified Legends” subset.

  • 1 Vladimir Guerrero
  • 2 Andruw Jones
  • 3 Paul Molitor
  • 4 Jose Cruz
  • 5 Edgar Martinez
  • 6 Andy Pettitte
  • 7 Darin Erstad
  • 8 Barry Larkin
  • 9 Derek Jeter
  • 10 Rusty Greer
  • 11 Brady Anderson
  • 12 Tony Clark
  • 13 Manny Ramirez
  • 14 Jim Thome
  • 15 Matt Williams
  • 16 Ivan Rodriguez
  • 17 Scott Rolen
  • 18 Gary Sheffield
  • 19 Dave Justice
  • 20 Roberto Alomar
  • 21 Ken Caminiti
  • 22 Sammy Sosa
  • 23 Albert Belle
  • 24 Chuck Knoblauch
  • 25 Mo Vaughn
  • 26 Raul Mondesi
  • 27 Tim Salmon
  • 28 Bernie Williams
  • 29 Tony Gwynn
  • 30 Pedro Martinez
  • 31 Roger Clemens
  • 32 Craig Biggio
  • 33 Randy Johnson
  • 34 Tino Martinez
  • 35 Chipper Jones
  • 36 Kenny Lofton
  • 37 Greg Maddux
  • 38 Hideo Nomo
  • 39 Andres Galarraga
  • 40 Nomar Garciaparra
  • 41 Juan Gonzalez
  • 42 Mark McGwire
  • 43 Mike Piazza
  • 44 Jeff Bagwell
  • 45 Barry Bonds
  • 46 Larry Walker
  • 47 Alex Rodriguez
  • 48 Frank Thomas
  • 49 Cal Ripken, Jr.
  • 50 Ken Griffey, Jr.
  • 51 Todd Walker
  • 52 Jose Guillen
  • 53 Vinny Castilla
  • 54 Shannon Stewart
  • 55 Jim Edmonds
  • 56 Bob Higginson
  • 57 Jay Buhner
  • 58 Mike Mussina
  • 59 Todd Greene
  • 60 Chan Ho Park
  • 61 Livan Hernandez
  • 62 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
  • 63 Fred McGriff
  • 64 Travis Fryman
  • 65 Jaret Wright
  • 66 Bobby Bonilla
  • 67 Moises Alou
  • 68 Rafael Palmeiro
  • 69 Charles Johnson
  • 70 Ray Lankford
  • 71 Kevin Brown
  • 72 Neifi Perez
  • 73 Rondell White
  • 74 Bartolo Colon
  • 75 Bob Abreu
  • 76 Eric Young
  • 77 Jason Giambi
  • 78 Edgardo Alfonzo
  • 79 Dante Bichette
  • 80 Eric Karros
  • 81 Matt Morris
  • 82 Tom Glavine
  • 83 Todd Hundley
  • 84 Jason Dickson
  • 85 Ryan Klesko
  • 86 Mark Grace
  • 87 Brett Tomko
  • 88 Kevin Orie
  • 89 Robin Ventura
  • 90 Jose Canseco
  • 91 Brian Jordan
  • 92 Jason Kendall
  • 93 Mike Cameron
  • 94 Curt Schilling
  • 95 Carlos Delgado
  • 96 Garret Anderson
  • 97 John Smoltz
  • 98 Wade Boggs
  • 99 Javy Lopez
  • 100 Juan Encarnacion
  • 101 Travis Lee
  • 102 Todd Helton
  • 103 Mark Kotsay
  • 104 Fernando Tatis
  • 105 David Ortiz
  • 106 Paul Konerko
  • 107 Miguel Tejada
  • 108 Derrek Lee
  • 109 Jacob Cruz
  • 110 Randall Simon
  • 111 Kerry Wood
  • 112 Ricky Ledee
  • 113 Eli Marrero
  • 114 Brad Fullmer
  • 115 Bobby Estalella
  • 116 Carl Pavano
  • 117 Mike Lowell
  • 118 Brian Rose
  • 119 Ben Grieve
  • 120 Wes Helms
  • 121 Enrique Wilson
  • 122 Donnie Sadler
  • 123 Frank Catalanotto
  • 124 Richie Sexson
  • 125 Russell Branyan
  • 126 Kevin Millwood
  • 127 Ron Wright
  • 128 Derrick Gibson
  • 129 Magglio Ordonez
  • 130 Michael Coleman
  • 131 Danny Clyburn
  • 132 Sean Casey
  • 133 Dave Dellucci
  • 134 Jeff Abbott
  • 135 Lou Collier
  • 136 Scott Rolen
  • 137 Nomar Garciaparra
  • 138 Juan Gonzalez
  • 139 Derek Jeter
  • 140 Roger Clemens
  • 141 Chipper Jones
  • 142 Hideo Nomo
  • 143 Mark McGwire
  • 144 Alex Rodriguez
  • 145 Jeff Bagwell
  • 146 Greg Maddux
  • 147 Frank Thomas
  • 148 Ken Griffey, Jr.
  • 149 Mike Piazza
  • 150 Cal Ripken, Jr.

File:CFfront.jpgFile:CFback.jpg

File:CLfront.jpgFile:CLback.jpg

Parallels

Certified Red, Mirror Red/Blue/Gold

All 150 base cards have the following parallels that have been confirmed to exist (i.e., at least one copy has surfaced on the secondary market):

Certified Red

File:CRfront.jpgFile:CRback.jpg


Mirror Red

File:MRfront.jpgFile:MRback.jpg


Mirror Blue

File:MBfront.jpg


Mirror Gold

File:MGfront.jpgFile:MGback.jpg

Certified Red, Mirror Red, Mirror Blue, and Mirror Gold parallels are not serial-numbered. It is not known how many of each Certified Red, Mirror Red, Blue, or Gold sets were printed. However, for each of these parallels, cards 101-150 were to have half of the production run as cards 1-100.

