1997 Pinnacle Inside

Description

1997 Pinnacle Inside was a 150-card set that is best remembered for the way it was packaged and distributed, rather than for the actual cards in the set: each 10-card "pack" was housed inside a cellophane wrapper and placed inside one of 24 different collectible player soup cans and thus to open the "pack," collectors needed to use a can opener. Pinnacle-branded can openers were distributed to hobby dealers as part of a promotional display kit which also included a Ryan Klesko promo card and sign.

24 players in the set were featured on the soup cans, making the can itself a collectible item, opened or unopened. Because of this, player and set collectors commonly objected to the "cards in a can" concept due to the possibility that hard to find cards (e.g., the Diamond Edition parallel) could still be housed in unopened cans that other collectors bought for display only.

This concept of distributing a base set through soup cans was the first of its kind (and imitated by card companies in the future) and was a gimmick Pinnacle Brands, Inc. used to market the product and distinguish it from other baseball card offerings on a Hobby shelf or retail store section. However, this marketing idea backfired as the presentation was large and took up space, which made the product difficult to display in card stores/shows or keep on retail store shelves.

There was one subset - Rookies - and Checklists at the end of the set.

There were no notable Rookie Cards in this set.

Distribution

24 cans per case, ten cards per can (MSRP: $2.99).

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Base	150	-	?
Club Edition	150	-	1:7
Diamond Edition	150	-	1:63
Dueling Dugouts	20	-	1:23
40 Something	16	-	1:47

Checklist

Promo

A promotional package containing a Ryan Klesko card, a Ryan Klesko can (marked SAMPLE), and a can opener was sent to dealers to promote the Pinnacle Inside set.

Base Set

• 1 David Cone
• 2 Sammy Sosa
• 3 Joe Carter
• 4 Juan Gonzalez
• 5 Hideo Nomo
• 6 Moises Alou
• 7 Marc Newfield
• 8 Alex Rodriguez
• 9 Kimera Bartee
• 10 Chuck Knoblauch
• 11 Jason Isringhausen
• 12 Jermaine Allensworth
• 13 Frank Thomas
• 14 Paul Molitor
• 15 John Mabry
• 16 Greg Maddux
• 17 Rafael Palmeiro
• 18 Brian Jordan
• 19 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 20 Brady Anderson
• 21 Ruben Sierra
• 22 Travis Fryman
• 23 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 24 Will Clark
• 25 Todd Hollandsworth
• 26 Kevin Brown
• 27 Mike Piazza
• 28 Craig Biggio
• 29 Paul Wilson
• 30 Andres Galarraga
• 31 Chipper Jones
• 32 Jason Giambi
• 33 Ernie Young
• 34 Marty Cordova
• 35 Albert Belle
• 36 Roger Clemens
• 37 Ryne Sandberg
• 38 Henry Rodriguez
• 39 Jay Buhner
• 40 Raul Mondesi
• 41 Jeff Fassero
• 42 Edgar Martinez
• 43 Trey Beamon
• 44 Mo Vaughn
• 45 Gary Sheffield
• 46 Ray Durham
• 47 Brett Butler
• 48 Ivan Rodriguez
• 49 Fred McGriff
• 50 Dean Palmer
• 51 Rickey Henderson
• 52 Andy Pettitte
• 53 Bobby Bonilla
• 54 Shawn Green
• 55 Tino Martinez
• 56 Tony Gwynn
• 57 Tom Glavine
• 58 Eric Young
• 59 Kevin Appier
• 60 Barry Bonds
• 61 Wade Boggs
• 62 Jason Kendall
• 63 Jeff Bagwell
• 64 Jeff Conine
• 65 Greg Vaughn
• 66 Eric Karros
• 67 Manny Ramirez
• 68 John Smoltz
• 69 Terrell Wade
• 70 John Wetteland
• 71 Kenny Lofton
• 72 Jim Thome
• 73 Bill Pulsipher
• 74 Darryl Strawberry
• 75 Roberto Alomar
• 76 Bob Higginson
• 77 James Baldwin
• 78 Mark McGwire
• 79 Jose Canseco
• 80 Mark Grudzielanek
• 81 Ryan Klesko
• 82 Javy Lopez
• 83 Ken Caminiti
• 84 Dave Nilsson
• 85 Tim Salmon
• 86 Cecil Fielder
• 87 Derek Jeter
• 88 Garret Anderson
• 89 Dwight Gooden
• 90 Carlos Delgado
• 91 Ugueth Urbina
• 92 Chan Ho Park
• 93 Eddie Murray
• 94 Alex Ochoa
• 95 Rusty Greer
• 96 Mark Grace
• 97 Pat Hentgen
• 98 John Jaha
• 99 Charles Johnson
• 100 Jermaine Dye
• 101 Quinton McCracken
• 102 Troy Percival
• 103 Shane Reynolds
• 104 Rondell White
• 105 Charles Nagy
• 106 Alan Benes
• 107 Tom Goodwin
• 108 Ron Gant
• 109 Dan Wilson
• 110 Darin Erstad
• 111 Matt Williams
• 112 Barry Larkin
• 113 Mariano Rivera
• 114 Larry Walker
• 115 Jim Edmonds
• 116 Michael Tucker
• 117 Todd Hundley
• 118 Alex Fernandez
• 119 J.T. Snow
• 120 Ellis Burks
• 121 Steve Finley
• 122 Mike Mussina
• 123 Curtis Pride
• 124 Derek Bell
• 125 Dante Bichette
• 126 Terry Steinbach
• 127 Randy Johnson

