Description

1996 Leaf is a 220-card set released in May, 1996. For the first time, Leaf was released as a single-series. The main selling point was the large number of serial-numbered inserts.

Distribution

There were three different products of 1996 Leaf Baseball.

Hobby Box - 30 Packs.

Retail Box Version 1 - 36 Packs.

Retail Box Version 2 - 24 Packs.

The marketing purpose behind the smaller 24-Count/Pack Box production isn't clear. It was not a "jumbo" version, as packs held the same number of cards as the larger Retail product. And it was definitely a product destined for the retail market because boxes offered the Hats Off inserts.

Reviews

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Hobby Odds	Retail Odds
Base	220	-	?	?
Bronze Press Proof	220	2000	PP	PP
Silver Press Proof	220	1000	PP	PP
Gold Press Proof	220	500	PP	PP
MVP Contenders	20	-	1:8	1:8
22K Gold Leaf Stars	15	2500	1:190	1:190
Hats Off	8	5000	N/A	1:72
Picture Perfect	12	5000	1:140	1:140
Statistical Standouts	8	2500	1:210	N/A
Total Bases	12	5000	1:72	N/A
Frank Thomas Greatest Hits	7	5000	1:210	1:210

PP: Odds of finding any Press Proof: 1:10/packs.

Checklist

Base Set

1 John Smoltz
2 Dennis Eckersley
3 Delino DeShields
4 Cliff Floyd
5 Chuck Finley
6 Cecil Fielder
7 Tim Naehring
8 Carlos Perez
9 Brad Ausmus
10 Matt Lawton RC
11 Alan Trammell
12 Steve Finley
13 Paul O'Neill
14 Gary Sheffield
15 Mark McGwire
16 Bernie Williams
17 Jeff Montgomery
18 Chan Ho Park
19 Greg Vaughn
20 Jeff Kent
21 Cal Ripken, Jr.
22 Charles Johnson
23 Eric Karros
24 Alex Rodriguez
25 Chris Snopek
26 Jason Isringhausen
27 Chili Davis
28 Chipper Jones
29 Bret Saberhagen
30 Tony Clark
31 Marty Cordova
32 Dwayne Hosey
33 Fred McGriff
34 Deion Sanders
35 Orlando Merced
36 Brady Anderson
37 Ray Lankford
38 Manny Ramirez
39 Alex Fernandez
40 Greg Colbrunn
41 Ken Griffey, Jr.
42 Mickey Morandini
43 Chuck Knoblauch
44 Quinton McCracken
45 Tim Salmon
46 Jose Mesa
47 Marquis Grissom
48 Greg Maddux / Randy Johnson CL
49 Raul Mondesi
50 Mark Grudzielanek
51 Ray Durham
52 Matt Williams
53 Bob Hamelin
54 Lenny Dykstra
55 Jeff King
56 LaTroy Hawkins
57 Terry Pendleton
58 Kevin Stocker
59 Ozzie Timmons
60 Dave Justice
61 Ricky Bottalico
62 Andy Ashby
63 Larry Walker
64 Jose Canseco
65 Bret Boone
66 Shawn Green
67 Chad Curtis
68 Travis Fryman
69 Roger Clemens
70 David Bell
71 Rusty Greer
72 Bob Higginson
73 Joey Hamilton
74 Kevin Seitzer
75 Julian Tavarez
76 Troy Percival
77 Kirby Puckett
78 Barry Bonds
79 Michael Tucker
80 Paul Molitor
81 Carlos Garcia
82 Johnny Damon
83 Mike Hampton
84 Ariel Prieto
85 Tony Tarasco
86 Pete Schourek
87 Tom Glavine
88 Rondell White
89 Jim Edmonds
90 Robby Thompson
91 Wade Boggs
92 Pedro Martinez
93 Gregg Jefferies
94 Albert Belle
95 Benji Gil
96 Denny Neagle
97 Mark Langston
98 Sandy Alomar
99 Tony Gwynn
100 Todd Hundley
101 Dante Bichette
102 Eddie Murray
103 Lyle Mouton
104 John Jaha
105 Barry Larkin / Mo Vaughn CL
106 Jon Nunnally
107 Juan Gonzalez
108 Kevin Appier
