My Top Ten Tinos*

I’ve been meaning to enter Collecting Cutch’s contest about showing the top 10 Tino cards in my collection, but I’ve been crazy busy and just haven’t found the time. Now I have.

I’ve also been a little conflicted on what to show. See, last year I participated in Junior Junkie’s Best Binder Page, and I didn’t just want to re-hash that. I could have just chosen those nine plus one. But I felt like that’d be a little lazy of me.

So instead I gave myself an additional rule, hence the * in the post title. I’m going to show my Top 10 Tinos…from Pacific. I absolutely grow fonder of Pacific with each passing day, and some of my favorite Tinos come from this underrated brand. Brian, I hope it’s ok that I bent the rules a little bit. I did it in the name of new content, I swear.

I’m also going to cheat and show four honorable mentions. These are cards I scanned but didn’t quite make the cut. Man, bending rules left and right, eh? I hope I'm not disqualified.

Ok, now it’s time for my Top 10 Tinos from Pacific.  

10. 1997 Pacific Crown Collection #154

I’m starting off with a base card. While this might be too much gold foil for some, I’ve always been attracted to this set. I love the horizontal design in the instance, as it really captures Tino’s swing from a unique angle.

9. 1996 Pacific Crown Collection #404 Printing Plate

This is the only card where I’m allowing Tino to be featured as a Mariner. It’s also my only Tino 1 of 1. It also came from Brian of Collecting Cutch. Brownie points!

8. 1997 Pacific Prism Blue #52

I loved this set when it came out, and I remember the day that the base card arrived in my mailbox the summer between 7^th and 8^th grade. I had just started buying cards in the AOL forums, and this was one of my first purchases. This is the blue version I got a little while back on COMC. I’m a sucker for clearcuts to, and the area behind the headshot is acetate. Pacific loves acetate. I love acetate. Hence, I love Pacific cards with acetate.

7. 2000 Pacific Revolution #98

I had a hard time picking between 1998 and 2000 Revolution, but went with the slightly crazier Y2K edition. This was basically 1995 Fleer on more potent drugs. Think about that.

6. 1999 Pacific Crown Collection Checklist #10

These are hard to find! One thing I liked about Pacific was turning the team checklist card into an insert. This is diecut, to boot.

5. 2000 Pacific Prism #200

These had at least 13 variations, which is tough, and some were numbered. I’ve always like this drops one or whatever it’s called. Prizm was always a sweet set, going back to the early ‘90s.

4.  1999 Pacific Crown Royale #99 (Opening Day Issue)

This look is a classic from the brass knuckles set. I have a few different ones from different years, but it just reeks of an iconic Pacific look, so I’ll let this one represent them all.

3. 1997 Pacific Crown Collection Latinos of the Majors #LM13

There’s so much I like about this card. The big, block letters behind the player image is so great. Latinos of the Major Leagueswas a staple with Pacific due to the bilingual nature of the product, and while this one doesn’t quite read “Latino” like some of the others do, the in-your-face block letters seal the deal for me as one of the favorite cards in my collection.

2. 1998 Pacific Invincible Photoengravings #10

I’ve written about this card more than once. I love the design and texture of the card. It feels special. It feels premium.

1. 1998 Pacific Crown Collection In the Cage #11

This might be favorite Tino card of ANY brand. It’s a special card, both die-cut and laser-cut, and the design is just so awesome. Pacific always went wat out there with cards to resemble batting cages or foul poles or hockey nets. It also comes from a time where Tino was on the verge of stardom following his 44-HR effort, so it was an exciting year for me as a collector seeing my favorite player pop up in elite insert sets reserved for the game's biggest names. While he never quite made it to Griffey or Piazza or McGwire insert status, for a short time in 1998 card releases, he was right there.

Not a bad group of Tinos, if I say so myself. I’m sure I’m missing one or two amazing Pacific issues, but I’m content with this list.

Thanks for the contest, Brian.