100 Days of Barry Larkin
 

I'm trying to reduce purchasing, but at the same time increase appreciation of my collection. There are roughly 100 days until New Years, so I've decided to share 100 days of Barry Larkin cards and memorabilia.

Leading off is a 1986-87 rookie era bat with PSA Cert. In 1986, he would play 41 games; he collected 45 hits, 1.5 WAR, with just 21 strikeouts.

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Love it! Barry Larkin was kinda underappreciated in his era and pretty much disrespected by the Reds at the very end of his career, but still handled it all with class. An excellent shortstop and I always enjoyed watching him. He was a great one!

I've posted this before, but here's my one Barry Larkin item. 1985 Press photo, pictured while still with the University of Michigan.

Great item, thanks for sharing. UM is a missing gap in my collection, as well as 1984 Olympics. BTW, his UM Jersey is for sale in ebay with UM Cert. Another amazing item.

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Day 2: The Cincinnati Reds have routinely released a team set through Kahns hot dogs. The 1987 Kahns set includes a Larkin RC and is one of the most popular sets of the last 4 decades. Time will tell if the 2023 & 24 sets including Elly de la Cruz will overtake 1987 and 2008 (Votto).

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Day 3: 1987 Classic Green. There is also Classic Yellow Update. Many young collectors might find board games with sports card and a finger flicker unusual, but it was common for kids when we still had to use our imagination pre-video game consoles. I got SNES in 1995. Classic is just one of many baseball themed games that have appeared throughout the decades. New sets were produced for many years.

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Day 4: 1987 Donruss Opening Day. A junk wax gimmick that still continues today, Opening Day has spread to Topps and other brands. But the crimson border looked great, rather than just a foil stamp.
Edit: it was brought to my attention that Topps ended their opening day set in 2022! I'm certain it'll come back as an insert somehow.

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Will be looking forward to updates to your thread. Being a Reds fan, Barry was my favorite active player for much of his career.

glad this is bringing you an ounce of joy! that's better than crickets chirping.

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Day 5: 1987 Donruss Rack Pack w/ Mattingly. These rack packs, and cello packs, were exciting to find with star players on the front or back. Displayed in grocery stores, drug stores, KMarts, etc, card companies were offering window shopping for cards. In 1987, the draw of this pack was Don Mattingly, on his way to a HOF career. But with the presence of time, Barry Larkin went on to have his own fine career and beat Mattingly to the gates of Cooperstown.

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Man, I never got to the packs in time to ever see a Mattingly on the front in my neck of the woods. Hell, the 1984 Topps racks were so notorious for being easily searchable, it was nearly impossible to find a pack with a Mattingly in it, even if he was in the middle of a pack, forget the front.

Anybody else find it odd that Barry's only updated set release in 1986 was by Sportflics, and his regular issue 1987 cards didn't contain a "Rated Rookie" or "Future Stars" insignia?

He was a highly touted 1st rounder, so it's not like he was sliding under the radar.

:confused:

You didn't even have to search Topps rack packs because the order of cards in them was almost always the same. So even if Mattingly or Strawberry was not on the top, if you saw one of the cards that were typically in front of him, your odds were pretty good in turning one up.

todeen - love the Barry and Donnie rack.

I absolutely love these types of threads when someone shows off their collection of their favorite player.

Recently bought the rack Pack from Net54 member BradMar48. He said he still has a bunch of stuff in storage from his days owning a shop. His quote was "I find things I forgot I had all the time."

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Day 6: 1987 Donruss with rookie era autograph. When I first saw this card I thought it was a fraud. After investigating, I discovered that this was his rookie auto, and he inscribed it with his rookie jersey #15 (also identified on his Kahns RC). I couldn't buy it fast enough.

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I am very disappointed there isn't a 1986 Topps Update XRC. Or part of the 1986 Donruss Rookies set. I also don't like the 1986 Sportsflix. I have the card but choose not to include it because I find them hard to focus. Later Sportsflix sets overcame that obstacle. I like 1997 Screen Plays with display tin.

