1997 Pinnacle X-Press

Description

1997 Pinnacle X-Press was a 150-card, single-series, entry-level set that only lasted one year before being re-branded the following year into 1998 Pinnacle Performers. The set was known for its "Swing for the Fences" game/contest for collectors. The majority of the base cards were printed with a landscape orientation and featured two player photos, gold-foil nameplates and Pinnacle logo, and a semi-bordered design accented with the player's team colors. The only base set cards that featured a portrait orientation were the Peak Performer subset cards.

There were 2 subsets and checklists at the end of the set:

• Rookies
• Peak Performer

Pinnacle X-Press utilized unique packaging as it was available in both a standard 24-pack box and a special home plate-shaped box, which were Hobby-exclusive. These Home Plate boxes contained one standard 8-card wax pack, an 8-card "Master Deck", a Swing for the Fences game card, and a randomly inserted Metal Works insert.

The two notable Rookie Cards in this set were of Jose Cruz, Jr. and Hideki Irabu.

Distribution

Wax: 24 packs per box, 8cards per pack (MSRP: $1.99)

Home Plate Box: One 8-card wax pack, one 8-card "Master Deck", one Swing for the Fences Base Number Home Run card, and one Metal Works insert. (MSRP: $14.99)

Insertion Ratios

Cards	Total Cards	Numbered To	Wax Odds	Master Deck Odds
Base	150	-	?	?
Men of Summer	150	-	1:7	one-per-pack
Swing for the Fences	60	-	1:2	1:2
Far & Away	18	-	1:19	1:5
Melting Pot	20	500	1:288	1:189
Bronze Metal Works	20	-	N/A	one-per-box
Silver Metal Works	20	400	1:470	1:54
Gold Metal Works	20	200	1:950	1:108

Checklist

Promos

All 20 cards from the Melting Pot insert were available as promos and were randomly sent to dealers to promote the Pinnacle X-Press product. The word "SAMPLE" is printed in large black ink on both the front and the back and are serial-numbered "000/500."

Base Set

• 1 Larry Walker
• 2 Andy Pettitte
• 3 Matt Williams
• 4 Juan Gonzalez
• 5 Frank Thomas
• 6 Kenny Lofton
• 7 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 8 Andres Galarraga
• 9 Greg Maddux
• 10 Hideo Nomo
• 11 Cecil Fielder
• 12 Jose Canseco
• 13 Tony Gwynn
• 14 Eddie Murray
• 15 Alex Rodriguez
• 16 Mike Piazza
• 17 Ken Hill
• 18 Chuck Knoblauch
• 19 Ellis Burks
• 20 Rafael Palmeiro
• 21 Vinny Castilla
• 22 Rusty Greer
• 23 Chipper Jones
• 24 Rey Ordonez
• 25 Mariano Rivera
• 26 Garret Anderson
• 27 Edgar Martinez
• 28 Dante Bichette
• 29 Todd Hundley
• 30 Barry Bonds
• 31 Barry Larkin
• 32 Derek Jeter
• 33 Marquis Grissom
• 34 Dave Justice
• 35 Ivan Rodriguez
• 36 Jay Buhner
• 37 Fred McGriff
• 38 Brady Anderson
• 39 Tony Clark
• 40 Eric Young
• 41 Charles Nagy
• 42 Mark McGwire
• 43 Paul O'Neill
• 44 Tino Martinez
• 45 Ryne Sandberg
• 46 Bernie Williams
• 47 Albert Belle
• 48 Jeff Cirillo
• 49 Tim Salmon
• 50 Steve Finley
• 51 Lance Johnson
• 52 John Smoltz
• 53 Javy Lopez
• 54 Roger Clemens
• 55 Kevin Appier
• 56 Ken Caminiti
• 57 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 58 Moises Alou
• 59 Marty Cordova
• 60 David Cone
• 61 Manny Ramirez
• 62 Ray Durham
• 63 Jermaine Dye
• 64 Craig Biggio
• 65 Will Clark
• 66 Omar Vizquel
• 67 Bernard Gilkey
• 68 Greg Vaughn
• 69 Wade Boggs
• 70 Dave Nilsson
• 71 Mark Grace
• 72 Dean Palmer
• 73 Sammy Sosa
• 74 Mike Mussina
• 75 Alex Fernandez
• 76 Henry Rodriguez
• 77 Travis Fryman
• 78 Jeff Bagwell
• 79 Pat Hentgen
• 80 Gary Sheffield
• 81 Jim Edmonds
• 82 Darin Erstad
• 83 Mark Grudzielanek
• 84 Jim Thome
• 85 Bob Higginson
• 86 Al Martin
• 87 Jason Giambi
• 88 Mo Vaughn
• 89 Jeff Conine
• 90 Edgar Renteria
• 91 Andy Ashby
• 92 Ryan Klesko
• 93 John Jaha
• 94 Paul Molitor
• 95 Brian Hunter
• 96 Randy Johnson
• 97 Joey Hamilton
• 98 Billy Wagner
• 99 John Wetteland
• 100 Jeff Fassero
• 101 Rondell White
• 102 Kevin Brown
• 103 Andy Benes
• 104 Raul Mondesi
• 105 Todd Hollandsworth
• 106 Alex Ochoa
• 107 Bobby Bonilla
• 108 Brian Jordan
• 109 Tom Glavine
• 110 Ron Gant
• 111 Jason Kendall
• 112 Roberto Alomar
• 113 Troy Percival
• 114 Michael Tucker
• 115 Joe Carter

