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Pacific

My Pacific Collection (Updated December 23rd, 2021)

1991 Pacific: “Aeneas Williams” RC #633

1993 Pacific: “Carlos Jenkins” RC #83

1994 Pacific: “Jonathan Hayes” #51

The year was 1991 and I remember saying to a friend of mine at the time, "This set could be the next 1989 Score." Yep. I said it. I said that about the initial release from Pacific trading cards. Pacific found its way onto the football landscape back in 1991 and, in my opinion, they did not disappoint. I may have been wrong about the '91 Pacific release being as scarce as the initial '89 Score set, but Pacific still put together a perfect blend of photography, card stock, overall layout, set size, and stats that I liked, (See the 1991 Pacific: “Aeneas Williams” RC #633 left). And although the initial release only had 2 inserts set, (according to Beckett), which were a "Pick the Pros" insert set and a "Checklist" insert set, (which, by the way, I've never seen), they did have their own "Variation / Error" chase cards for hobby enthusiasts. It seems all card manufacturers back in the early 90s had error cards to keep the customers buying more packs.

In 1992, Pacific's 2nd foray into the football card market was much of the same. Another dazzling set, from the photography/layout point of view, (See the 1992 Pacific: "Felix Wright" #185 right). Pacific stayed the course with its remarkable 660-card set size in 1992, as well. Another thing I will point out about Pacific is that even though the sets were 660 cards, I could put a set together in less than 3 boxes. That about that a minute, If I was trying to do the same with an Upper Deck set with the same # of cards, I would have had to buy 20 boxes. And that, my friends, is why I don't buy boxes anymore. Two words.....Upper Deck.  Pacific also added 4 insert sets to the mixed in '92 for a total of 6 that year. One of the insert sets Pacific included in '92 would eventually become one of their releases starting in '93. That insert set was called "Prisms", (See the 1992 Pacific: "Christian O'Koye" Prisms #3 below right). I'm not sure why Pacific thought these cards were worth their own title, but they did. And starting in 1993, they were a 100+ card set. However, with that being said, in the 2 years that Pacific was in production, they had quickly become one of my favorite titles.

In 1993, Pacific again released another amazing set. And although the set size was down, 440 in '93 compared to 660 in previous years, the layout was still top-notch, (See the 1993 Pacific: “Carlos Jenkins” RC #83 above left). I really liked how the team colors made up the border design. Pacific also dropped the # of insert sets included with the '93 release from 6 in '92 to 3 in '93. My first thought was that maybe the Pacific brand wasn't being

1992 Pacific: “Felix Wright” #185

1992 Pacific: “Christian O'Koye” Prisms #3

received as well as I had hoped, but in reality, it was because as stated in the previous paragraph,  Pacific also released a 109-card "Prism" set that same year. And although I didn't like the set, the "Prisms" title continued for 3 straight years.

The 1994 Pacific release marked a slight change from previous years. Most probably didn't even notice the change, but gone was the ancient-looking "Helmet with the pennant" logo and in ushered the "Pacific Crown Collection" logo. It was slight, but it was there. What did start that year was the overwhelming usage for the Gold text on the card fronts. Way too over-done, (See the 1994 Pacific: “Jonathan Hayes” #51 left). I still liked Pacific at this point, they still released a quality product with a very nice set size, but things were starting to change and they weren't for the better.

Unfortunately, '95 started the slide. The '95 set size stayed the same at 450 cards, the # of insert sets increased to 7 in '95, but the card layout dropped off. I didn't care for the gold text on the side that was partially hidden inside a gold border. It was hard to read, (See the 1995 Pacific: “Anthony Carter” #149 left).  The backside of the cards wasn't bad, but the front really left me wanting and

1995 Pacific: “Anthony Carter” #149

expecting more. One oddity from this set, which I can't recall if it's standard for most card manufacturers or not, but the photo on the card back increased or decreased in size relative to the amount of stats, (ie, years played), the player had. For example, Clay Matthews had a much smaller picture compared to say, Bert Emanuel. 

1997 Pacific: “Barry Sanders” Big Number Die-Cuts #7

Consistency was the key in '96. For the 3rd straight year, Pacific released a 450-card set. Again, a blended gold border was all the rave for Pacific. The helmet emblem along with the player's name was all blended into the border. Very hard to read. The only difference from the '95 set to the '96 set was the fact that they moved it from the side to the bottom, (See the 1996 Pacific: “Chris Hinton” #250 above right).  Pacific also kept the same # of insert sets in '96 that they had in '95. The group of 7 was highlighted by one of the weirdest insert cards, or should I say, football cards, I've ever known. The Card-Supials, yep. It's actually what you might think it is. Think....kangaroo. And oddly enough, this 72-card set has maintained over a $300 book value for 20 years. pretty impressive. However, with that being said, it was sets like this that started Pacific down a path of obscurity.

