A dip in the Pacific

I remember the first time I really saw the Pacific Ocean. It was on a beach the other side of Golden Gate Park in San Francisco a couple of days after we landed in California for a big holiday. Later we drove down Highway 1 all the way to San Diego with the ocean on our right hand side. 

It was much later that I learned that there was a trading card company called Pacific too. Starting out targeting Spanish speakers, it quickly expanded during the heyday of the baseball card hobby in the 1990s, issuing lots of different sets. At one point Tony Gwynn was doing lots of promotional work for the company. As a result, he ended up being on lots of sample cards (as outlined in this blog post by Fuji) and also featured in several sets, often multiple times. 

Today's dip in the Pacific takes us back to 1997, with three cards featuring Tony.

Card Number 358: Pacific, 1997; #424

This set is listed on Trading Card Database as Pacific Crown Collection, but as far as I can work out, that was just the full name of Pacific's flagship card range.

The front also has a big free advert for AT&T, looking a bit like the Death Star from Star Wars.

There's a lot of gold on the front, the entire top sixth of the card is foil. Pacific were very big on shiny foil cards for a couple of years, and rivaled Pinnacle for gaudiness. 

The back is bilingual, with the Spanish coming first and an English translation in smaller font. 

There's a nice addition to the list of descriptions I'm compiling on the back: "imagen deportivo de San Diego / San Diego sports icon". Having two languages on the cardback means there isn't much room for a stats box, so they include just the stats from the previous year and career totals. There is space for a portrait photo, in a frame that I think is unique on a baseball card.

Card Number 359: Pacific Prism Invincible, 1997; #144

Long before Panini Prizm cards, there were Pacific Prism cards. The 150 base cards in this set all had an acetate window featuring the player's portrait. The design of the card is peak 1990s.

The back is bilingual. As I've mentioned previously when I reviewed one of these cards in my first ever Monday Mixer, the acetate window means the player's image is flipped when looking at the reverse of the card. This is how Tony would have seen himself when he looked in a mirror. 

There isn't a stats box at all on the back, but the write up is all about Tony's stats to date. He's also lining up an outfield catch in the photo.

Card Number 360: Pacific Prism Invincible Gems of the Diamond, 1997; #GD-207

As a sign of how mad the baseball card hobby was in the 1990s, this "insert series" actually had 220 cards in it making it a larger set than the Prism base set.

There's a big gemstone shape with the Padres logo in it centred at the bottom of the card. Other companies had gold and diamonds, Pacific had gems.

The back describes Tony's achievements in the 1996 season in Spanish and English. The sparkle effect with the rays emanating from behind his head reminds me of religious iconography.

The portrait photo looks like it's from the same photoshoot as on the card in the Crown Collection flagship range. It certainly looks like Tony is wearing the same gear and there's a blurred building in the background on both cards.

I hope you enjoyed this dip in the Pacific!

Total: 360/394