Thanks! it's one of my newest additions, from a Net54 member!


Yes, there are quite a few threads on Net54 that inspired me. There are a few Twitter accounts that do something similar.

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Day 7: 87 Fleer Cello pack. This is my favorite RC, probably followed by Kahns, and then Topps third. I think 87 Fleer is such a clean design, great photos, and something about the blue border color just works with that blue sky behind Larkin.
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Day 8: busy day! 1987 Topps cello pack. Probably my third favorite RC. But it's a nice in-game shot. The ramp up to peak junk wax in 88/89/90. But that's not to say there aren't a ton of these floating around. This is also a set that collectors love or hate. No in between.

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Day 9: 1987 Topps Tiffany. Personally, I know this isn't a 10. And with 30k Tiffany sets produced this year, it's junk wax of Tiffany! Unlike the 6k sets produced for 1989 Bowman, making the Bowman Tiffany Griffey Jr the creme de la creme of 89 RC.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...4ecb2985d4.jpg

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Day 10: 1988 Donruss Cello Pack. Look at the eyes staring at you. It wasn't my favorite set. The crappy puzzles were interesting, but I've never enjoyed puzzles.... even ones as easy as these. Essentially, if it wasn't Diamond Kings, it was boring. How could you expect to have such an amazing set as Diamond Kings, and expect people to be excited about the general product more than the amazing artwork of stars?
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Day 11: 1988 Jersey w/ASG sleeve patch used on Jersey Fusion cards. I especially like the ASG patch relics. It's a novelty idea, but the prices are pretty good for awesome looking patches. It's still kinda ugly. But the cut cards with the big swatch in the background are pretty awesome.

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Day 12: 1988 Topps Tiffany. Beautiful portrait, nice simple design. Still a ginormous print run, 30k sets.
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Day 13: 1989 Topps Tiffany. Another clean design. The end of the junk wax era is within sight. Topps Tiffany reduced their print run to 15k sets. 1988 was a huge offensive season for Larkin, 7.0 WAR, but was his worst defensive season .960%. He comes back to earth in 89 w/ 3.8 WAR, and improves his defense to .976 fielding percentage.
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Day 14: 1989 Bowman Tiffany. Unlike Topps Tiffany, Bowman Tiffany was limited to 6k sets. Larger than a standard card size, collectors weren't very excited how difficult they were to store. 1990 brought Bowman to standard size.

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Day 15: 1990 Bowman Tiffany. 6k print run. Regular size cards. 1990 marked Larkin's 3rd straight AS selection, 3rd straight Silver Slugger, 7th place finish in MVP. Played 158 games, hit .301, 185 hits, 30 SB, 5.7 WAR.
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Day 16: 1990 Baseball Card Magazine Panel. I actually never owned any of these magazines. I was a Beckett guy. I had a friend who read Tuff Stuff. But none of my collector friends had Baseball Card Magazine. I discovered the cards exploring ebay, and I think about all of the cards of my favorite players I missed out on.
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Those 3 card panels are cool. I picked up one with Griffey recently.

did you get the 89 RC?

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Day 17: 1990 Fleer cello pack. In 1990, the Reds never fell out of first place, which they occupied since day 1. In the NLCS, the Reds defeated PIT in 6 games. Larkin hit .261, with 6 hits, 3 walks, 3 stolen bases, scoring 5 times.
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Day 18: 1990 Topps Tiffany. Print run 5k. Just about out of the peak junk wax era. I love 1990 Topps. I love the border colors. This is in my top 3 Topps Flagship sets of the 90s.
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Day 19: 1990 Topps Venezuela Sticker. Another collector reached out to me about these on ebay. He bought a player for his PC, and then made me aware of the Larkin for sale. Very thankful for him!
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Day 20: 1990 WS VHS (from Block Buster!). I don't even have a VHS player to watch it. But the last time I watched a VHS it made me appreciate Blu Ray. We watch Disney's Halloween Treat on VHS.
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Day 21: 1990 Cincinnati Reds team signed ball. I love team signed items. It shouts unique, historical moments, and effort to gather signatures. Older balls can also include clubhouse signatures.
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Day 22: 1990 WS Celebration hat owned by Barry Larkin (Sports Gallery COA), as seen in photo. Larkin hit .353, .421 OBP, 6 hits w/ double & triple, 2 walks, 3 runs, 1 RBI. WS Sweep against heavily favored Oakland.
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Day 23: 1990 GU Larkin Bat. The 1990 LS Model is unique, in that it does not include the team name beneath the players name. It was a one year offering and distinguishes the bat. Larkin's most popular GU model due to the WS [emoji471]. This includes original stadium certificate. Thanks to everyone on Net54 who share their knowledge.
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Got back from camping yesterday and was going to post the Griffey. If you can't find a 3 card panel in your card room does that mean you might have a hoarding problem?:D