Rookies

• 128 Andruw Jones
• 129 Vladimir Guerrero
• 130 Ruben Rivera
• 131 Billy Wagner
• 132 Scott Rolen
• 133 Rey Ordonez
• 134 Karim Garcia
• 135 George Arias
• 136 Todd Greene
• 137 Robin Jennings
• 138 Raul Casanova
• 139 Steve Gibralter
• 140 Edgar Renteria
• 141 Chad Mottola
• 142 Dmitri Young
• 143 Tony Clark
• 144 Todd Walker
• 145 Kevin Brown
• 146 Nomar Garciaparra
• 147 Neifi Perez

Checklists

• 148 Derek Jeter / Todd Hollandsworth
• 149 Pat Hentgen / John Smoltz
• 150 Juan Gonzalez / Ken Caminiti

Parallels

All 150 cards in the set were available in the following parallels:

• Club Edition
• Diamond Edition

Club Edition

Each Club Edition parallel utilized same photo and design as the base set but featured a foil finish and "CLUB EDITION" text on the back of the card.

Diamond Edition

Each Diamond Edition parallel utilized same photo and design as the base set but featured a foil finish, a holographic foil nameplate and Pinnacle Inside logo, and saw-like die-cutting on both edges of the card. These were marked "DIAMOND EDITION" on the back.

Inserts

Cans

Each pack of 1997 Pinnacle Inside came packaged inside one of 24 different cans. Each can featured replicas of base set cards printed directly on the metal, acting as the can label. In addition to the 10-card pack, each can also contained information about an opportunity to win a trip to visit a Major League team during their 1998 Spring Training.

• 1 Kenny Lofton
• 2 Frank Thomas
• 3 John Smoltz
• 4 Manny Ramirez
• 5 Alex Rodriguez
• 6 Barry Bonds
• 7 Mo Vaughn
• 8 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 9 Albert Belle
• 10 Greg Maddux
• 11 Juan Gonzalez
• 12 Andy Pettitte
• 13 Jeff Bagwell
• 14 Ryan Klesko
• 15 Chipper Jones
• 16 Derek Jeter
• 17 Ivan Rodriguez
• 18 Andruw Jones
• 19 Mike Piazza
• 20 Hideo Nomo
• 21 Ken Caminiti
• 22 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 23 Mark McGwire
• 24 Tony Gwynn

Dueling Dugouts

This 20-card set highlighted two star players (one player on each side of the card) with a spinning wheel insert between the front and back of the card that could be turned to reveal comparative statistics of the two players.

• 1 Cal Ripken, Jr. / Alex Rodriguez
• 2 Jeff Bagwell / Ken Caminiti
• 3 Barry Bonds / Albert Belle
• 4 Mike Piazza / Ivan Rodriguez
• 5 Chuck Knoblauch / Roberto Alomar
• 6 Ken Griffey, Jr. / Andruw Jones
• 7 Chipper Jones / Jim Thome
• 8 Frank Thomas / Mo Vaughn
• 9 Mark McGwire / Fred McGriff
• 10 Tony Gwynn / Brian Jordan
• 11 Derek Jeter / Barry Larkin
• 12 Kenny Lofton / Bernie Williams
• 13 Juan Gonzalez / Manny Ramirez
• 14 Will Clark / Rafael Palmeiro
• 15 Greg Maddux / Roger Clemens
• 16 John Smoltz / Andy Pettitte
• 17 Mariano Rivera / John Wetteland
• 18 Hideo Nomo / Mike Mussina
• 19 Darin Erstad / Todd Hollandsworth
• 20 Vladimir Guerrero / Karim Garcia

40 Something

This 16-card set recognized players that hit at least 40 home runs in the 1996 season on a foil background with gold foil accents.

• 1 Juan Gonzalez
• 2 Barry Bonds
• 3 Ken Caminiti
• 4 Mark McGwire
• 5 Todd Hundley
• 6 Albert Belle
• 7 Ellis Burks
• 8 Jay Buhner
• 9 Brady Anderson
• 10 Vinny Castilla
• 11 Mo Vaughn
• 12 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 13 Sammy Sosa
• 14 Andres Galarraga
• 15 Gary Sheffield
• 16 Frank Thomas