Really excited to add this one. The 1995 Pinnacle Certified Mirror Golds were the beginning of the Mirror parallel lineage that became one of the defining chases of the 90s. A really cool piece of hobby history, and Ripken felt like the perfect player to represent it in my collection.

One of the collecting projects I’ve started this year is building what I’m calling an Innovation Collection. These are cards that represent milestones in the evolution of the hobby rather than just great players.

Instead of chasing one player or one team, I’m focusing on cards that introduced something new: the first refractors, early serial-numbered cards, Mirror parallels, PMGs, Crusades, Artist’s Proofs, and other releases that helped shape the modern hobby.

My newest pickup is this 1996 Pinnacle Starburst Hardball Heroes Artist’s Proof Chipper Jones PSA 10 (Pop 3). I specifically targeted the Artist’s Proof cards because I think Pinnacle was doing some incredibly creative things in the mid-90s. The foil stamping, the etched “Artist’s Proof” pattern, and the use of the designation across multiple sets and inserts made them one of the era’s most distinctive premium parallels. They may not get the same attention as PMGs or 1993 Finest Refractors, but I think they deserve a place in any collection celebrating hobby innovation.

I’m curious, if you were building a collection around the biggest innovations of the ‘90s, what card or set would be the first one you’d chase?

My 1954-1976 Topps Hank Aaron run is now complete, as I picked up the 1954 Hank rookie this week. I’m thrilled to own this iconic card, and thoroughly enjoyed putting the run together and identifying great looking low/mid grade copies of each card. Completing something like this is interesting. I’m stoked to have finished the project, but also a bit sad that that part of my collecting journey is over. Sure, I can upgrade certain cards to higher grades, but it won’t be the same as putting it together for the first time. I will

enjoy this complete collection, and look forward to figuring out where my collecting goes from here.

While I am primarily a vintage and junk wax collector, I have been intrigued by 90s/early 2000s card technology. In my opinion, some of the prettiest cards came out of that era, but I haven't dug into the different sets and early parallels very much. I decided to start an arm of my collection focused on "emerging card technology." I added a mid 90s Bowman's Best refractor yesterday, along with this card from the 1997 Pinnacle Certified Team Gold set. This is a pop 11 with only one higher. Like the refractor I picked up, this one was not super expensive. It's nice to know there are great cards, with low population, and somewhat affordable still sitting out there for the taking!

As a kid of the late 80s and 90s, I am shocked that I didn’t own a 90s refractor… until now. I think I’ve avoided them because I assumed they were out of my price range. But I stumbled upon this and thought it was a great combo of player, card aesthetics, condition, and affordability. Hello, Frank.