Will add the normal funny junk card story on how I got the Griffey. Was at a friends house and another older friend of his stopped over. Said he had a large box of very old cards that still looked like new and wanted me to look at them. He had to run home to get them and while he was gone I told my friend I would bet they are worthless junk era cards from the 80s/90s.

Sure enough when he returned with several thousand cards everything was junk era cards that looked like the little kid that originally owned them loved and played with every single one of them daily. I told him I would pay $5 for the 3 card panel with Griffey or if he gave me $5 I would take them all. Funny how those are always the cards people have when they say they have really old cards and think they are going to be rich from them. I have used the $5 thing before and usually people laugh and think I am being funny and when they realize I am serious most get mad.

Awesome Larkin stuff. I really enjoy the daily updates.

Did you get an opportunity to look for Billy Ripken FF or Randy Johnson Marlboro? Or were there too many cards?

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Yes I looked for all the cool error cards but unless it was a silly rare card being that beat up they would have still been worthless.

Oh boy! Barry is my main PC. I have lots to add to the thread if you ever desire (I won't hijack your thread with my collection). But if you are ever looking to move some nice 90s stuff, I'm always looking for the hard to find stuff. :)!

Day 24: 1991 Baseball Magazine Panel. Larkin rebounded in 1990 and began his peak career years. 1991 would see an even better season with 6.1 WAR, while battling injuries. His stats = .302 avg, .378 OBP, 140 hits, 88 runs, 20 HR (career high at this point), 24 SB....20/20 season.
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Feel free to post your items, as well as anyone else. I post chronologically, and New Years Eve will be about the time I get to the last year of cards that I collect - 2005.

I don't have anything post-2005, so that can be posted at anytime. I like spider web threads, so don't feel like you're interfering with my methods.

Cool, thanks! I also don't collect any post-playing days Larkins. I'll try to toss an image or two in on some years. I know you are on 1991, but I wanted to share my 1990 World Series ticket and program. One day I will get Larkin to sign it. I was going to at the National this year, but once I was there, I decided to avoid the autograph pavillion like the plague. [emoji14]

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Cracker Jack chomping while watching Barry Larkin add to his stolen base total might give you more than just an ounce!

;)

Incidentally, what do you think of Elly De La Cruz? Could he join the pantheon of legendary base stealers?

:confused:

I think Elly has lots of potential. He's being compared to Eric Davis, potentially the most exciting player in decades. I like him. Joey Votto was good, but he didn't inspire people like Elly does. Elly is already better than Billy Hamilton. Elly can get on base at a higher clip than Billy. His K/9 ratio will hopefully drop with more experience, and he'll get more walks, giving him more opportunities to run. I think it'll be 3 years before he's in MVP form.

I think people are going to hold him to unrealistic expectations. Multiple MVP and titles or it means nothing. They crucify his errors on the Reds fan pages. People point out that Larkin had some poor fielding percentages early in his career and turned out okay. But nobody wants to listen. Everyone recognizes that with Scott Boras as his agent he will not sign long term in Cincinnati. So they are getting anxiety that we could have a generational talent on our team and not win the WS [emoji471]. Like the Angels with Pujols, Trout, Ohtani. It's going to be a long 6 years hearing then complain about every little thing. They'll have to trade him of course before his contact is up. His return trade package will then of course be too little. More complaining. The signing of Tito Francona is very inspiring though.

