This is it. The first Collective Troll junk wax group box break is done and over with. Two months and 90 packs later and we have reached the Final Pack of 1997 Pinnacle X Press. Please scroll down because I have the stats for each team posted along with some important info for the break upcoming. Here we go!#47 Albert Belle Chicago White Sox (Belle led the American League with 148 RBI in 1996 and he drove in 100 or more runs in each of his last 9 seasons in the Majors averaging 126 per year) #133 Matt Morris St. Louis Cardinals (The former Seton Hall Pirate was the Cards 1st round pick in 1995. He made his MLB debut in 1997 and had a great rookie campaign and finished second in the Rookie of the Year vote behind Scott Rolen. On the mound he posted a 12-9 mark with a 3.19 ERA in 33 starts. At the plate he batted .205 with 6 RBI)
#53 Javier Lopez Atlanta Braves
#129 Brian Giles Cleveland Indians (Giles was a 17th Round draft choice who spent seven years in the Cleveland Indians minor league system. The Indians traded him to Pittsburgh in exchange for Ricardo Rincon before the 1999 season and in his first full season he hit .315 with 39 homers and 115 RBI for the Bucs. Over the next 4 years he averaged 37 homers a year. In August of 2003 the Pirates sent him to San Diego as part of a package that brought them Jason Bay. He hit .191 in 39 games for the Padres last year. He currently has 287 career homers)#??? Swing for the Fences Game Card -4
#52 John Smoltz Atlanta Braves
#90 Edgar Renteria Florida Marlins (At age 21 Renteria stole 32 bases for the World Champion Marlins in 1997)
#87 Jason Giambi Oakland A’s (Giambi made it into 140 games as a utility man in ’96. He shared time with Scott Brosius at 3rd, McGwire at 1st, Berroa at DH and Phil Plantier in left field. The Oakland A’s hit 243 homers that year and the Giambino accounted for 8% of them. He may have hit more had he spent less time sitting on second base pouting)Now, stick around for the final tally and some important announcements….
Here are the final statistics of who is getting what cards… In no particular order, this is the breakdown for each of the 28 teams.
Atlanta Braves 66 cardsBaltimore Orioles 47 cards
Boston Red Sox 35 cards
California Angels 44 cards
Chicago Cubs 36 cards
Chicago White Sox 22 cards
Cincinnati Reds 31 cardsCleveland Indians 28 cards
Colorado Rockies 48 cards
Detroit Tigers 39 cards
Florida Marlins 51 cards
Houston Astros 26 cards
Kansas City Royals 37 cards
Los Angeles Dodgers 37 cardsMilwaukee Brewers 48 cards
Minnesota Twins 25 cards
New York Mets 28 cards
New York Yankees 56 cards
Oakland A’s 32 cardsPhiladelphia Phillies 30 cards
Pittsburgh Pirates 18 cards
San Diego Padres 44 cards
San Francisco Giants 33 cards
Seattle Mariners 48 cards
St. Louis Cardinals 27 cards
Texas Rangers 54 cards
Toronto Blue Jays 50 cards
Shannon Stewart says: “Please read on, there is some important stuff here”.I think that covers every team. It seemed after the first pack that the Braves would run away with the “most cards” crown. They did. Out of 84 packs in the break, 66 of them yielded an Atlanta Braves card. That is 79%. In second place were the New York Yankees with 56 cards, in third place-the Texas Rangers had 54 cards. In 4th place are the Florida Marlins with 51 cards and the Blue Jays took 5th place with 50 cards. The Rockies, Brewers and Mariners were all REALLY close. The worst yield belonged to the Pittsburgh Pirates with 18 cards (21%). When ya think about it, 21% aint too bad. I’ve ripped two blasters without getting a single Rays card before. Everyone’s packages have been shipped and should be received shortly. I have NOT shipped the Phillies, Rockies or White Sox. If you had those teams, PLEASE get in touch. You have till Monday to send me an email. If you DON’T, the cards from your team will go into the second break and … Just get in touch, okay? The next box break will begin shortly. My parent’s scanner bit the dust, so I am a Troll without a scanner. I want to get one for home before I begin the next break.
The next one will be run MUCH differently. I will NOT be posting all of the packs. I will post the first pack from each box and any packs that have hits in them. Then, I will post all of the highlights and the break-down of how many cards were pulled for each team. One of each pack will also be posted on A Pack to be Named Later and the link will be posted here. There are more than twice as many packs in this break compared to the last one, plus there will be a lot more variety since the packs will range from 1989 up till 2009 and maybe even a few from 2010 if those ever appear in my neck of the woods. With regards to the newer teams in MLB, the Washington Nationals will go to the person who claimed the Montreal Expos. I (the break moderator) will take the Tampa Bay Rays and Arizona Diamondbacks and any cards with multiple players from different teams. This break is complete. 
