subset collecting - pinnacle idols

back in 1992, i wasn't buying anything other than topps, really. i had seen some upper deck packs in one of the convenience stores on my university campus and bought one or two, but i was still in a topps-only mode.  so, i missed out on quite a few cards in real time.  i didn't learn about the pinnacle idols subsets that pinnacle put out in 1992 and 1993 until quite a bit later.

in fact, i owe my awareness of these cards to the blogosphere, as i believe i saw one of them for the first time on a blog in 2007 or 2008.  anyway, once i became aware, i quickly tracked down the complete subsets.  here are the 1992 cards:

the concept was simple and effective - take a present-day star and match them up with their idol from their youth.  here's the rundown of the players and their idols:

jim abbott - nolan ryan

wade boggs - george brett

ken griffey jr - rickey henderson

wally joyner - dale murphy

chuck knoblauch - ozzie smith

robin ventura - lou gehrig

don mattingly - rod carew

steve avery - jack morris

roberto alomar - sandy alomar

scott sanderson - jim hunter

david justice - willie stargell

rex hudler - roger staubach

david cone - jackie gleason

tony gwynn - willie davis

i appreciate the fact that ken griffey jr wasn't paired with his dad but roberto alomar was, and that pinnacle didn't limit the cards to baseball players, as you can see there is a football player and a comedian in there, too. 

it's worth mentioning that 1992 pinnacle had an insert set of "rookie idols" which paired rookies of the day with their idols. there were some repeats in that set, as nolan ryan, rickey henderson, and george brett showed up as idols, as did jim abbott. i only have a couple of those cards in my collection - the ones that feature dodgers darryl strawberry and eric davis.

in 1993, pinnacle again included an idols subset with (mostly) new subjects:

here's the list of those pairings:

jeff bagwell - carl yastrzemski

john smoltz - jack morris

larry walker - mike bossy

gary sheffield - barry larkin

ivan rodriguez - carlton fisk

delino deshields - malcolm x

tim salmon - dwight evans

lenny dykstra - ken stabler

danny tartabull - jose tartabull

jeff conine - dale murphy

gregg jefferies - ron cey

paul molitor - harmon killebrew

john valentin - dave concepcion

alex arias - dave winfield

again, kudos to pinnacle for including the likes of bossy, malcolm x, and ken stabler in the set. very cool. 

several years ago, i posted a custom card i made showing what one of these cards would look like if pinnacle had asked me who my idol was. 

of course, i interpreted this in the "favorite player" sense, unlike deshields who certainly had a more literal sense of the term "idol". it would be interesting to know/see who other bloggers might choose for a similar card.  what say you?