1997 Rookie

• 117 Nomar Garciaparra
• 118 Todd Walker
• 119 Jose Guillen
• 120 Bubba Trammell RC
• 121 Wilton Guerrero
• 122 Bob Abreu
• 123 Vladimir Guerrero
• 124 Dmitri Young
• 125 Kevin Orie
• 126 Jose Cruz, Jr. RC
• 127 Brooks Kieschnick
• 128 Scott Spiezio
• 129 Brian Giles RC
• 130 Jason Dickson
• 131 Damon Mashore
• 132 Wendell Magee, Jr.
• 133 Matt Morris
• 134 Scott Rolen
• 135 Shannon Stewart
• 136 Deivi Cruz RC
• 137 Hideki Irabu RC

Peak Performer

• 138 Larry Walker
• 139 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 140 Frank Thomas
• 141 Ivan Rodriguez
• 142 Randy Johnson
• 143 Mark McGwire
• 144 Tino Martinez
• 145 Tony Clark
• 146 Mike Piazza
• 147 Alex Rodriguez

Checklists

• 148 Roger Clemens
• 149 Greg Maddux
• 150 Hideo Nomo

Parallel

Men of Summer

All 150 base cards were available in a Men of Summer parallel that utilized the same photo and design as the base set but differed as the entire card was given a foil finish and any black-colored section on the base card front was replaced with gold and featured a gold twinkle. "MEN OF SUMMER" was also printed on the back.

Inserts

Far & Away

This 18-card set featured the top home run hitters in the game on a silver etched-foil background with a blue-Dufex section behind the nameplate.

• 1 Albert Belle
• 2 Mark McGwire
• 3 Frank Thomas
• 4 Mo Vaughn
• 5 Jeff Bagwell
• 6 Juan Gonzalez
• 7 Mike Piazza
• 8 Andruw Jones
• 9 Chipper Jones
• 10 Gary Sheffield
• 11 Sammy Sosa
• 12 Darin Erstad
• 13 Jay Buhner
• 14 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 15 Ken Caminiti
• 16 Brady Anderson
• 17 Manny Ramirez
• 18 Alex Rodriguez

Melting Pot

This 20-card highlighted the ethnic diversity of players within MLB by featuring the national flag of each respective featured player using a variation of Pinnacle's "Heliogram" printing (spot foil printing with colored, raised ink). Each card is serial-numbered to 500 copies.

• 1 Jose Guillen
• 2 Vladimir Guerrero
• 3 Andruw Jones
• 4 Larry Walker
• 5 Manny Ramirez
• 6 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 7 Alex Rodriguez
• 8 Frank Thomas
• 9 Juan Gonzalez
• 10 Ivan Rodriguez
• 11 Hideo Nomo
• 12 Rafael Palmeiro
• 13 Dave Nilsson
• 14 Nomar Garciaparra
• 15 Wilton Guerrero
• 16 Sammy Sosa
• 17 Edgar Renteria
• 18 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 19 Derek Jeter
• 20 Rey Ordonez

Metal Works

This 20-card set featured some of the top players in the game on a heavy, solid metal ingot of three different colors (not actually comprised of these metals):

• 'Bronze (base)' (not serial-numbered)

• Silver (serial-numbered to 400)

• Gold (serial-numbered to 200)

Metal Works cards were were available two ways:

1) Through a Hobby-exclusive Home Plate box, which featured one randomly-inserted Metal Works insert per box

2) Through a Redemption card. Redemptions for the Silver and Gold Metal Works parallels were were randomly inserted into packs and Master Decks.

