1996 Pinnacle Select Certified

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified #112

Pinnacle's Select Certified was the epitimy of high end baseball cards in the mid-90's. Exclusive to hobby shops the summer of '96, this was one of the first sets that had multiple levels of parallels. Blue (1:50), Red (1:5), Artist's Proofs (1:18), Mirror Blue (1:200), Mirror Gold (1:300) and Mirror Red (1:100) gave collectors like myself a challenge if we wanted to "chase the rainbow.

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Artist's Proof #112

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Blue and Red #112

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Mirror Blue #112

The Mirror parallels back in the day were very hard to come across and if you pulled a star player, you could easily flip it for big bucks. Think of the Mirror parallels as Pinnacle's Refractors in a sense. Notice on the back these cards are labels Mirror Blue/Gold/Red just above the "autenticator" logo Pinnacle Brands used for awhile.

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Mirror Red #112

It took me awhile before I could find this card at a price I didn't mind paying. The same can't be said about the Mirror Gold parallel...the last card I need in this set.

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Interleague Preview #6

This was the only insert in the set and it matched up similar players from both leagues. This may be one of the first cards I remember seeing Ordonez and Jeter paired up together. Certainly not the last card however as the two of them would be paired on numerous cards over the next handful of years. By the way, the scan doesn't do this card justice as the front is covered in a silver holofoil.

1996 Pinnacle Select Certified Interleague Preview Sample

I don't recall if this Sample card was distributed in copies of Tuff Stuff magazine back in the day, but that is where I got a number of promo cards once. The card front is identical to the main release. The worlds SAMPLE are stamped across the back.