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Thanks for adding this! I've thought about getting tickets a few times, but they aren't my thing. But you adding it brings a lot of the thread.

Keep posting!

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Day 25: 1991 Topps Cracker Jack. I can remember getting these cards as a little boy and I was not impressed! [emoji23] I didn't play with baby dolls, why would I need a doll size card?!

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I found his big brother! ;)

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The Desert Shield AS was my next post, you read my mind! So here's mine....
Day 26: 1991 Topps AS Desert Shield. A highly counterfeited set since it's release, there are many resources online to help inexperienced buyers. On Facebook, in the Griffey collectors group, Jason Titzer is the ultimate authority. Nearly everyone defers to him.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...1d337dd512.jpg

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Oh man. I'm sorry. I'll try not to let it happen again.

Since I know you're past 1988, how about the Score Sample? These are super tough to find.

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Day 27: 1991 Donruss Diamond Kings. This fantastic set created precedent for uniqueness and quality in the 80s. Perez' artwork became sought after, and the Perez Steele postcards were desirable auto options. Today, Diamond Kings is still a nostalgic set for millennial collectors. I'm very happy that Larkin made it into the set! https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...ef888cf40a.jpg

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Bonus Dump!
I also want to recognize all the new sets that were being released circa 1990 that would recreate the hobby in the 1990s. Topps Stadium Club, Leaf, Studio and Upper Deck all brought new ideas into the card creating world. High quality gloss made Topps cardboard feel out of touch and dated.

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We posted the 91 AS Desert Shield, so I might as well post the base card. Other than base cards, my early 90s collection is lacking. When we get to 1996 or so, watch out! ;)

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Day 28: 1992 Topps Gold & Gold Winner Cello Packs. I have heard, but cannot confirm, that there are more Topps Gold Winners in circulation due to holding the scratch cards up to the light and being able to see the correct choices. This of course is not what Topps had planned.

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Day 29: 1992 Topps Kids. I saw this set when I was young in $1 Store discount stores. They were mixed in with Conlon Collection packs, and Action Packed. I wasn't really interested then. Now? It's funny and quirky.

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I am light on 1992 Larkins, as they are mostly base cards or food issues, and my collection doesn't really focus on those things. So I thought I'd share a later set of cards that I know won't be posted when we get to that year, because it's nearly certainly the only set in existence (if you know me from other sites, you've seen these before).

My all-time favorite insert set is the 1998 Donruss Crusades. Buckle in, because I want to take the time to lay out the history of this set. For those unfamiliar with the 1998 Donruss Crusade set, here is some information:

The 1998 Donruss Crusade baseball set consists of 130 cards of which come in three different color parallels -- Green, Purple, and Red -- with each color accompanied by a unique print run (green numbered to 250, purple numbered to 100, and red numbered to 25). The first 100 cards in the set depict veteran stars while the remaining 30 feature young hopefuls.

1998 Donruss Crusade is a multi-product release; the first 100 cards were randomly inserted into three products: 40 cards inserted in 1998 Donruss, 30 cards inserted in 1998 Leaf, and 30 cards inserted in 1998 Donruss Update. Cards 101-130 were inserted into packs of 1998 Leaf Rookies and Stars. The set was an unannounced "stealth" insert set and odds were not included on the packs.

There were two different designs in the Crusade set. The regular/base design featured colored photos of a player against a medieval background. The cards were printed on chromium stock with a holographic foil finish. The other design was a subset entitled Call to Arms. These picture the player against a colored back drop with an emblem etched in the background and the words Call to Arms printed in bold white letters down the side of the card. All of the Call to Arms Crusade cards that were officially released/packed-out were mistakenly printed without card numbers. No correction to this error was made. Both designs are breathtakingly beautiful in person. Pictures just don't do them justice.

