Description

1997 Zenith is a 50-card set, released by Pinnacle Brands in the Summer of 1997. In a radical, and not well-recevied, departure for the brand, each pack contained five standard-size base cards and two 8" X 10" cards with a suggested retail price of $9.99.

The set contains 42 established player cards and eight rookie cards (43-50).

Perhaps due to the high price, or the unpopularity of the over-sized cards, '97 Zenith did not sell well. About five years later, long after Pinnacle had gone out of business, boxes of late-90s era Pinnacle and Donruss cards began showing up at K-Mart stores nationwide, including surplus '97 Zenith boxes for only $9.99 a box.

Distribution

10 packs per box, 5 cards plus two over-sized cards per pack (MSRP: $9.99)

Reviews

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Base	50	-	5:1
8 X 10	24	-	1:1
8 X 10 Dufex	24	-	1:1
V-2	8	-	1:47
Z-Team	9	1000	?

Checklist

Promos

The Big Picture

These six 8" X 10" photos were released as promos to demonstrate what the 1997 Zenith 8 X 10's would look like. They have the notation "The Big Picture" at the bottom of the card.

A Dufex version of the Alex Rodriguez's card was also produced.

1 Frank Thomas

4 Ken Griffey, Jr.

5 Mike Piazza

13 Alex Rodriguez

13D Alex Rodriguez (Dufex)

17 Derek Jeter

19 Cal Ripken, Jr.

Base Set

1 Frank Thomas

2 Tony Gwynn

3 Jeff Bagwell

4 Paul Molitor

5 Roberto Alomar

6 Mike Piazza

7 Albert Belle

8 Greg Maddux

9 Barry Larkin

10 Tony Clark

11 Larry Walker

12 Chipper Jones

13 Juan Gonzalez

14 Barry Bonds

15 Ivan Rodriguez

16 Sammy Sosa

17 Derek Jeter

18 Hideo Nomo

19 Roger Clemens

20 Ken Griffey Jr.

21 Andy Pettitte

22 Alex Rodriguez

23 Tino Martinez

24 Bernie Williams

25 Ken Caminiti

26 John Smoltz

27 Javier Lopez

28 Mark McGwire

29 Gary Sheffield

30 David Justice

31 Randy Johnson

32 Chuck Knoblauch

33 Mike Mussina

34 Deion Sanders

35 Cal Ripken

36 Darin Erstad

37 Kenny Lofton

38 Jay Buhner

39 Brady Anderson

40 Edgar Martinez

41 Mo Vaughn

42 Ryne Sandberg

43 Andruw Jones

44 Nomar Garciaparra

45 Hideki Irabu RC

46 Wilton Guerrero

47 Jose Cruz Jr. RC

48 Vladimir Guerrero

49 Scott Rolen

50 Jose Guillen

Parallels

8 X 10

Each pack of 1997 Zenith had two over-sized cards, which parallel the first 24 cards in the base set. One card is printed on glossy cardboard, the other on Dufex.

Inserts

V-2

This eight-card, over-sized, set is produced using Lenticutar motion technology -- similar to that of Sportflix.

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Andruw Jones

3 Frank Thomas

4 Mike Piazza

5 Alex Rodriguez

6 Cal Ripken

7 Derek Jeter

8 Vladimir Guerrero

Z-Team

This nine-card, over-sized, set features an all-star caliber squad of players printed on full Mirror Gold Holographic Mylar foil card stock. Each card is serial-numbered to 1000 copies.

1 Ken Griffey Jr.

2 Larry Walker

3 Frank Thomas

4 Alex Rodriguez

5 Mike Piazza

6 Cal Ripken

7 Derek Jeter

8 Andruw Jones

9 Roger Clemens