109 Brian McRae
110 Lee Smith
111 Tim Wakefield
112 Sammy Sosa
113 Jay Buhner
114 Garret Anderson
115 Edgar Martinez
116 Edgardo Alfonzo
117 Billy Ashley
118 Joe Carter
119 Javy Lopez
120 Bobby Bonilla
121 Ken Caminiti
122 Barry Larkin
123 Shannon Stewart
124 Orel Hershiser
125 Jeff Conine
126 Mark Grace
127 Kenny Lofton
128 Luis Gonzalez
129 Rico Brogna
130 Mo Vaughn
131 Brad Radke
132 Jose Herrera
133 Rick Aguilera
134 Gary DiSarcina
135 Andres Galarraga
136 Carl Everett
137 Steve Avery
138 Vinny Castilla
139 Dennis Martinez
140 John Wetteland
141 Alex Gonzalez
142 Brian Jordan
143 Todd Hollandsworth
144 Terrell Wade
145 Wilson Alvarez
146 Reggie Sanders
147 Will Clark
148 Hideo Nomo
149 J.T. Snow
150 Frank Thomas
151 Ivan Rodriguez
152 Jay Bell
153 Hideo Nomo / Marty Cordova CL
154 David Cone
155 Roberto Alomar
156 Carlos Delgado
157 Carlos Baerga
158 Geronimo Berroa
159 Joe Vitiello
160 Terry Steinbach
161 Doug Drabek
162 David Segui
163 Ozzie Smith
164 Kurt Abbott
165 Randy Johnson
166 John Valentin
167 Mickey Tettleton
168 Ruben Sierra
169 Jim Thome
170 Mike Greenwell
171 Quilvio Veras
172 Robin Ventura
173 Bill Pulsipher
174 Rafael Palmeiro
175 Hal Morris
176 Ryan Klesko
177 Eric Young
178 Shane Andrews
179 Brian L. Hunter
180 Brett Butler
181 John Olerud
182 Moises Alou
183 Glenallen Hill
184 Ismael Valdes
185 Andy Pettitte
186 Yamil Benitez
187 Jason Bere
188 Dean Palmer
189 Jimmy Haynes
190 Trevor Hoffman
191 Mike Mussina
192 Greg Maddux
193 Ozzie Guillen
194 Pat Listach
195 Derek Bell
196 Darren Daulton
197 John Mabry
198 Ramon Martinez
199 Jeff Bagwell
200 Mike Piazza
201 Al Martin
202 Aaron Sele
203 Ed Sprague
204 Rod Beck
205 Tony Gwynn / Edgar Martinez CL
206 Mike Lansing
207 Craig Biggio
208 Jeffrey Hammonds
209 Dave Nilsson
210 Dante Bichette / Albert Belle CL
211 Derek Jeter
212 Alan Benes
213 Jason Schmidt
214 Alex Ochoa
215 Ruben Rivera
216 Roger Cedeno
217 Jeff Suppan
218 Billy Wagner
219 Mark Loretta
220 Karim Garcia

Parallels

Press Proof

Randomly inserted into packs at the rate of 1:10 contained one of the following Press Proof parallels:

Bronze (limited to 2000 copies)

Silver (limited to 1000 copies)

Gold (limited to 500 copies)

Each Press Proof was printed with holographic foil with the "Leaf 96" logo stamped in either Gold, Silver, or Bronze foil. The cards are NOT serial-numbered, and the words "PRESS PROOF" appear nowhere on the card.

Inserts

All-Star Game MVP Contenders

This 20 card set features possible contenders for the MVP at the 1996 All-Star Game held in Philadelphia. If the player on the front of the card won the MVP Award (which turned out to be Mike Piazza), the holder could send it in for one of 5000 Gold MVP Contenders sets. The backs of each card carry the instructions on how to redeem the card. The Piazza card when returned with the redemption set had a hole in it to indicate the set had been redeemed.

Curiously, the backs of the Gold cards have the same information on how to redeem winning cards.