Players included in the set had either a Call to Arms or a base card. As I collect Barry Larkin, he had a Call to Arms card in the set. As previously mentioned it is unnumbered on the back, but is listed as card #63 in the checklist. According to Baseballcardpedia.com the Larkin cards were released in packs of 1998 Donruss Update.

Here is a photo of the Larkin cards I have. Obviously, I'm missing the Red as it is my top priority in my collecting journey to track one down.

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Additionally, there were Executive proofs of the set made. These cards are serial-numbered either "XXX/250" (green), "XXX/100" (purple), or "XX/25" (red). The serial-numbering is printed rather than stamped. These cards were produced for Donruss staff and were used in-house for final approval and quality control before production. While print runs aren't confirmed, it's likely every card of this version regardless of color was printed in the same quantity. That said, it's believed that that particular quantity is exceptionally small. Baseballcardpedia.com says that many collectors believe that 1-2 copies of an Executive Promo each player for each color were produced for all cards in the officially released set (i.e., cards #1 - #130). Other researchers believe the number to be more than 1 or 2, but possibly less than 10. There is no way to confirm this other than assumptions from sales observations over time, but it's clear they are very rare. Recently, a large collection of the executive proofs surfaced at auction. Unfortunately, none of the Larkins were among them, so I'm still on the lookout for those.

A number of additional Crusade cards (sequentially numbered #131 - #200 in the set) were produced by Donruss for future 1998 and 1999 baseball products, but were never officially released due to the bankruptcy of Pinnacle Brands. However, prototypes of all 70 of these known, unreleased Crusades emerged on the secondary market shortly after Pinnacle's bankruptcy. None of these unreleased prototype Crusades are serial-numbered. While Major League Baseball Properties (MLBP) instructed Pinnacle Brands - which included the Donruss and Leaf products - to destroy its baseball card inventory after the bankruptcy filing, some Donruss employees collated and kept these unreleased Crusades and sold them to Dave and Adam's Card World, a sports card and collectibles store. In turn, they sold the entire lot to a private collector, which then traded hands again to another private collector. Had these Crusades not been backdoored, collectors may have never seen these.

While many collectors believe that one copy of the Red and Purple and two copies of the Green of each player from this unreleased portion of the set exist, this is more of an exception than the norm. The large majority of players only have one of each color, with some players not having one or two colors confirmed to exist.

Most players in the initial Crusade set (#1 - #100) were to have a "base" and "Call to Arms" (CTA) card, for all three colors. The first Crusade "type" for each of these players were released in packs of 1998 Donruss, Leaf, and Donruss Update; however, the second Crusade "type" for many players were part of this unreleased set. For example, the Ken Griffey, Jr. CTA Crusade was one of these unreleased cards that emerged on the secondary market after the bankruptcy - Griffey, Jr. had a "base" Crusade that was officially released in packs but his CTA subset was to be featured in sets that were never officially released.

Unlike the CTA Crusades that were inserted into packs, all unreleased CTA cards are sequentially-numbered.

Because of the popularity of the Crusade set in general and potential rarity of the unreleased Crusades specifically, these command also strong premiums in the secondary sales market over the pack-issued Crusades.

It should be noted, there are a few exceptions to the rule with these unreleased cards. Rickey Henderson (#166) and Vinny Castilla (#138) both do not have a Crusade that was released in packs but have a Crusade in this Unreleased set. Both of Mo Vaughn's Crusades (#12 & #196) - pack-issued and in the unreleased set - were the CTA version; Vaughn does not have a "base" Crusade.

All player cards between #131 and 200 have been accounted for although some players do not have all 3 color parallels.

Barry Larkin has all 3.

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Day 30: 1992 Bowman card mosaic. I was inspired to make this by all the artists on Twitter and the art displayed on Net54. They do awesome work and I thought I could do something cool, too.

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Very cool! thanks for sharing!

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That is amazing! You, sir, are talented.

Day 31: 1993 Donruss Elite. A card that came out just as I was entering the hobby at 7 yo, I didn't really know about them until years later. But the chances to pull one was difficult, and it's believed many still are hidden within unopened product.