The next break (which is called Group Box Break 2010 in tags) will commence as soon as I get a scanner. I should note that when I shipped everyone’s cards yesterday a few of you got selected for bonuses beyond random cards. I included a total of 5 relic cards and 5 autographs randomly with your cards. I will try and do the same thing with the next break. I might post the total from the post office receipt as a warning for anyone else planning on doing this. It has been worth it. I have had a blast, met some new people and lessened my card load by about 1,000 cards (in addition to all the break cards), so I am pretty happy. I will NOT be doing anymore breaks after spring training starts. It’s been fun, but I want to keep the blog available to post “Rays win, Rays win!” Before I sign off I need to send another thank you to Adam E of the Thoughts and Sox blog for providing all of the mailers for this break. Thanks Adam!!! Go Rays! Troll out.
#65 Will Clark Texas Rangers (I don’t think that PatP will give up any of his Will Clark cards, but if he did, a Thrill-bipping is in the making-I think this is the 6th Clark to come out of this box) 
#105 Todd Hollandsworth Los Angeles Dodgers (The Joe Charboneau of the 90’s. See Spezio’s comment, it applies)
#12 Jose Canseco Oakland A’s (This dude is huge!)
#44 Tino Martinez New York Yankees
#128 Scott Spiezo Oakland A’s (Spiezio spent 12 years in the big leagues and won 2 rings, but I never liked him. He was a career .255 hitter and he just seemed average, but not a cool average guy, an overrated average guy that always let you down)
#84 Jim Thome Cleveland Indians (I am really excited about Thome signing with the Twins, I think it’s a great fit and I think he still hit. Minnesota fans should be able to look forward to this. Oh, and by the way, this is a sight that I never get tired of seeing…)There is only 1 more pack to go. Shannon Stewart would tell you to check it out, but I know your dying in anticipation, so she will save her breath for now, plus I am too tired to find ANOTHER picture. Gotta get back to work… By the way, today is one of those days that I work till 7 AM and have to be in class at 8. I do not like these days. Go Rays! Troll out.
#57 Cal Ripken Jr. Baltimore Orioles (I can’t help it, I get giddy anytime I pull a card of the Iron Man)
#89 Jeff Conine Florida Marlins (I love this pic! The Niner with a sledgehammer)
#38 Brady Anderson Baltimore Orioles (1996 was Brady’s 50 homer season, complete with broken ribs and 90210 sideburns)
#96 Randy Johnson Seattle Mariners (The most intimidating mullet of the 90's!)
#144 Tino Martinez Peak Performers New York Yankees
Stick around cuz you never know who will be around for the next pack. Go Rays! Troll out.
Okay, one more bonus pick of the former Jays first rounder (in the Syracuse Sky Chiefs road whites) and here we go with pack 32:
#88 Mo Vaughn Boston Red Sox (In ’96 The Hit Dog hit .326 with 44 homers and 143 RBI and DIDN’T win the Silver Slugger for first basemen)
#61 Manny Ramirez Cleveland Indians (Manny spent the first 8 years of his career in Cleveland before chasing the free agent dollar to Boston)
#41 Charles Nagy Cleveland Indians
#110 Ron Gant St. Louis Cardinals (Gant went to St. Louis as a free agent before the ’96 season. He hit 30 homers for the Cards and they made it to the NLCS, but lost to Gant’s former team, the Braves in 7 games)
#112 Roberto Alomar Baltimore Orioles (Alomar was an All Star at second base EVERY year from 1990-2001, representing 4 different teams and both leagues-the Orioles were his third)
#72 Dean Palmer Texas Rangers (After putting up monstrous power numbers in ’96-38 homers and 107 RBI, Palmer was traded to Kansas City for Tom Goodwin in July of 1997)
#79 Pat Hentgen MEN OF SUMMER Toronto Blue Jays (The 1996 Cy Young Award winner in Gold!)