The 1997 Pacific release was an uptick compared to the last couple of years, mostly because of the border where the name was placed. I could actually read the player's name. I still didn't like the font, but I guess you can't have everything, (See the 1997 Pacific: “Winston Moss” #388 above right). The '97 release was another 450-card set with 7 insert sets so if anything, Pacific was very consistent from year to year. One of the more interesting insert sets that were included in the '97 release was the first card, (that I can remember), that didn't have a picture of the player on the front, the "Big Number Die-Cuts insert set, (See the 1997 Pacific: “Barry Sanders” Big Number Die-Cuts #7 above left). Pacific definitely wasn't afraid to do something different.

The 1998 Pacific release was another 450-card set, the 5th straight year of having 450-cards. Only Topps had a more remarkable consistency with it's set size than Pacific had, (Note: Press Pass also had a consistent run  too, but with only 50 cards in it's set, that really isn't such a big deal.)  I really did like the '98 release. Even though, Pacific has shown us that they like camouflaging the player's name within the border. This time, it was with a silver border, not gold, (See the 1998 Pacific: “Chad Brown” #391 right). The 1998 release also had a slight drop in the # of insert sets that they included, 5 in '98 instead of 7 sets the 

1996 Pacific: “Chris Hinton” #250

1997 Pacific: “Winston Moss” #388

1998 Pacific: “Chad Brown” #391

 previous year. This reduction was probably due to the fact that Pacific introduced two new titles in '98, the "Aurora" and the "Omega".  One last note about the '98 release and that is, it marked the 2nd time that Pacific changed their logo. So in a short 8-year run, Pacific had 3 different logos on their card fronts.

In summary, the Pacific title was a worthy title to collect, in my opinion. The earlier sets were very nicely designed and laid out. As the years went on, they did come out with some really weird and off-the-wall concoctions, but nothing seemed to be rushed to market the way Collector's Edge always seemed to be. So even though Pacific was weird, in some cases, at least they were well-thought-out.

I have complete sets:
 

Pacific Series:

1) 1991 Pacific Set

2) 1992 Pacific Set

    A) Prism Insert

    B) Checklist Insert

    C) Bob Greise Insert

    D) Steve Largent Insert

    E) Pick The Pros Insert

    F) Statistical Standouts Insert

3) 1993 Pacific Set

    A) Silver Prism Insert

    B) Pick The Pros Insert

4) 1994 Pacific Set

    A) Crystalline Insert

    B) Marquee Prisms Insert

    C) Gems of the Crown Insert

    D) Knights of the Gridiron Insert

5) 1995 Pacific Set

    A) G-Force Insert

    B) Rookies Insert

    C) Cramer’s Choice Insert

    D) Young Warriors Insert

    E) Hometown Heroes Insert

    F) Gold Crown Die Cuts Insert

6) 1996 Pacific Set

    A) The Zone Insert

    B) Power Corps Insert

    C) Gems Of The Crown Insert

    D) Gold Crown Die Cuts Insert

    E) Bomb Squad Insert

7) 1997 Pacific Set

    A) The Zone Insert

    B) Card-Supials Insert

    C) Team Checklists Insert

    D) Big Number Die Cuts Insert

    E) Gold Crown Die Cuts Insert

    F) Mark Brunell Insert

8) 1998 Pacific Set 

    A) Dynagon Turf Insert

    B) Gold Crown Die Cuts Insert

    C) Team Checklists Insert

9) 1999 Pacific Set - Do Not Have

    A) Dynagon Turf Insert

    B) Team Checklists Insert

    C) Gold Crown Die-Cuts Insert

    D) Pro Bowl Die-Cuts Insert

10) 2000 Pacific Set

    A) Gold Crown Die-Cuts Insert

    B) AFC Leaders Insert

    C) NFC Leaders Insert

    D) Autographs Insert - Incomplete ( 1 / 50 )

11) 2001 Pacific Set - Do Not Have

    A) All-Rookie Team Insert

    B) Impact Zone Insert

    C) War Room Insert

12) 2002 Pacific Set

    A) War Room Insert

    B) Draft Force Insert

    C) Rocket Launchers Insert

    D) Pro Bowl Die Cuts Insert

    E) Feature Attractions Insert

    F) Game Worn Jerseys Insert - Incomplete ( 2 / 50 )

 

 

 

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