Totally Certified

According to the original sell sheet, only cards 1-10 of the Totally Certified Platinum Red, Blue, and Gold parallels were available in 1998 Pinnacle Certified (as inserts). This could be why the only Platinum Gold parallels that have emerged on the secondary market were cards 1-10 and why the select few of Platinum Blue and Red parallels that have surfaced were also only of the first ten players in the set.

Original sell sheet also stated, "Totally Certified will not ship until February" which suggests that 1998 Totally Certified was planned to be released as a separate set (as in 1997) or that cards 11-150 had Platinum Red, Blue, and Gold parallels to be released separately.

However, due to Pinnacle's bankruptcy in July/August 1998, it is possible that the Totally Certified Parallels of cards 11-150 were never produced or were produced but have yet to surface on the secondary market.

Totally Certified Platinum Red

File:PRfront.jpg

Only 3 players from the Totally Certified Platinum Red parallel set have surfaced. The Vladimir Guerrero is sheet cut/factory cut while the Jeter and Greer that surfaced are a "panel" that has been cut from a sheet but are still attached to each other. Further, a Vladimir Guerrero executive promo has surfaced with "XXXX - 4999" printed on the back.

1 Vladimir Guerrero

9 Derek Jeter

10 Rusty Greer


Totally Certified Platinum Blue

File:PBfront.jpg

Totally Certified Platinum Blue parallels exist but only a few players have surfaced. A miscut sheet portion of Platinum Blues surfaced that featured Vladimir Guerrero, Andruw Jones, and Paul Molitor. However, a sheet cut/factory cut Platinum Blue parallel of Vladimir Guerrero and Andruw Jones (but not Paul Molitor) has surfaced. Further, a Vladimir Guerrero executive promo has surfaced with "XXXX - 2499" printed on the back.

The following players have a Platinum Blue parallel that has emerged on the secondary market:

File:PB.jpg

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Andruw Jones

3 Paul Molitor


Totally Certified Platinum Gold

File:PGfront.jpgFile:PGback.jpg

Totally Certified Platinum Gold parallels have surfaced, but only for the first ten cards in the set.

These are serially numbered to 30, although a Darin Erstad, Edgar Martinez, and Vladimir Guerrero with "XXXX - 0300" printed on the back have also surfaced. While it is unknown if all 30 sets were produced, one collector [1] has documented the existence of 14 Darin Erstad Platinum Golds, with serial numbers ranging from 2/30 to 30/30. The following players are confirmed to have a Platinum Gold parallel:

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Andruw Jones

3 Paul Molitor

4 Jose Cruz

5 Edgar Martinez

6 Andy Pettitte

7 Darin Erstad

8 Barry Larkin

9 Derek Jeter

10 Rusty Greer

Mirror Black

Each card in the base set (1-150) was supposed to have a Mirror Black parallel that was to be numbered 1 of 1. However, no Mirror Blacks have surfaced and thus it is unknown if they were even printed, let alone distributed.

Inserts

Certified Destiny & Certified Gold Destiny

File:CDGfront.jpgFile:CDgback.jpg

This 10-card set was printed on mirror mylar with foil stamping and featured the game's future superstars. Each Certified Destiny insert featured a Certified Gold Destiny parallel. Neither version was serially numbered.

In 2014, an uncut sheet containing 6 Certified Gold Destiny copies of each player in the set emerged on the secondary market. In 2018, individual singles of the Certified Destiny Gold set emerged on the market through private sales and thus all 10 players in this set have a confirmed copy that exists. However, no copies of the Certified Destiny "base" inserts have surfaced.

1 Jaret Wright

2 Travis Lee

3 Jose Cruz, Jr.

4 Ben Grieve

5 Todd Helton

6 Nomar Garciaparra

7 Paul Konerko

8 Scott Rolen

9 Vladimir Guerrero

10 Andruw Jones

Certified Team & Certified Gold Team

File:CTGfront.jpgFile:CTGback.jpg

This 20-card set was printed on micro-etched mirror mylar foil and featured the top superstars in the game. Each Certified Destiny insert featured a Certified Gold Destiny parallel. Neither version was serially numbered.

The same uncut sheet referenced above also contained 2 Certified Gold Team copies of each player in the set. In 2018, individual singles of the Certified Team Gold set emerged on the market through private sales and thus all 20 players in this set have a confirmed copy that exists. Similar to the Certified Destiny insert, no copies of the Certified Team "base" inserts have surfaced.

1 Juan Gonzalez

2 Mark McGwire

3 Albert Belle

4 Cal Ripken, Jr.

5 Chuck Knoblauch

6 Jeff Bagwell

7 Roger Clemens

8 Barry Bonds

9 Ken Griffey, Jr.

10 Greg Maddux

11 Derek Jeter

12 Frank Thomas

13 Mo Vaughn

14 Hideo Nomo

15 Mike Piazza

16 Darin Erstad

17 Tony Gwynn

18 Alex Rodriguez

19 Chipper Jones

20 Larry Walker

Epix

Because 1998 Pinnacle Certified was never officially released, each player in the Epix set had a missing version that was supposed to be inserted in Pinnacle Certfied packs. However, the PBF introduced these missing Epix Moment, Season, Play, or Game versions that people believed to have never been produced, printed, or distributed. Please see our separate article on 1998 Pinnacle Epix for a checklist of these cards.