1997 Pinnacle

Description

1997 Pinnacle was a 200-card, single-series set released in February, 1997. Similar to previous years, each base card featured a borderless color photo with a gold foil design at the bottom or side (for landscape-oriented cards) portion of the card front - this year, the design housed the player name plate and depicted a baseball diamond with the foul territory portion covered with famous last names from that franchise's history. New for '97, each base card was printed on a thicker gauge of cardstock.

There were two subsets and Checklists at the end of the set:

• Rookies
• Clout

There were no notable Rookie Cards in the set.

There were plans for a second 200-card series, but a Series Two was replaced with an entire new product offering, 1997 New Pinnacle. Many star players were originally planned to feature in Series Two and because of this, these players did not have a base card but instead appeared in the "Clout" subset only.

Distribution

Hobby/Retail: 24 packs per box, 10 cards per pack (MSRP: $2.49).

Magazine: 24 packs per box, seven cards per pack (MSRP: $1.99)

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds	Retail Odds	Magazine Odds
Base	200	-	?	?	?
Museum Collection	200	-	1:9	1:9	1:13
Artist's Proof	200	-	1:47	1:47	1:55
Team Pinnacle	10	-	1:90	1:90	?
Passport to the Majors	25	-	1:36	1:36	?
Cardfrontations	20	-	1:23	N/A	N/A
Shades	10	-	N/A	1:23	N/A
Home/Away	24	-	N/A	N/A	1:33

Checklist

Base Set

• 1 Cecil Fielder
• 2 Garret Anderson
• 3 Charles Nagy
• 4 Darryl Hamilton
• 5 Greg Myers
• 6 Eric Davis
• 7 Jeff Frye
• 8 Marquis Grissom
• 9 Curt Schilling
• 10 Jeff Fassero
• 11 Alan Benes
• 12 Orlando Miller
• 13 Alex Fernandez
• 14 Andy Pettitte
• 15 Andre Dawson
• 16 Mark Grudzielanek
• 17 Joe Vitiello
• 18 Juan Gonzalez
• 19 Mark Whiten
• 20 Lance Johnson
• 21 Trevor Hoffman
• 22 Marc Newfield
• 23 Jim Eisenreich
• 24 Joe Carter
• 25 Jose Canseco
• 26 Bill Swift
• 27 Ellis Burks
• 28 Ben McDonald
• 29 Edgar Martinez
• 30 Jamie Moyer
• 31 Chan Ho Park
• 32 Carlos Delgado
• 33 Kevin Mitchell
• 34 Carlos Garcia
• 35 Darryl Strawberry
• 36 Jim Thome
• 37 Jose Offerman
• 38 Ryan Klesko
• 39 Ruben Sierra
• 40 Devon White
• 41 Brian Jordan
• 42 Tony Gwynn
• 43 Rafael Palmeiro
• 44 Dante Bichette
• 45 Scott Stahoviak
• 46 Roger Cedeno
• 47 Ivan Rodriguez
• 48 Bob Abreu
• 49 Darryl Kile
• 50 Darren Dreifort
• 51 Shawon Dunston
• 52 Mark McGwire
• 53 Tim Salmon
• 54 Gene Schall
• 55 Roger Clemens
• 56 Rondell White
• 57 Ed Sprague
• 58 Craig Paquette
• 59 David Segui
• 60 Jaime Navarro
• 61 Tom Glavine
• 62 Jeff Brantley
• 63 Kimera Bartee
• 64 Fernando Vina
• 65 Eddie Murray
• 66 Lenny Dykstra
• 67 Kevin Elster
• 68 Vinny Castilla
• 69 Mike Fetters
• 70 Brett Butler
• 71 Robby Thompson
• 72 Reggie Jefferson
• 73 Todd Hundley
• 74 Jeff King
• 75 Ernie Young
• 76 Jeff Bagwell
• 77 Dan Wilson
• 78 Paul Molitor
• 79 Kevin Seitzer
• 80 Kevin Brown
• 81 Ron Gant
• 82 Dwight Gooden
• 83 Todd Stottlemyre
• 84 Ken Caminiti
• 85 James Baldwin
• 86 Jermaine Dye
• 87 Harold Baines
• 88 Pat Hentgen
• 89 Frank Rodriguez
• 90 Mark Johnson
• 91 Jason Kendall
• 92 Alex Rodriguez
• 93 Alan Trammell
• 94 Scott Brosius
• 95 Delino DeShields
• 96 Chipper Jones
• 97 Barry Bonds
• 98 Brady Anderson
• 99 Ryne Sandberg
• 100 Albert Belle
• 101 Jeff Cirillo
• 102 Frank Thomas
• 103 Mike Piazza
• 104 Rickey Henderson
• 105 Rey Ordonez
• 106 Mark Grace
• 107 Terry Steinbach
• 108 Ray Durham
• 109 Barry Larkin
• 110 Tony Clark
• 111 Bernie Williams
• 112 John Smoltz
• 113 Moises Alou
• 114 Alex Gonzalez
• 115 Rico Brogna
• 116 Eric Karros
• 117 Jeff Conine
• 118 Todd Hollandsworth
• 119 Troy Percival
• 120 Paul Wilson
• 121 Orel Hershiser
• 122 Ozzie Smith
• 123 Dave Hollins
• 124 Ken Hill
• 125 Rick Wilkins
• 126 Scott Servais
• 127 Fernando Valenzuela
• 128 Mariano Rivera
• 129 Mark Loretta
• 130 Shane Reynolds
• 131 Darren Oliver
• 132 Steve Trachsel
• 133 Darren Bragg
• 134 Jason Dickson
• 135 Darrin Fletcher
• 136 Gary Gaetti
• 137 Joey Cora
• 138 Terry Pendleton
• 139 Derek Jeter
• 140 Danny Tartabull
• 141 John Flaherty
• 142 B.J. Surhoff
• 143 Mike Sweeney
• 144 Chad Mottola
• 145 Andujar Cedeno
• 146 Tim Belcher
• 147 Mark Thompson
• 148 Rafael Bournigal
• 149 Marty Cordova
• 150 Osvaldo Fernandez
• 151 Mike Stanley
• 152 Ricky Bottalico
• 153 Donne Wall
• 154 Omar Vizquel
• 155 Mike Mussina

