1997 Zenith

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)

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	1:99

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
• 17 Derek Jeter
• 19 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 13 Alex Rodriguez Dufex

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 Javy 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, Jr.
• 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 partially-parallel 24 cards in the base set. One card is printed on glossy cardboard, the other on Dufex.

• 1 Frank Thomas
• 2 Tony Gwynn
• 3 Jeff Bagwell
• 4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 5 Mike Piazza
• 6 Greg Maddux
• 7 Ken Caminiti
• 8 Albert Belle
• 9 Ivan Rodriguez
• 10 Sammy Sosa
• 11 Mark McGwire
• 12 Roger Clemens
• 13 Alex Rodriguez
• 14 Chipper Jones
• 15 Juan Gonzalez
• 16 Barry Bonds
• 17 Derek Jeter
• 18 Hideo Nomo
• 19 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 20 Hideki Irabu
• 21 Andruw Jones
• 22 Nomar Garciaparra
• 23 Vladimir Guerrero
• 24 Scott Rolen

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, Jr.
• 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, Jr.
• 7 Derek Jeter
• 8 Andruw Jones
• 9 Roger Clemens

Zenith
Pinnacle Brands Era: 1995 - 1996 - 1997 - 1998
Donruss-Playoff Era: 2005