1997 Pinnacle Totally Certified hobby box

Description

Renamed from "Select Certified," 1997 Pinnacle Certified is a 150-card set released in the summer of 1997. Designed to compete with Topps' Finest brand -- so much so that, like Finest, each chromium-stock card featured a removable protective "peel" -- Pinnacle Certified was available exclusively in Hobby stores.

The set includes a 30-card Rookie subset and fifteen Certified Stars. Randomly seeded into packs as a late addition is an exchange card good for a card of Jose Cruz, Jr. Although this card is numbered as part of the base set (#151), it is not considered a "true" rookie card nor is it considered part of a complete set.

Due to the popularity of this product in the secondary-market, and their financial troubles, Pinnacle Brands made five separate print runs of '97 Certified. After the first run sold out, Pinnacle produced an additional two runs before Certified went live. Afterward, another two press runs were ordered. It is believed that the Mirror Gold Certified Team inserts were exclusive to press runs 2 & 3, and the mysterious Mirror Blacks were only in the fifth and final run.

The only significant "true" rookie card is Brian Giles.

Totally Certified

Totally Certified is a 150-card parallel brand version of the 1997 Pinnacle Certified set. Similar to Topps Chrome, the checklist and design is identical; however, the photographs are different and the cards are printed on etched-foil. Each three-card pack contains two Platinum Red cards (each serial-numbered to 3999 copies) and one Platinum Blue card numbered to 1999. Only 999 twenty-box cases were produced, and each waxbox is serial-numbered.

Distribution

Pinnacle Certified: Six cards per pack, 20 packs per box. (MSRP $4.99) Hobby exclusive.

Totally Certified: Three cards per pack, 18 packs per box (MSRP $6.99) Hobby exclusive.

Reviews

Totally Certified: Stale Gum Wax Heaven Old School Breaks

Insertion Ratios

Pinnacle Certified	Total Cards	Stated Production Run	Odds
Base	150	-	?
Jose Cruz, Jr. Exchange Card	1	-	?
Certified Red	150	-	1:5
Mirror Red	150	-	1:99
Mirror Blue	150	-	1:199
Mirror Gold	150	-	1:299
Mirror Black	?	?	?
Certified Team	20	?	1:19
Gold Certified Team	20	475*	1:119
Mirror Gold Certified Team	20	25*	1:1800
Lasting Impressions	20	?	1:19

∗ These figures were announced by Pinnacle Brands prior to the initial release of the product; however, it is believed that more (much more) were produced.

Totally Certified	Total Cards	Numbered To	Odds
Platinum Red	150	3999	two-per-pack
Platinum Blue	150	1999	one-per-pack
Platinum Gold	150	30	1:79

Checklist

Base Set

1 Barry Bonds
2 Mo Vaughn
3 Matt Williams
4 Ryne Sandberg
5 Jeff Bagwell
6 Alan Benes
7 John Wetteland
8 Fred McGriff
9 Craig Biggio
10 Bernie Williams
11 Brian Hunter
12 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
13 Ray Lankford
14 Ryan Klesko
15 Jermaine Dye
16 Andy Benes
17 Albert Belle
18 Tony Clark
19 Dean Palmer
20 Bernard Gilkey
21 Ken Caminiti
22 Alex Rodriguez
23 Tim Salmon
24 Larry Walker
25 Barry Larkin
26 Mike Piazza
27 Brady Anderson
28 Cal Ripken, Jr.
29 Charles Nagy
30 Paul Molitor
31 Darin Erstad
32 Rey Ordonez
33 Wally Joyner
34 David Cone
35 Sammy Sosa
36 Dante Bichette
37 Eric Karros
38 Omar Vizquel
39 Roger Clemens
40 Joe Carter
41 Frank Thomas
42 Javy Lopez
43 Mike Mussina
44 Gary Sheffield
45 Tony Gwynn
46 Jason Kendall
47 Jim Thome
48 Andres Galarraga
49 Mark McGwire
50 Troy Percival
51 Derek Jeter
52 Todd Hollandsworth
53 Ken Griffey, Jr.
54 Randy Johnson
55 Pat Hentgen
56 Rusty Greer
57 John Jaha
58 Kenny Lofton
59 Chipper Jones
60 Robb Nen
61 Rafael Palmeiro
62 Mariano Rivera
63 Hideo Nomo
64 Greg Vaughn
65 Ron Gant
66 Eddie Murray
67 John Smoltz
68 Manny Ramirez
69 Juan Gonzalez
70 F.P. Santangelo
71 Moises Alou
72 Alex Ochoa
73 Chuck Knoblauch
74 Raul Mondesi
75 J.T. Snow
76 Rickey Henderson
77 Bobby Bonilla
78 Wade Boggs
79 Ivan Rodriguez
80 Brian Jordan
81 Al Leiter
82 Jay Buhner
83 Greg Maddux
84 Edgar Martinez
85 Kevin Brown
86 Eric Young
87 Todd Hundley
88 Ellis Burks
89 Marquis Grissom
90 Jose Canseco
91 Henry Rodriguez
92 Andy Pettitte
93 Mark Grudzielanek
94 Dwight Gooden
95 Roberto Alomar
96 Paul Wilson
97 Will Clark
98 Rondell White
99 Charles Johnson
100 Jim Edmonds
101 Jason Giambi
102 Billy Wagner
103 Edgar Renteria
104 Johnny Damon
105 Jason Isringhausen
106 Andruw Jones
107 Jose Guillen
108 Kevin Orie
109 Brian Giles RC
110 Danny Patterson
111 Vladimir Guerrero
112 Scott Rolen
113 Damon Mashore
114 Nomar Garciaparra
115 Todd Walker
116 Wilton Guerrero
117 Bobby Abreu
118 Brooks Kieschnick
119 Pokey Reese
120 Todd Greene
121 Dmitri Young
122 Raul Casanova
123 Glendon Rusch
124 Jason Dickson
125 Jorge Posada
126 Rod Myers
127 Bubba Trammell RC
128 Scott Spiezio
129 Hideki Irabu RC
130 Wendell Magee, Jr.
131 Bartolo Colon
132 Chris Holt
133 Calvin Maduro
134 Ray Montgomery RC
135 Shannon Stewart
136 Ken Griffey, Jr. STAR
137 Vladimir Guerrero STAR
138 Roger Clemens STAR
139 Mark McGwire STAR
140 Albert Belle STAR
141 Derek Jeter STAR
142 Juan Gonzalez STAR
143 Greg Maddux STAR
144 Alex Rodriguez STAR
145 Jeff Bagwell STAR
146 Cal Ripken, Jr. STAR
147 Tony Gwynn STAR
148 Frank Thomas STAR
149 Hideo Nomo STAR
150 Andruw Jones STAR
151 Jose Cruz, Jr. EXCH