1 Frank Thomas
2 Mike Piazza
3 Sammy Sosa
4 Cal Ripken, Jr.
5 Jeff Bagwell
6 Reggie Sanders
7 Mo Vaughn
8 Tony Gwynn
9 Dante Bichette
10 Tim Salmon
11 Chipper Jones
12 Kenny Lofton
13 Manny Ramirez
14 Barry Bonds
15 Raul Mondesi
16 Kirby Puckett
17 Albert Belle
18 Ken Griffey, Jr.
19 Greg Maddux
20 Bonus Card

Gold Stars

This 15-card set honors some of the games great players on 22 karat gold trim cards. Only 2500 serial-numbered cards of each player were printed.

1 Frank Thomas
2 Dante Bichette
3 Sammy Sosa
4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
5 Mike Piazza
6 Tim Salmon
7 Hideo Nomo
8 Cal Ripken, Jr.
9 Chipper Jones
10 Albert Belle
11 Tony Gwynn
12 Mo Vaughn
13 Barry Larkin
14 Manny Ramirez
15 Greg Maddux

Hats Off

This eight-card set was printed and embossed on a wool-like material with the feel of a Major League ball cap. Only 5000 copies of each card was produced and is exclusive to retail packs.

1 Cal Ripken, Jr.
2 Barry Larkin
3 Frank Thomas
4 Mo Vaughn
5 Ken Griffey, Jr.
6 Hideo Nomo
7 Albert Belle
8 Greg Maddux

Picture Perfect

This 12-card set is printed on real wood with gold foil trim. Cards 1-6 are exclusive to Hobby packs, 7-12 to retail. Only 5000 serial-numbered copies of each card were printed.

One of twelve different Picture Perfect Promo cards was inserted into 1996 Leaf dealer order forms and hobby media press releases. The cards parallel the standard Picture Perfect inserts except for the text "promotional card" running diagonally across the front of the card and "PROMO/5000" text on back.

1 Frank Thomas
2 Cal Ripken, Jr.
3 Greg Maddux
4 Manny Ramirez
5 Chipper Jones
6 Tony Gwynn
7 Ken Griffey, Jr.
8 Albert Belle
9 Jeff Bagwell
10 Mike Piazza
11 Mo Vaughn
12 Barry Bonds

Statistical Standouts

Exclusive to Hobby packs, this eight-card set features players who stood out statistically. The cards were printed on a material with the feel of the leather that's between the seams or stitches of a baseball. Only 2500 copies of each card was printed and each is numbered individually on the back.

1 Cal Ripken, Jr.
2 Tony Gwynn
3 Frank Thomas
4 Ken Griffey, Jr.
5 Hideo Nomo
6 Greg Maddux
7 Albert Belle
8 Chipper Jones

Total Bases

This 12-card, Hobby exclusive, set is printed on canvas and features the top offensive stars. Only 5000 serial-numbered copies of each card were produced.

One of twelve different Total Bases Promo cards was inserted into 1996 Leaf dealer order forms and hobby media press releases. The cards parallel the standard Total Bases inserts except for the text "promotional card" running diagonally across the front of the card and "PROMO/5000" text on back.

1 Frank Thomas
2 Albert Belle
3 Rafael Palmeiro
4 Barry Bonds
5 Kirby Puckett
6 Joe Carter
7 Paul Molitor
8 Fred McGriff
9 Ken Griffey, Jr.
10 Carlos Baerga
11 Juan Gonzalez
12 Cal Ripken, Jr.

Frank Thomas Greatest Hits

This eight-card set feature the statistical highlights of Frank Thomas. The cards are printed on acetate and are die-cut to look like a compact disc. Cards 1-4 were randomly inserted into Hobby packs, 5-7 in retail, and card #8 was made available through a wrapper redemption offer. Each card is serial-numbered to 5000 copies.

1 Frank Thomas Hobby
2 Frank Thomas Hobby
3 Frank Thomas Hobby
4 Frank Thomas Hobby
5 Frank Thomas Retail
6 Frank Thomas Retail
7 Frank Thomas Retail
8 Frank Thomas EXCH