Rookies

• 156 Brant Brown
• 157 F.P. Santangelo
• 158 Ryan Hancock
• 159 Jeff D'Amico
• 160 Luis Castillo
• 161 Darin Erstad
• 162 Ugueth Urbina
• 163 Andruw Jones
• 164 Steve Gibralter
• 165 Robin Jennings
• 166 Mike Cameron
• 167 George Arias
• 168 Chris Stynes
• 169 Justin Thompson
• 170 Jamey Wright
• 171 Todd Walker
• 172 Nomar Garciaparra
• 173 Jose Paniagua
• 174 Marvin Benard
• 175 Rocky Coppinger
• 176 Quinton McCracken
• 177 Amaury Telemaco
• 178 Neifi Perez
• 179 Todd Greene
• 180 Jason Thompson
• 181 Wilton Guerrero
• 182 Edgar Renteria
• 183 Billy Wagner
• 184 Alex Ochoa
• 185 Dmitri Young

Clout

• 186 Kenny Lofton
• 187 Andres Galarraga
• 188 Chuck Knoblauch
• 189 Greg Maddux
• 190 Mo Vaughn
• 191 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 192 Hideo Nomo
• 193 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 194 Sammy Sosa
• 195 Jay Buhner
• 196 Manny Ramirez
• 197 Matt Williams

Checklists

• 198 Andruw Jones
• 199 Darin Erstad
• 200 Trey Beamon

Parallels

Museum Collection

After a one-year hiatus in name, the "Museum Collection" moniker returned. All 200 base cards were available in a Museum Collection parallel and utilized the same photo and design as the base set but featured a Dufex finish that emanated from the gold foil baseball diamond design.

Artist's Proof

All 200 cards were also available in an Artist's Proof parallel. Following a similar structure to the 1997 Finest brand, the Artist's Proof parallel set was "fractured" into three different groups, represented by the color of Dufex finish:

• 125 Bronze Artist's Proofs
• 50 Silver Artist's Proofs
• 25 Gold Artist's Proofs (print run of 300 copies)

Gold Artist's Proofs are scarcest and had an announced print run of only 300 non serial-numbered copies; the Silver Artist's Proofs were the second hardest to pull and the Bronze Artist's Proofs were the least scarce of the three. All three shared the same Artist's Proof logo on front.

