Certified Selection

It's difficult keeping track of what went on at Pinnacle in the mid-90s, before the company collapsed in epic fashion. There were two main brands of cards - Pinnacle and Score - and both had several sub-brands. The company expanded further with the Select range almost becoming a third stand alone brand, even to the point where it was introducing its own sub-ranges. 

So it all gets confusing. They had some nice cards though.

Card Number 972: Pinnacle Select Certified Edition, 1996; #21

There were 144 cards in this high end shiny set.

The back is a dark red. One thing that Pinnacle did across several of their ranges is experiment with data representation. On this card, they have divided up Tony's stats from the previous season against all the opponents that he faced. This was all National League teams as it was before the current era of inter-league play every season. 

I was going to say Tony did well in his 13 games against the Dodgers until I saw his stats in 11 games against the Astros. Tony battered the Houston pitchers. He got a hit in over half of his at bats. They must have been sick of the sight of him!

Total: 972 cards

A Select few cards

Score Select was a premium range released by the Pinnacle group in the mid-90s. The Select card from 1993 has already featured on this blog because it featured Tony in mid-slide.

Card Number 280: Score Select, 1994; #77

Select was a bit special, as you can see by the classy calligraphy of the logo. Bonus point for having the set year on the front - something they tended to do every year. The juxtaposition of a colour photo and a sepia photo on the front, and 'Tony' in a serif font with 'GWYNN' set perpendicular in blocky capitals are very mid-90s design choices.

The cardback has an entry in the 'unique descriptions on cardbacks' list: "A deluxe contact hitter". It's just a shame the font is so small and unreadable. But those shades look cool. 

Select cards also included a Select Stat - on this card the Select Stat is that Tony had an on-base average of .398.

Card Number 281: Score Select, 1995; #94

Pinnacle dropped the word Score from the Select logo in 1995. However, I'm not changing my labelling now.

Tony seems to be wearing prescription specs in that little cameo portrait. 

Because of the lettering choice, his name looks like 'Ony Gwynn' on the back. The Select Stat was that he batted .397 when he was down two strikes. Tony rarely struck out and he often went after the first decent pitch he saw.

Card Number 282: Score Select, 1996; #59

Two batting photos on the front of the card.

The cardback places a red box around Tony's face. File that under 'odd decisions that card lay-out guys make'. 

The Select Stat says .394, but that's not the record batting average set in 1994. It's Tony's batting average with players on base in scoring position. Given that his batted so well when team-mates were in scoring positions, his RBI was not as high as might have been expected.

Card Number 283: Score Select, 1997; #3

In 1997 the Select range returned to the colour and monochrome pictures on the front.

The cardback photo needs a caption like "The gloves are coming off!" Instead there's a Select Stat that Tony hit .471 in the clutch in 1996.

And for good measure, here's a bonus card from a Select sub-brand.

Card Number 284: Score Select Certified Edition, 1995; #66

Certified Edition was a spin-off 135-card high premium set that was sold in hobby boxes. The cards are all foilboard. They look nice in real life but are tough to scan.

The cardback separates out Tony's performance against different opponents in the 1994 season.

As statistical breakdowns go, this is really well done. It's also very handy that this is for the notable season when Tony hit .394. During the season he absolutely nailed the Phillies and the Dodgers, hitting them over twice as much on average as the Marlins or the Expos, who he struggled against.Just think what his batting average might have been if he had skipped the trip to Florida. 

Looking at the 1994 schedule, the Padres played the Expos, who Tony struggled to hit against, in Montreal, and then went straight to Philadelphia to play the Phillies, who Tony blasted at a rate over .500. He must have really preferred batting in Philly!

Total: 284/394

Slide, Tony, Slide!

There are so many cards with Tony at the plate waiting for a pitch, or swinging at a pitch, or following through on a swing. But here are some cards showing Tony baserunning in dramatic style.

Card Number 141: Topps Stadium Club, 1996; #301

I've been trying to identify the Cardinals player who is getting in Tony's way there. Working on the assumption this was a photo from 1995, none of the regular basemen seem likely candidates. I asked Madding, who writes the Cards on Cards blog dedicated to Cardinal players who the St Louis player was. Madding's educated guess is that it's shortstop Ozzie Smith, covering second base. It's hard to know because he's pulling a bit of a funny face there as Tony slides towards him in a cloud of red dirt.

Stadium Club cards all had some kind of stats system or ratings to make them a bit different to other cards. The 1996 cards had a "skills matrix". Tony had superior Hitting and Clutch skills, but was average on power and range. It seems a fair assessment. He was a precision hitter, not a swinging slugger, which explains why he had the lowest strike-out rate in the Major Leagues in 1995 as per the cardback. There's another decent factoid there as well about Tony being the first player in sixty years to record three seasons in a row with a batting average above .350.

Card Number 142: Leaf, 1993; #28
An elevated angle capturing Tony sliding into home.

I have coveted this card ever since I started reading the Sportscards from the Dollar Store blog. The blogger, Doug, scans highlights from the repacks he buys in various dollar stores and he always scans the backs of Leaf 1993 cards because of the way they combine an image of the player with local scenery.

Having wanted this card for ages, I have acquired two in short succession. I am very tempted to try and build the set, so obviously I needed more than one in readiness for if I go on and do that...

Card Number 143: Score Select, 1993; #5
A surfing style slide on this one.

Score Select was a slightly higher quality product than regular Score cards, which I have already described as cards that have better backs than fronts. Not so on this card. Tony is kicking up grit there!

Although, this is a good cardback. It's a great photo of Tony set up for some media work wearing some proper vintage technology.

Score selected Tony's On Base Percentage for their 'Select Stat'. Although that stat was higher than the average, it's a long way behind the all time season records set by Barry 'Got a Lot of Walks' Bonds.

The final card on this theme comes from Tony's final active season.

Card Number 144: Topps Stadium Club, 2001; #15

By 2000 Tony was carrying a terrible persistent knee injury that required him to have fluid drained from the knee quite regularly. Sliding like this won't have helped.

Topps have created a horrible compound term on the cardback: "Analyskills". In that little blurb box it notes that he was "not as quick, but still a quality right fielder". The knee injury was part of the reason Tony had lost some speed. According to this cardback he was 15 pounds lighter than in 1996.

These were the first Stadium Club cards to feature on this blog. I'm going to rectify that in some upcoming posts.

Total: 144/394