Cheap Wax Wednesday Box Breaks: 1996 Summit Football
Pinnacle debuted Summit as a premium product in 1995. The cards were printed on a thicker stock, and had the feel of a more expensive product at the time. The 1995 release featured player photos on white backgrounds with a small gold foil team logo. That changed drastically for 1996 Summit Football. Gone were the white backgrounds, replaced with black pinstripe backgrounds. The gold foil stuck around with the team logos enlarged on the card fronts.
The 1996 Summit base set consists of 200 total base cards. This breaks down to 146 veterans, 35 rookies, four checklists, and a 15-card subset highlighting quarterbacks titled Quarter Horses.
1996 boasted a strong rookie class, featuring Keyshawn Johnson, Marvin Harrison, Kevin Hardy, Simeon Rice, and 1995 Heisman Trophy winner Eddie George.
As was typically the case, Pinnacle also included a couple different parallels. Ground Zero cards feature rainbow Dufex, while Artist’s Proofs are more subtle, simply changing the gold foil to a rainbow foil, and adding “Artist’s Proof” around the player photo. Always known for insert cards, Pinnacle also added multiple numbered insert sets to 1996 Summit.
1996 Pinnacle Summit Football Box Break
Cards per pack: 7
Packs per box: 18
Price paid: $30
Pack 1 highlights:
Marcus Allen, Carl Pickens & John Mobley RC
Pack 2:
Jerome Bettis, John Elway & Bryan Cox Ground Zero. Obviously, you always want to hit big players with the parallels. With a 200-card checklist, that can be tough. While Cox is a well known player, he doesn’t exactly command much value on cardboard.
Pack 3:
Willie McGinest (remember those huge shoulder pads you used to see in the ’90s?) & Brett Favre QH
Pack 4:
Junior Seau, Marshall Faulk, Jim Kelly & Brett Favre Ground Zero. Now we’re talking! Favre Ground Zero parallel!
Pack 5:
Michael Westbrook & Jim Kelly QH
Pack 6:
Stephen Davis RC, Jerry Rice, Bobby Engram RC & Jim Harbaugh CL
Pack 7:
Cris Carter, Dan Marino CL, Jake Reed, Robert Smith & Mike Alstott Inspirations
Pack 8:
Kordell Stewart & Isaac Bruce Turf Team (3944/4000)
Pack 9:
Vinny Testaverde, Napoleon Kaufman & Steve Young QH
Pack 10:
Irving Fryar & Errict Rhett
Pack 11:
Jeff Blake, Rick Mirer & Deion Sanders
Pack 12:
Terry Kirby, Terry Allen, Eric Metcalf, Troy Aikman, Boomer Esiason, Antonio Freeman & Mike Alstott RC. Now that is a pack! Every card a fairly well known skill position player. It doesn’t get much better than that. It is pretty rare that I show an entire pack as highlights.
Pack 13:
Kerry Collins, Neil O’Donnell QH & Brett Favre 3rd & Long
Pack 14:
Emmitt Smith CL, Warren Moon, Tim Biakabutuka RC (I remember immediately liking Tim just because of his name) & Troy Aikman QH
Pack 15:
Terrell Davis, Curtis Martin, Drew Bledsoe & Kordell Stewart
Pack 16:
Eddie George RC, Rashaan Salaam, Trent Dilfer & Warren Moon QH
Pack 17:
Brett Favre, Favre CL, Daryl Johnston, Lawrence Phillips RC & Flipper Anderson Ground Zero
Pack 18:
Tim Brown, Eddie Kennison RC, Dan Marino & Mark Brunell QH
Lastly, the Marino card back. Pinnacle went with something different here, highlighting Marino’s quarterback rating. I prefer seeing traditional stat lines on card backs, but give them credit for attempting to go outside of the box.
This was certainly not a bad box. I like this brand and it’s a shame that the brand only lasted two years and disappeared after 1996.
It definitely makes opening product more fun when you hit the right players. This was a Favre-heavy box, as I pulled his base card, checklist, Ground Zero parallel and the 3rd and Long insert. I can’t complain about that.
It seems the hobby surge hasn’t quite hit ’90s football boxes like it has with baseball and basketball so maybe it’s a good time to be buying products like this.
Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.