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Love the 91-93 elites. Something like 1 in 75 boxes. I knew about them through Beckett and lusted after them. The only one I saw in person back then was the 93 McGriff that a friend pulled. I promptly traded him for it. Then in 94, as print runs began to shrink, my brother pulled a 94 Griffey elite. Even though they were still /10,000, they weren't nearly as hard to pull, so they lost their luster a bit for me. Anyway, as I began to build my Larkin PC as an adult, when I could afford to buy the cool cards I couldn't buy as a kid, the 93 Elite was one of the first on the list.

A lot of people don't know this, but the design around the borders, which was revolutionary at the time, was created by none other than Dick Perez, the artist of Diamond Kings fame.

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Day 32: 1993 Pinnacle Cooperstown Dufex. Another card I didn't know existed until much later in my collecting career. I actually really enjoy the Dufex cards, and the Museum Collection ones are especially nice.

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Love it!

These are one of the first dufex cards ever made. They were only distributed at the SCAI conference in Dallas. They are tough to find for player collectors.

Here's mine:

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Day 33: 1993 Topps Finest Refractor. The most important set in modern card collecting. After seeing other brands pass them by, Topps released a set that still influences us today. Topps Finest was printed on ultra premium cardstock, and featured colorful graphics. The first refractors, no one in 1993 could foresee refractor rainbows and what collecting has become. Today these cards suffer from greening, or hulking out, making pristine examples more rare and desirable.
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The granddaddy of the shiny cards!

I was hoping you would post this next. I remember in 1993 my LCS had a box. They were $20 a pack. Absolutely blew my mind.

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I actually don't know what SCAI is. I figured these were released in packs. Is SCAI a forerunner of the National? Or is/was it regional, more like the West Coast National?

1993 Topps Finest was another set that premiered before I had ever been to a card shop. I started going to card shops around 1995. I was caught up by Nomo-Mania and Mike Piazza. When I walked into the card shop I was looking at cards in cases, not in boxes.

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SCAI was the Sports Collectibles Association International, which was a short-lived Hobby trade group that formed in the early 90s by noted Hobby dealer Kit Young. By the mid-90s, the organization dissolved, and Young went on to found what is now the Collectibles Industry Summit. The National is more of a giant card show for consumers. Wheras SCAI and the Industry Summit are more like trade shows for dealers in the industry more than the individual collector.

Pinnacle was at the SCAI in 1993 trying to promote their new dufex cards, so they gave out boxed sets of the Cooperstown Collection in dufex to the dealers there. I believe there were a total of 1000 sets produced, but you don't seem to see that many around these days.

I lived in a very small town in 1993. We had a grocery store that had a small card display case run by the owner's son. Then, all of a sudden, a lady opened a full-fledged card shop across the street. It instantly became the hot spot for all the boys in the neighborhood to hangout, my brother and I included.

I grew up in Billings, Montana, population 81k people. I was buying cards at the grocery store chain called Buttrey's. It's since been bought by Albertsons, I'm not sure it's still around. About 1995, I found two card shops in town and those were life changing compared to a 75-cent pack going through the checkout line. The better of the two was a dimly lit double wide (or small house) that was filled full.

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Day 34: 1993 Topps Florida & Colorado Inaugural. 1993 was a huge year in Montana where I grew up. Getting a MLB team kinda closer to Billings was exciting, and! we were the last stop on the Rockies winter caravan.

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Day 35: 1994 Bowmans Best w/ Derek Jeter. Refractor also available. These veteran with prospect combos don't always age well. But this card ended up with two future HOF'ers. And! They ended up with near identical career WAR. Larkin had a higher ceiling, Jeter had longevity.

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I'll post one more 1993. This was one of the first inserts I chased as it was a realistic pull compared to Donruss Elites. And I thought they were so cool. The fact that you could pull winner cards to redeem portions of the whole set made it all the more fun.