Parallels

Each base card (except the Cruz exchange card) is available in the following parallels.

Certified Red (1:5 packs)

Mirror Red (1:99 packs)

Mirror Blue (1:199 packs)

Mirror Gold (1:299 copies)

NOTE: Unlike the announced production figure of 90, 45, and 30 copies of each 1996 Select Certified Mirror Red, Blue, and Gold cards, the production figures for the '97 Mirrors were never publicly stated by Pinnacle Brands. Initially, it was assumed that the production figures were the same as the '96s, as the insertion ratios were roughly the same. However many collectors familiar with the '97 Mirror sets note that because Pinnacle made additional print runs both before and after the initial release of the product, the actual production runs were higher. While many of the Mirrors did pack out, some of those excess Mirrors may have been "backdoored" after Pinnacle Brands' 1998 bankruptcy filing. In fact, one collector posted to Freedom Cardboard a picture of 53 different Mirror Gold cards of Brian Hunter.<ref>http://www.freedomcardboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=103527</ref>

Mirror Black

This mysterious and very scarce parallel was probably the result of a few test sheets being cut and inserted into packs during Certified's fifth and final press run. The Mirror Blacks give off a bright green reflection when placed in direct light, but are silver with black print when placed away from light. It is not known for sure if Mirror Blacks for all 150 cards exist; however, Beckett Baseball Card Monthly reported in 1997 that at least two Mirror Blacks of Jay Buhner were pulled from packs. Below is a list of known cards.

2 Mo Vaughn

27 Brady Anderson

82 Jay Buhner

103 Edgar Renteria

121 Dmitri Young

Mark McGwire

Brian Giles

Juan Gonzalez

Andrew Jones

Totally Certified

Each base card (except the Cruz exchange card) is available in the following parallels and are exclusive to Totally Certified packs.

Platinum Red (two-per Totally Certified pack, serial-numbered to 3999 copies)

Platinum Blue (one-per Totally Certified pack, serial-numbered to 1999 copies)

Platinum Gold (1:79/Totally Certified packs, serial-numbered to 30 copies)

NOTE: Platinum Red is considered the Totally Certified base set.

In August 2010, collector George Calfas concluded his 13-year quest to become the first person to collect a full 150-card Totally Certified Platinum Gold set.<ref>http://www.freedomcardboard.com/?p=953</ref>

Inserts

Certified Team

Each Certified Team insert is available in the following parallels.

Gold (stated production run: 475 copies)

Mirror Gold (stated production run: 25 copies)

NOTE: Originally, Pinnacle Brands stated a total production run of 500 Gold Certified Team cards. After the release of '97 Pinnacle Certified, Pinnacle revealed that the first 25 copies of each Gold Certified Team were produced with a "Mirror Gold" (i.e. refractor) finish. However, the initial secondary-market success of the product led Pinnacle to print more of it. It is believed that as many of 55 copies of each Mirror Gold Certified Team card were inserted into packs with another 10-15 sets produced for Pinnacle employees and another five sets as replacements for damaged cards.<ref>http://www.freedomcardboard.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1415699#p1415699</ref>

1 Frank Thomas
2 Jeff Bagwell
3 Derek Jeter
4 Chipper Jones
5 Alex Rodriguez
6 Ken Caminiti
7 Cal Ripken, Jr.
8 Mo Vaughn
9 Ivan Rodriguez
10 Mike Piazza
11 Juan Gonzalez
12 Barry Bonds
13 Ken Griffey, Jr.
14 Andruw Jones
15 Albert Belle
16 Gary Sheffield
17 Andy Pettitte
18 Hideo Nomo
19 Greg Maddux
20 John Smoltz

Lasting Impressions

1 Cal Ripken, Jr.
2 Ken Griffey, Jr.
3 Mo Vaughn
4 Brian Jordan
5 Mark McGwire
6 Chuck Knoblauch
7 Sammy Sosa
8 Brady Anderson
9 Frank Thomas
10 Tony Gwynn
11 Roger Clemens
12 Alex Rodriguez
13 Paul Molitor
14 Kenny Lofton
15 John Smoltz
16 Roberto Alomar
17 Randy Johnson
18 Ryne Sandberg
19 Manny Ramirez
20 Mike Mussina