• PP1 Cecil Fielder B
• PP2 Garret Anderson B
• PP3 Charles Nagy B
• PP4 Darryl Hamilton B
• PP5 Greg Myers B
• PP6 Eric Davis B
• PP7 Jeff Frye B
• PP8 Marquis Grissom S
• PP9 Curt Schilling B
• PP10 Jeff Fassero B
• PP11 Alan Benes S
• PP12 Orlando Miller B
• PP13 Alex Fernandez B
• PP14 Andy Pettitte G 300
• PP15 Andre Dawson B
• PP16 Mark Grudzielanek B
• PP17 Joe Vitiello B
• PP18 Juan Gonzalez G 300
• PP19 Mark Whiten B
• PP20 Lance Johnson B
• PP21 Trevor Hoffman B
• PP22 Marc Newfield B
• PP23 Jim Eisenreich B
• PP24 Joe Carter S
• PP25 Jose Canseco S
• PP26 Bill Swift B
• PP27 Ellis Burks B
• PP28 Ben McDonald B
• PP29 Edgar Martinez S
• PP30 Jamie Moyer B
• PP31 Chan Ho Park S
• PP32 Carlos Delgado S
• PP33 Kevin Mitchell B
• PP34 Carlos Garcia B
• PP35 Darryl Strawberry G 300
• PP36 Jim Thome G 300
• PP37 Jose Offerman B
• PP38 Ryan Klesko S
• PP39 Ruben Sierra B
• PP40 Devon White B
• PP41 Brian Jordan G 300
• PP42 Tony Gwynn S
• PP43 Rafael Palmeiro S
• PP44 Dante Bichette B
• PP45 Scott Stahoviak B
• PP46 Roger Cedeno B
• PP47 Ivan Rodriguez G 300
• PP48 Bob Abreu S
• PP49 Darryl Kile B
• PP50 Darren Dreifort B
• PP51 Shawon Dunston B
• PP52 Mark McGwire S
• PP53 Tim Salmon S
• PP54 Gene Schall B
• PP55 Roger Clemens B
• PP56 Rondell White S
• PP57 Ed Sprague B
• PP58 Craig Paquette B
• PP59 David Segui B
• PP60 Jaime Navarro B
• PP61 Tom Glavine S
• PP62 Jeff Brantley B
• PP63 Kimera Bartee B
• PP64 Fernando Vina B
• PP65 Eddie Murray S
• PP66 Lenny Dykstra B
• PP67 Kevin Elster B
• PP68 Vinny Castilla B
• PP69 Mike Fetters S
• PP70 Brett Butler B
• PP71 Robby Thompson B
• PP72 Reggie Jefferson B
• PP73 Todd Hundley S
• PP74 Jeff King B
• PP75 Ernie Young S
• PP76 Jeff Bagwell G 300
• PP77 Dan Wilson B
• PP78 Paul Molitor G 300
• PP79 Kevin Seitzer B
• PP80 Kevin Brown S
• PP81 Ron Gant S
• PP82 Dwight Gooden S
• PP83 Todd Stottlemyre B
• PP84 Ken Caminiti G 300
• PP85 James Baldwin B
• PP86 Jermaine Dye S
• PP87 Harold Baines B
• PP88 Pat Hentgen B
• PP89 Frank Rodriguez B
• PP90 Mark Johnson B
• PP91 Jason Kendall S
• PP92 Alex Rodriguez G 300
• PP93 Alan Trammell B
• PP94 Scott Brosius B
• PP95 Delino DeShields B
• PP96 Chipper Jones S
• PP97 Barry Bonds S
• PP98 Brady Anderson S
• PP99 Ryne Sandberg S
• PP100 Albert Belle G 300
• PP101 Jeff Cirillo B
• PP102 Frank Thomas G 300
• PP103 Mike Piazza S
• PP104 Rickey Henderson B
• PP105 Rey Ordonez S
• PP106 Mark Grace S
• PP107 Terry Steinbach B
• PP108 Ray Durham B
• PP109 Barry Larkin S
• PP110 Tony Clark S
• PP111 Bernie Williams G 300
• PP112 John Smoltz G 300
• PP113 Moises Alou B
• PP114 Alex Gonzalez B
• PP115 Rico Brogna B
• PP116 Eric Karros B
• PP117 Jeff Conine S
• PP118 Todd Hollandsworth G 300
• PP119 Troy Percival S
• PP120 Paul Wilson S
• PP121 Orel Hershiser B
• PP122 Ozzie Smith S
• PP123 Dave Hollins B
• PP124 Ken Hill B
• PP125 Rick Wilkins B
• PP126 Scott Servais B
• PP127 Fernando Valenzuela B
• PP128 Mariano Rivera G 300
• PP129 Mark Loretta B
• PP130 Shane Reynolds S
• PP131 Darren Oliver B
• PP132 Steve Trachsel B
• PP133 Darren Bragg B
• PP134 Jason Dickson B
• PP135 Darren Fletcher B
• PP136 Gary Gaetti B
• PP137 Joey Cora B
• PP138 Terry Pendleton B
• PP139 Derek Jeter G 300
• PP140 Danny Tartabull B
• PP141 John Flaherty B
• PP142 B.J. Surhoff B
• PP143 Mike Sweeney B
• PP144 Chad Mottola B
• PP145 Andujar Cedeno B
• PP146 Tim Belcher B
• PP147 Mark Thompson B
• PP148 Rafael Bournigal B
• PP149 Marty Cordova S
• PP150 Osvaldo Fernandez B
• PP151 Mike Stanley B
• PP152 Ricky Bottalico B
• PP153 Donne Wall B
• PP154 Omar Vizquel B
• PP155 Mike Mussina S
• PP156 Brant Brown B
• PP157 F.P. Santangelo S
• PP158 Ryan Hancock B
• PP159 Jeff D'Amico B
• PP160 Luis Castillo B
• PP161 Darin Erstad G 300
• PP162 Ugueth Urbina B
• PP163 Andruw Jones G 300
• PP164 Steve Gibralter B
• PP165 Robin Jennings S
• PP166 Mike Cameron B
• PP167 George Arias S
• PP168 Chris Stynes B
• PP169 Justin Thompson B
• PP170 Jamey Wright B
• PP171 Todd Walker G 300
• PP172 Nomar Garciaparra B
• PP173 Jose Paniagua B
• PP174 Marvin Benard B
• PP175 Rocky Coppinger B
• PP176 Quinton McCracken B
• PP177 Amaury Telemaco B
• PP178 Neifi Perez B
• PP179 Todd Greene B
• PP180 Jason Thompson B
• PP181 Wilton Guerrero B
• PP182 Edgar Renteria S
• PP183 Billy Wagner S
• PP184 Alex Ochoa G 300
• PP185 Dmitri Young B
• PP186 Kenny Lofton B
• PP187 Andres Galarraga B
• PP188 Chuck Knoblauch G 300
• PP189 Greg Maddux S
• PP190 Mo Vaughn S
• PP191 Cal Ripken, Jr. G 300
• PP192 Hideo Nomo S
• PP193 Ken Griffey, Jr. G 300
• PP194 Sammy Sosa S
• PP195 Jay Buhner S
• PP196 Manny Ramirez G 300
• PP197 Matt Williams B
• PP198 Andruw Jones B
• PP199 Darin Erstad B
• PP200 Trey Beamon CL

