1996 Zenith Diamond Club Real Diamond

Set Size: 20 cards

Design Notes: A foil border in the shape of a diamond surrounds the player's photo, with the Zenith logo in an upper corner and a large portion of the bottom devoted to the set name and player's name. In the real diamond version, a small diamond is mounted at the base of the diamond. The backs contain a sepia photo of a baseball field in the background, with a player photo and short highlight paragraph.

Parallels and Similars: The regular version uses Pinnacle's Dufex technology, but there is no diamond.

Distribution: Regular cards were inserted one per box, and cards with real diamonds were found one in every 350 packs.

Thoughts: Pinnacle Brands tried a whole bunch of "gimmicky" ideas in the 1990s, including what I believe is the first card to contain an embedded gem. The actual diamond is pretty small and unimpressive, but the card is quite rare for its time. Actually, the diamond sticks out from the surface of the card a bit. I wonder if people pulling these from packs in 1996 were upset that the card preceding the diamond card most likely had a small dent in the back. Did it damage multiple cards? Or was there a filler card inserted to fix this? In addition to probably being the first embedded-gem card, it has to be one of the first "manu-relic" cards too!

1996 Team Out! Game - Piazza and Matt Williams on the same team?

Set size: 101 cards including 10 actions and 91 MLB players, sized 2-1/4" x 3-1/2" (just a little narrower than standard cards)

Front Design: Cards are designed like other game or playing cards, with rounded edges. Action cards have red or blue edges, while player cards have black edges. Real MLB player personalities are used in the action cards (see Mike Piazza and Matt Williams somehow both playing in the field at the same time, in different jerseys). Color photos are used for the actual players, with the position at the top and bottom of the card, and the player's name and team at the bottom of the photo.

Back Design: The unnumbered cards have a baseball sweet spot background, with the Team Out! logo in the middle and copyright information along the bottom. Backs are all identical, as with other game and playing card sets.

Parallels and Similars: None known.

Distribution: Sold as a boxed set, containing 37 of 91 player cards and 23 of 10 action cards. This means action cards were printed in much greater quantities than the player cards (if my math is correct, approximately six times greater).

Thoughts: I like the goofy cartoon above. Matt Williams finds it incredibly hilarious that Clyde is out. Piazza looks creepy, but with the mullet, he looked like creepy trailer trash most of the time anyway. I wonder if they're playing at some Team Out! All Star Game, as there's no other way Williams and Piazza would be on the field together in different NL uniforms at the same time. The card game must have never caught on, as I don't think there was a second edition issued. I would like to have a set of action cards for my art collection, though. Don't buy your singles from eBay unless you're desperate. While the full set books for $40, the highest singles are listed at $3, and honestly, most can be had for a quarter at a card show if you come across one (eBay prices are, as usual, much higher than book).

1996 Select Claim to Fame

Set size: 20 cards

Front Design: A color player portrait is bordered by marble pillars or columns and background, with Claim to Fame "etched" into the marble arch above the photo. The player's name and team are printed in foil beneath the photo. The cards are die-cut around the pillar and arch.

Back Design: The marble background is repeated, with a gold "plaque" describing the player's Hall of Fame-worthy highlight. Cards are numbered at the top, and among the trademark and copyright logos at the bottom is a rectangle proclaiming the card is one of 2100 sets produced.

Parallels and Similars: No parallels, though other sets have similar-looking designs. This set is easily identified by the name at the top and the 1996 Select logo between the photo and player name.

Distribution: Cards were randomly inserted into packs.

Thoughts: I love this set, with its super-glossy feel and die-cut edges. The card tends to fall out of stacks, but properly sleeved it can be enjoyed. Pinnacle Brands inserts of this era are usually attractive and somewhat limited.

1996 Assets Phone Cards $1,000 Promos Cal Ripken Jr.

Set size: 5 phone cards, approximately the same size as a credit card.

Front Design: A full-bleed color photo fills most of the card, with the Assets logo and player name in a band across the bottom. The denomination of the phone card is at the top in gold foil. The promo version is distinguished by the word "PROMO" running up the left side of the card in grey.

Back Design: The back contains information on how to use the phone card. The promo card has information about the upcoming set.

Parallels and Similars: There are several phone card denominations in 1996 Assets, all with essentially the same design. As noted above, this promo is easy to distinguish from the authentic $1,000 phone cards, especially by checking the back.

Distribution: The $1,000 phone cards were randomly inserted into packs of 1996 Assets, a Classic set.

Thoughts: Chase phone cards were all the rage back in the mid-90s, if you were a company like Classic. Although phone cards didn't make the full push into MLB sets, they were a way of adding actual value to minor league and five-sport sets as this. The $1,000 set contains one player from each of the five sports, but pulling one of these cards was almost guaranteed not to happen. As a somewhat-unique marketing tool, phone cards are a fun variation to collect, and a reminder of how people tried to avoid long distance charges fifteen years ago (remember 10-10-220, or whatever that code was?).