30 Day Baseball Card Challenge

Monday, December 31, 2018

The Original Rip Card

Imagine pulling a card out of a pack that has another card imbedded inside of it.  You're instantly faced with a dilemmaKeep it intact and never know what's inside or rip it and hope the card inside is better than the card you're tearing.  That's the premise of Allen and Ginter's "rip" cards, which has been inserted into packs since 2006.  But that's old news, right?

What's even older news is that eight years earlier, Pinnacle created something very similar with their 1998 Zenith Dare to Tear product.  Each box contained eighteen packs, each pack had three 5x7 cards, and each 5x7 card contained one standard sized card.

If I ever make a Top 10 Wantlist for Unopened Products, this will probably make the list.  I opened up a ton of the 1997/98 Zenith Dare to Tear Hockey, but only a handful of baseball packs.

Recently, I received a very generous care package from Rod over at Padrographs and he included two "intact" 5x7 cards:


Pinnacle created two different parallels for the 5x7'sSilver Impulse and Gold Impulse (#'d to 100).  The Gwynn is an example of the Silver Impulse parallel, which I didn't have.  What does that mean?  It means that I won't be tearing into it.

The Gwynn remains intact:


Here's a scan of the back.  You'll notice that the card is numbered Z22.  All of the 5x7 cards feature a Z in front of the card number.  The standard sized cards do not.

I thought about keeping the Caminiti intact too, but the curiosity got the best of me.  However, I refuse to actually tear the card.  Instead I cut a slit about 2" from the bottom of the card and carefully pulled the embedded card out:


Here's what I got:


Pinnacle also created two standard sized parallelsZ-Silver and Z-Gold (#'d to 100).  I hit the jackpot and pulled a Z-Silver Tino.  Okay... so this card isn't going to pay this month's mortgage, but it's a nice 90's parallel of a New York Yankees fan favorite who is enshrined in the Hall of Very Good.  Better yet is I have no regrets about slicing the Caminiti.

Well that's it for today.  I still have a bunch of cool stuff to share from Rod's holiday care package, but this post is already dragging out.  I'll get around to posting the rest next weekend.  Right now I'm off to eBay to see if I can track down any unopened boxes of this product.

By the way... I totally understand that this product isn't for everyoneChris Harris over at Stale Gum does a great job of breaking down the negative aspects of this product while ripping into a box a few years ago:


The idea of tearing a baseball card to reveal another baseball card could be considered cardfoolery.  But I just think of the 5x7 card as wrapping paper waiting to reveal the present inside.

What do you think?


Sports card blasphemy or hidden treasures?


Hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable New Year's Eve with their friends, family members, and/or baseball cards!  See ya next year.

Happy Monday and sayonara!

15 comments:

Rod (Padrographs) said...

I did not realize they were rip cards, very cool.

Johnnys Trading Spot said...

I didn't know those existed.

Nick said...

Hidden treasures! I have yet to pull/acquire a rip card, but I'd 100 percent rip it if I ever do.

SumoMenkoMan said...

I’m an unopened collector at heart. Mine would stay sealed for sure.

Peter K Steinberg said...

I didn't know they existed either. What a pull. Hope the Lost Collector doesn't see this!! Happy New Year! I'm looking forward to the further Chronicles of Fuji in 2019.

CaptKirk42 said...

OH so it is Pinnacle we have to blame for the "rip" card concept and not Topps? I am of the old "don't rip" school. Somewhere I have an unripped A&G Garrett Atkins Rockies rip card.

night owl said...

I knew these existed (and I barely collected in the '90s). They're annoying as hell.

Big Tone said...

Never heard of em .Cool concept ,though.Happy New Year Fuji!

Baltmoss68 said...

I’d keep my favorite players intact but maybe rip a few for fun. Seems like a long shot to open anything exciting

Fuji said...

rod (padrographs) - thanks for the awesome care package

john miller - wow. i'm surprised. you've come across a lot of cool stuff over the years.

nick - i've never actually pulled a true rip card... just these zenith dare to tear cards.

sumomenkoman - i have an unopened set of the hockey cards as well as a set of the standard size cards.

peter k steinberg - thought about tlc as soon as i saw it was tino. happy new years to you too!

captkirk42 - yup. blame pinnacle!

night owl - lol. if you stumble across any in the future, i'll gladly take them off your hands

big tone - happy new year big tone!

baltmoss68 - that's my philosophy as well. stale gum pulled exactly one insert out of his entire box, so i'd definitely call them long shots.

Zippy Zappy said...

I know a guy who might like that Tino Martinez.

Also I've ripped up those framed autographs and relics from A&G/Topps 206 before so I've long gone beyond the point the no return when it comes to ripping.

Fuji said...

You've taken apart those framed mini relics? That's pretty cool. Never thought about doing that. As for the Tino... I'm gonna hold onto it since it was a gift from another blogger and I do enjoy me some Zenith. But I might pick up the same card on COMC and send it TLC's way.

The Snorting Bull said...

I loved Zenith cards in the 1990s and I barely remember these cards though. I think my big Zenith year was in 1997. I loved those 8 x 10 Dufex cards. There was a card shop that was 20 minutes or so from my house, went out of business in the early 2000s. They had 3 boxes of 1997 Zenith at their liquidation sale. I bought them all, had a blast opening them.

Collecting Cutch said...

I could never rip a card. Paint on one that I have dozens of, yes? Rip, no.

Fuji said...

snorting bull - the 1997 8x10's were very cool... and the dufex parallels are even cooler. always thought it'd be cool to get those cards signed if i had access to the players.

collecting cutch - that's because painting is a form of art... while ripping is pure destruction ;)