Press Plate Previews

To promote the new press plate concept that was eventually introduced in the 1997 New Pinnacle release, press plates that were used to print cards from the 1997 Pinnacle set were distributed within sealed cases of 1997 New Pinnacle. Each press plate was hand serial numbered and spelled out (e.g., "Forty Six", rather than "46") and the cases were serial-numbered as well. Dealers lucky enough to have been sent a case where the serial number on the case matched the serial number on the press plate would win a prize for their store.

There were Press Plate Preview "parallels" of all 200 base cards and all 10 Shades inserts; thus, a total of 1680 Press Plate Preview cards were distributed. Each card has 8 press plates - four "front" plates of different colors and four "back" plates of different colors:

• Front Cyan
• Front Magenta
• Front Yellow
• Front Black

• Back Cyan
• Back Magenta
• Back Yellow
• Back Black

Inserts

Team Pinnacle

For the sixth consecutive year, Pinnacle featured their flagship insert, this time on a landscape-oriented, silver, yellow, and orange-colored baseball background design that had a Dufex finish. This 10-card set included Pinnacle's picks for the top players at each position with an American League player on one side and a National League player on the the other. Similar to the previous year's iteration of this set, there is only one version of each card: the front of each card (which had the National League player) featured the Dufex finish but the back of the card (American Leaguer) did not feature any Dufex foil; thus, there is no version featuring a Dufex finish on both sides of the card.

The tenth card in the set featured all 18 players featured in the insert with a similar design structure: all nine National Leaguers front, all nine American Leaguers on the back, and the front of the card featured a Dufex finish.