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Great card! I don't know why I haven't acquired Black Gold yet. It's a wonderful set and I was very happy when they revived it as an insert a couple years ago.

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Day 36: 1994 Fleer Extra Bases, tallboy. I never knew these existed until a fellow Net54 collector passed along an entire set in 2022. What do you do with a set that doesn't fit into standard pages, sleeves, or protectors? Idk. I shoe boxed them and put them in my closet.

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I remember buying these in 1994. I think they are the reason I don't like oversized cards to this day. I never had a good way to store them back then, and it turned me off to oversized cards forever.

1995 Collectors Choice SE Gold Signature. When I was a boy, I was not impressed with Gold Signatures. Same picture, same signature, different color? Who cared? Now that I'm older, and rainbows are 20 variations or more, I yearn for simpler times.

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One of the first real chase cards I remember where you had a realistic chance of pulling one. Sure, you could pull an Elite once every 75 boxes, or win the lottery by "finding the Reggie," but these babies were all the rage. And at one in 75 packs, were a realistic pusuit.

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I'll take a risk that this one isn't on the list of 1995 cards.

Here's a rare one.

This is the 1995 Pinnacle Holographic Foil Artist's Proof. Very little is known about these cards. Apparently, a bunch were sold on ebay in 2016, without much information. According to baseballcardpedia.com, "collectors speculate that these were test issue, alternative versions of the Artist's Proof parallels that were scrapped but erroneously made their way out of the factory and/or were mistakenly distributed into packs."

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1995 Select Certified Mirror Gold. The start of something important. Later years cards have become very popular in the nostalgia card market. 1995 was easy to find Select Mirror Gold. Love the look to this card.

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Correct. not on the list

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To follow up on this post and the comment that it was the start of something important, I wanted to share the 1996 Select Certified rainbow. To say it was important is an understatement. I don't believe its importance can be overstated. It changed the game, and was the precursor to nearly everything we see in the hobby today.

According to baseballcardpedia.com, 1996 Select Certified was a 144-card hobby-only set released by Pinnacle Brands in the summer of 1996. This set contained a staggering (for the time) six levels of parallels and was one of the first sets that allowed individual player collectors to "chase the rainbow".

'96 Select Certified also redefined the standard for rarity for subsequent baseball card sets - up to the time this set was released, only a handful of inserts/parallels had either announced print runs or serial-numbering, which ranged from the high hundreds to high thousands. However, '96 Select Certified pushed the envelope by limiting the number of boxes distributed and drastically limiting the availability of all parallels, especially its Mirror parallels, which successfully contributed to establishment of the brand as a super-premium one, as intended a year prior. As a result, this set could be viewed as the impetus for the low serial numbering/print run craze that soon followed and harmoniously coincided with the "Insert Mania" wave of the mid-to-late 1990s that gave rise to cards numbered to ten, five, or one (e.g., Flair Masterpieces).

The announced print runs for the various parallels is as follows:

Certified Red (limited to 1800 copies)
Artist's Proof (limited to 500 copies)
Certified Blue (limited to 180 copies)
Mirror Red (limited to 90 copies)
Mirror Blue (limited to 45 copies)
Mirror Gold (limited to 30 copies)

These were stated print runs from the manufacturer as the cards were not serial numbered. Although the cards are not serial-numbered, many collectors believe that the announced production figures are accurate. This is based on sales data over the years and availability on the market. It also matches relatively closely to the stated odds for each parallel, considering a calculated print run of 64,800 total boxes produced, a figure that also appears accurate based on market data.

To my knowledge, there have only been 2 prior public sales of the Barry Larkin Mirror Gold, one in 2005 and one in 2019. Otherwise, this card is extremely scarce and I'm fortunate to have it. Mine is from the personal collection of the former CEO of Pinnacle that was sold at auction recently.

Many consider this to be the first real rainbow in the hobby. Here it is in all its shiny glory:

Base:

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Certified Red:

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Artist's Proof:

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Certified Blue:

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Mirror Red:

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Mirror Blue:

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Mirror Gold:

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Complete Rainbow:

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