#15 Alex Rodriguez Seattle Mariners (A-Roid won his first (and only) batting title in 1996 at 20 years of age, just 3 years after the Mariners made him the first overall pick in the draft. He also paced the AL in doubles with 54 and runs scored with 141. He had 215 hits in ’96 which is still his career best. Thirteen years later and that was his ONLY batting title and doubles crown)
#97 Joey Hamilton San Diego Padres
#80 Gary Sheffield Florida Marlins (Shef led the NL with a .465 OBP in ’96. He also had 42 homers, drove in 120 and scored 118 times. He walked 142 times while only striking out 66 times. How seldom he struck out was always impressive for a slugger. Over his career Shef struck out 1171 times against 1475 walks and 509 homers. His career .393 OBP is 11th among active players and 84th All Time)
#135 Shannon Stewart Toronto Blue Jays (I googled Shannon Stewart and this is the first thing that came up, I didn’t look any further)
#50 Steve Finley San Diego Padres (Steve Finley was a left handed, slap hitting, lead-off guy. In 1992 he hit .292 with 5 homers, 55 RBI and 44 steals. In the first 7 years of his career he never hit more than 11 homers and then 1996 rolled around and blammo! He hit 30 homers and drove in 95. That made me scratch my head a little. His brother in law Brady Anderson had a similar resurgence in Baltimore)
#148 Roger Clemens Common Checklist Toronto Blue Jays
#69 Wade Boggs New York Yankees (1996 was the year that Boggs finally got his ring, went for a ride on a horse and hit .311 for the World Champs… In just a couple of years he would find himself on the Devil Rays)
#137 Hideki Irabu New York Yankees
#116 Andrew Jones Atlanta Braves (In the ’96 Series Jones tied a record by homering in his first 2 at-bats and set a record becoming the youngest player (19) to homer in the Series)
#121 Wilton Guerrero Los Angeles Dodgers (Vlad’s “big” brother used a corked bat and his 140 pound frame to knock 4 homers in 1997)
#141 Ivan Rodriguez Texas Rangers PEAK PERFORMERS (I can’t wait to count up everything and see how many Pudge cards have been pulled)
#11 Cecil Fielder New York Yankees
#2 Andy Pettitte New York Yankees (It is a shocker to pull a pitcher out of this product… I think there is one pitcher to 12 hitters. I looked up Pettitte’s career numbers as soon as I yanked this one. The first surprise was not only has AP never sniffed a Cy Young, he has only been an All Star twice. He won 21 games in 1996, in the thick of the juiced ball/juiced player era… His record in the postseason is more than an entire season for most. He is 18-9 in 40 starts including 8 World Series. Wow. His 229 wins are 63rd All Time and his .629 winning percentage is 53rd All Time. He won 14 games for the Yankees last year in the regular season and he was 4-0 in the postseason. At 37 years old, I think he still has a few good years in him)
#115 Joe Carter Toronto Blue Jays (I have searched and searched and I can’t find the 1984 Donruss Carter that I was sure I had-anybody got an extra? Carter joined the power party in ’96 himself with 30 bombs and 107 RBI)
#143 Mark McGwire Oakland A’s Peak Performers (Perhaps “Peak Performance Enhancer” would be a more appropriate subset title for this card…)
#124 Dmitri Young St Louis Cardinals (The Meat Hook was the 4th overall player selected in the 1991 draft for the Cards)
#6 Kenny Lofton Atlanta Braves (During spring training in ’97 Lofton and Alan Embree went to the Braves in exchange for David Justice and Marquis Grissom. Lofton hit .333 in his one season with the Braves… He choked at the plate in the postseason and signed back with Cleveland in ’98)
#137 Hideki Irabu New York Yankees (The botc says Irabu was considered the Japananese Nolan Ryan prior to signing with the Yankees. Didn’t quite work out that way in the big leagues)
#100 Jeff Fassero Seattle Mariners (After the 1996 season the Mariners sent 3 players to the Expos for Fassero giving them the best all left-handed 1-2-3 punch in the American League. Randy Johnson, Jeff Fassero and Jaimie Moyer, along with an amazing offense led the Mariners to a 90 win season, netting 1st place in the AL West. Unfortunately the Orioles rolled over the M’s in the first round of the playoffs. Fassero won the only game for Seattle when they lost the series 3-1)
#43 Paul O’Neill New York Yankees (O’Neill had a pretty nice career, but all I think of was his guest spot on Seinfeld when I see his cards. Paul O’Neill hit TWO homeruns for Bobby!)
#18 Chuck Knoblauch Minnesota Twins (Knoblauch batted .341 for the Twins in ’96, and in ’97 he won the Trifecta for AL 2nd baseman as an All Star, Gold Glove and Silver Slugger winner. He was traded to the Yankees for 5 players before the ’98 season)