• 1 Frank Thomas / Jeff Bagwell
• 2 Chuck Knoblauch / Eric Young
• 3 Ken Caminiti / Jim Thome
• 4 Alex Rodriguez / Chipper Jones
• 5 Mike Piazza / Ivan Rodriguez
• 6 Barry Bonds / Albert Belle
• 7 Ken Griffey, Jr. / Ellis Burks
• 8 Juan Gonzalez / Gary Sheffield
• 9 John Smoltz / Andy Pettitte
• 10 All 18 players

Passport to the Majors

This 25-card set honored the rise to fame of some of baseball's most high profile superstars on a black die-cut, bi-fold card design that resembled a Passport and folded outwards.

• 1 Greg Maddux
• 2 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 3 Frank Thomas
• 4 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 5 Mike Piazza
• 6 Alex Rodriguez
• 7 Mo Vaughn
• 8 Chipper Jones
• 9 Roberto Alomar
• 10 Edgar Martinez
• 11 Javy Lopez
• 12 Ivan Rodriguez
• 13 Juan Gonzalez
• 14 Carlos Baerga
• 15 Sammy Sosa
• 16 Manny Ramirez
• 17 Raul Mondesi
• 18 Henry Rodriguez
• 19 Rafael Palmeiro
• 20 Rey Ordonez
• 21 Hideo Nomo
• 22 Mac Suzuki
• 23 Chan Ho Park
• 24 Larry Walker
• 25 Ruben Rivera

Cardfrontation

This 20-card set highlighted theoretical batter/pitcher matchups in the game on a "dual-front" card that featured a top hitter one side and his opponent pitcher on the other. The front/hitter side of the card featured a holographic orange and black finish while the back of the card had a regular glossy finish. Out of the pack, both sides were covered with an opaque "peel and reveal" protective cover that had to be removed, similar to the Mystery Finest inserts from the Topps Finest brand. This set was exclusive to Hobby packs only.

• 1 Mike Piazza / Greg Maddux
• 2 Tom Glavine / Ken Caminiti
• 3 Cal Ripken, Jr. / Randy Johnson
• 4 Mark McGwire / Kevin Appier
• 5 Juan Gonzalez / Andy Pettitte
• 6 Albert Belle / Pat Hentgen
• 7 Chipper Jones / Hideo Nomo
• 8 Sammy Sosa / Ismael Valdes
• 9 Mike Mussina / Manny Ramirez
• 10 Jay Buhner / David Cone
• 11 Mark Wohlers / Gary Sheffield
• 12 Barry Bonds / Andy Benes
• 13 Ivan Rodriguez / Roger Clemens
• 14 Ken Griffey, Jr. / Mariano Rivera
• 15 Frank Thomas / Dwight Gooden
• 16 Darin Erstad / John Wetteland
• 17 John Smoltz / Brian Jordan
• 18 Jeff Bagwell / Kevin Brown
• 19 Alex Rodriguez / Jack McDowell
• 20 Charles Nagy / Bernie Williams

Shades

This 10-card included some of the most popular players in the game on a black and grey die-cut, "mirror mylar" foil finish that featured the player's pictures appearing in the lens on a pair of sunglasses. This set was exclusive to Retail packs only.

Press Plate versions of all cards in this insert set (front and back) exist.

• 1 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 2 Juan Gonzalez
• 3 John Smoltz
• 4 Gary Sheffield
• 5 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 6 Mo Vaughn
• 7 Brian Jordan
• 8 Mike Piazza
• 9 Frank Thomas
• 10 Alex Rodriguez

Home/Away

This 24-card set featured 12 of the top players in the game on a card that was die-cut into the shape of the player's home or away jersey. "Home" jersey cards had even-number sequential ordering and "Away" jersey cards had odd-number sequential ordering. This set was exclusive to Magazine packs. While never confirmed by Pinnacle Brands, Inc., some collectors speculate that the Home cards were short-printed.

• 1 Chipper Jones
• 2 Chipper Jones
• 3 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 5 Mike Piazza
• 6 Mike Piazza
• 7 Frank Thomas
• 8 Frank Thomas
• 9 Jeff Bagwell
• 10 Jeff Bagwell
• 11 Alex Rodriguez
• 12 Alex Rodriguez
• 13 Barry Bonds
• 14 Barry Bonds
• 15 Mo Vaughn
• 16 Mo Vaughn
• 17 Derek Jeter
• 18 Derek Jeter
• 19 Mark McGwire
• 20 Mark McGwire
• 21 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 22 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 23 Albert Belle
• 24 Albert Belle