Redemption cards for the Silver and Gold Metal Works parallels indicated the color of ingot one was to receive but did not identify the player - thus, each person that obtained a redemption card and mailed it in would receive a the color indicated on the redemption card but of a player selected at random.

• 1 Ken Griffey, Jr.
• 2 Frank Thomas
• 3 Andruw Jones
• 4 Alex Rodriguez
• 5 Derek Jeter
• 6 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 7 Mike Piazza
• 8 Chipper Jones
• 9 Juan Gonzalez
• 10 Greg Maddux
• 11 Tony Gwynn
• 12 Jeff Bagwell
• 13 Albert Belle
• 14 Mark McGwire
• 15 Nomar Garciaparra
• 16 Mo Vaughn
• 17 Andy Pettitte
• 18 Manny Ramirez
• 19 Kenny Lofton
• 20 Roger Clemens
• NNO Silver Redemption Card
• NNO Gold Redemption Card

Swing for the Fences

Swing for the Fences was a game for collectors to play utilizing cards inserted into Pinnacle X-Press packs, featuring 60 of baseball's top long-distance hitters. The object of the game was to identify the 1997 Home Run Champion from either the National or American League and match it with the exact number of home runs he hit during the 1997 season by using a combination of 3 cards:

• A Swing for the Fences Player card
• One Base Number Home Run card
• Multiple Booster Number Point cards

Each 8-card wax pack contained either a Swing for the Fences Player card or a Booster Point card that carried a plus or minus point total that allowed collectors to add or subtract points to get the winning homer total.

The Base Number Home Run cards were exclusive to Master Deck packs and carried a predetermined number of Home Runs - anywhere between 20 and 42.

• 1 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
• 2 Moises Alou
• 3 Brady Anderson
• 4 Jeff Bagwell
• 5 Derek Bell
• 6 Jay Bell
• 7 Albert Belle
• 8 Geronimo Berroa
• 9 Dante Bichette
• 10 Barry Bonds
• 11 Bobby Bonilla
• 12 Jay Buhner
• 13 Ellis Burks
• 14 Ken Caminiti
• 15 Jose Canseco
• 16 Joe Carter
• 17 Vinny Castilla
• 18 Tony Clark
• 19 Carlos Delgado
• 20 Jim Edmonds
• 21 Cecil Fielder
• 22 Andres Galarraga
• 23 Ron Gant
• 24 Bernard Gilkey
• 25 Juan Gonzalez
• 26 Ken Griffey, Jr. W
• 27 Vladimir Guerrero
• 28 Todd Hundley
• 29 John Jaha
• 30 Andruw Jones
• 31 Chipper Jones
• 32 Dave Justice
• 33 Jeff Kent
• 34 Ryan Klesko
• 35 Barry Larkin
• 36 Mike Lieberthal
• 37 Javy Lopez
• 38 Edgar Martinez
• 39 Tino Martinez
• 40 Fred McGriff
• 41 Mark McGwire W
• 42 Raul Mondesi
• 43 Tim Naehring
• 44 Dave Nilsson
• 45 Rafael Palmeiro
• 46 Dean Palmer
• 47 Mike Piazza
• 48 Cal Ripken, Jr.
• 49 Henry Rodriguez
• 50 Tim Salmon
• 51 Gary Sheffield
• 52 Sammy Sosa
• 53 Terry Steinbach
• 54 Frank Thomas
• 55 Jim Thome
• 56 Mo Vaughn
• 57 Larry Walker W
• 58 Rondell White
• 59 Matt Williams
• 60 Todd Zeile

Swing for the Fences Upgraded

Collectors that submitted in the Swing for the Fences Player card of either the AL or NL the Home Run King, along with a Base Number Home Run card and enough Booster Points to match the exact number of HRs that player hit in the 1997 season would win a prize:

• The first 1,000 winners received a special autographed card of Andruw Jones.
• The next 3,000 winners received random 10-card packs of Upgraded Swing For the Fences cards printed on thicker card stock featuring a special gold foil, prize-winner stamp. Curiously however, the backs of these Upgraded cards contained the same information (i.e. the guidelines explaining the contest and how to mail in winning cards) as the cards inserted into packs.

All valid entries were also entered into a drawing for the grand prize: A trip for two people to the 1998 All-Star Game in Denver, Colorado. Five runner-up winners would receive one box of all Pinnacle baseball card products released in 1998.

Ken Griffey, Jr. and Larry Walker wound up as the AL and NL Home Run Kings in 1997; however, since Mark McGwire (who was traded in mid-season from Oakland to St. Louis) led the Majors in homers, his card was also deemed to be a winner as well.