1998 Pinnacle Certified

Description

1998 Pinnacle Certified was a proposed 150-card set, intended for release in early August, 1998. The product was never issued 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	-	?
Certified Red	150	-	1:3
Mirror Red	150	varies	1:39
Mirror Blue	150	varies	1:149
Mirror Gold	150	varies	1:299
Mirror Black	150	one-of-one	?
Totally Certified Platinum Red	10	4999	?
Totally Certified Platinum Blue	10	2499	?
Totally Certified Platinum Gold	10	30	?
Epix	24	-	1:13
Certified Destiny	10	-	1:9
Certified Gold Destiny	10	-	1:59
Certified Team	20	-	1:19
Certified Gold Team	20	-	1:119

Checklist

Base Set

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

Certified Future

• 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

Certified Legends

• 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.

Parallels

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
• Mirror Red
• Mirror Blue
• Mirror Gold

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.

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.

Totally Certified

According to the original sell sheet, the first ten cards of the 1998 Totally Certified Platinum Red, Blue, and Gold sets were to be inserted in 1998 Pinnacle Certified. As of 2022, only the Platinum Gold cards have emerged. There are Platinum Red, Blue, and Gold cards; however, these appear to be undistributed promo cards (see below).

According to the original sell sheet, the 1998 Totally Certified product, containing the remaining 140 cards, "will not ship until February (1999)." It is believed that, due to Pinnacle's bankruptcy in July/August 1998, those last 140 Totally Certified cards were never produced.

Platinum Gold

These are serially-numbered to 30, and all ten cards are known to exist. While it is unknown if all 30 sets were produced, one collector has documented the existence of 14 Darin Erstad Platinum Golds, with serial numbers ranging from 2/30 to 30/30.

Promos

What are believed to be promo cards from the Totally Certified Platinum Red, Platinum Blue, and Platinum Gold sets have emerged.

Platinum Red

Only three Platinum Red promo cards have surfaced. The Vladimir Guerrero is sheet cut/factory cut while the Jeter and Greer that surfaced are a two-card "panel" that has been cut from a sheet but are still attached to each other. These cards are marked "XXXX - 4999" on the back.

1 Vladimir Guerrero

9 Derek Jeter

10 Rusty Greer

Platinum Blue

Totally Certified Platinum Blue promos 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. These cards are marked "XXXX - 2499" on the back.

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

1 Vladimir Guerrero

2 Andruw Jones

3 Paul Molitor

Platinum Gold

As with the Platinum Red and Platinum Blue cards, a Platinum Gold promo card of Vladimir Guerrero has emerged. This card is marked "XXXX - 0300" on the reverse, which is a mistake, as the Platinum Gold parallels were to be numbered to 30 copies.

1 Vladimir Guerrero

Inserts

Certified Destiny & Certified Gold Destiny

This ten-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 six 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 ten 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

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

The same uncut sheet referenced above also contained two 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 fourth card that was supposed to be inserted in Pinnacle Certified packs. For years, it was assumed that, much like the rest of the 1998 Pinnacle Certified product, these cards were never produced. Thanks to the PBF, these Epix cards have finally seen the light of day. Please see our separate article on 1998 Pinnacle Epix for a checklist of these cards.