1993 Finest
Description
1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card set printed on chromium stock and widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's and Hobby history. The Finest brand was Topps' first attempt at the super-premium card market and competed with Fleer's Flair brand and Upper Deck's SP. Production was announced at 4000, twelve-box cases (the first time a manufacturer publicly announced case production runs) and cards were distributed exclusively through Hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. This was the first time in the history of The Hobby that a major manufacturer publicly released their production figures.
Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1500 of each Jumbo card, and 241 of each Refractor. Some people claimed that additional refractors were backdoored to several card shops and dealers in the San Diego area -- although this was never proven.
Cards were issued in seven-card foil fin-wrapped packs that carried a suggested retail price of $3.99. The product was a smashing success upon release with pack prices immediately soaring well above the $20/pack point. The popularity of the product has continued to grow throughout the years as it's place in Hobby lore is now well solidified.
Due to these boxes not having a logo printed on the plastic wrap, boxes can easily be opened and resealed. Many boxes with the original plastic wrap have a small round hole in the upper left corner on the front. Also, packs that contain a refractor can be easily identified as they are different than non-refractor packs as they were were printed and packed separately. Packs containing a refractor have a printing variation on the wrapper.
Distribution
18 packs per box, seven cards per pack. 12 boxes per case (4,000 cases produced).
Reviews
Insertion Ratios
| Cards | Total Cards | Numbered To | Odds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 199 | - | ? |
| Jumbo | 33 | - | 1 per sealed box |
| Refractors | 199 | Not numbered (estimated 241 of each card) | 1:15 (estimated, not stated) |
Checklist
Promos
Topps distributed 5000, three-card sets to its dealer customers to promote the release of its 1993 Topps Baseball's Finest set. The words "Promotional Sample 1 of 5000" appears in red lettering superposed upon the player's biography on the back of the card. A limited amount of these cards were issued as refractors; however, the production of those is unknown.
- 88 Roberto Alomar AS
- 98 Don Mattingly AS
- 107 Nolan Ryan AS
Base Set
- 1 Dave Justice
- 2 Lou Whitaker
- 3 Bryan Harvey
- 4 Carlos Garcia
- 5 Sid Fernandez
- 6 Brett Butler
- 7 Scott Cooper
- 8 B.J. Surhoff
- 9 Steve Finley
- 10 Curt Schilling
- 11 Jeff Bagwell
- 12 Alex Cole
- 13 John Olerud
- 14 John Smiley
- 15 Bip Roberts
- 16 Albert Belle
- 17 Duane Ward
- 18 Alan Trammell
- 19 Andy Benes
- 20 Reggie Sanders
- 21 Todd Zeile
- 22 Rick Aguilera
- 23 Dave Hollins
- 24 Jose Rijo
- 25 Matt Williams
- 26 Sandy Alomar, Jr.
- 27 Alex Fernandez
- 28 Ozzie Smith
- 29 Ramon Martinez
- 30 Bernie Williams
- 31 Gary Sheffield
- 32 Eric Karros
- 33 Frank Viola
- 34 Kevin Young
- 35 Ken Hill
- 36 Tony Fernandez
- 37 Tim Wakefield
- 38 John Kruk
- 39 Chris Sabo
- 40 Marquis Grissom
- 41 Glenn Davis
- 42 Jeff Montgomery
- 43 Kenny Lofton
- 44 John Burkett
- 45 Darryl Hamilton
- 46 Jim Abbott
- 47 Ivan Rodriguez
- 48 Eric Young
- 49 Mitch Williams
- 50 Harold Reynolds
- 51 Brian Harper
- 52 Rafael Palmeiro
- 53 Bret Saberhagen
- 54 Jeff Conine
- 55 Ivan Calderon
- 56 Juan Guzman
- 57 Carlos Baerga
- 58 Charles Nagy
- 59 Wally Joyner
- 60 Charlie Hayes
- 61 Shane Mack
- 62 Pete Harnisch
- 63 George Brett
- 64 Lance Johnson
- 65 Ben McDonald
- 66 Bobby Bonilla
- 67 Terry Steinbach
- 68 Ron Gant
- 69 Doug Jones
- 70 Paul Molitor
- 71 Brady Anderson
- 72 Chuck Finley
- 73 Mark Grace
- 74 Mike Devereaux
- 75 Tony Phillips
- 76 Chuck Knoblauch
- 77 Tony Gwynn
- 78 Kevin Appier
- 79 Sammy Sosa
- 80 Mickey Tettleton
- 81 Felix Jose
- 82 Mark Langston
- 83 Gregg Jefferies
All-Stars
- 84 Andre Dawson
- 85 Greg Maddux
- 86 Rickey Henderson
- 87 Tom Glavine
- 88 Roberto Alomar
- 89 Darryl Strawberry
- 90 Wade Boggs
- 91 Bo Jackson
- 92 Mark McGwire
- 93 Robin Ventura
- 94 Joe Carter
- 95 Lee Smith
- 96 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- 97 Larry Walker
- 98 Don Mattingly
- 99 Jose Canseco
- 100 Dennis Eckersley
- 101 Terry Pendleton
- 102 Frank Thomas
- 103 Barry Bonds
- 104 Roger Clemens
- 105 Ryne Sandberg
- 106 Fred McGriff
- 107 Nolan Ryan
- 108 Will Clark
- 109 Pat Listach
- 110 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- 111 Cecil Fielder
- 112 Kirby Puckett
- 113 Dwight Gooden
- 114 Barry Larkin
- 115 David Cone
- 116 Juan Gonzalez
- 117 Kent Hrbek
- 118 Tim Wallach
- 119 Craig Biggio
- 120 Roberto Kelly
- 121 Gregg Olson
- 122 Eddie Murray
- 123 Wilfredo Cordero
- 124 Jay Buhner
- 125 Carlton Fisk
- 126 Eric Davis
- 127 Doug Drabek
- 128 Ozzie Guillen
- 129 John Wetteland
- 130 Andres Galarraga
- 131 Ken Caminiti
- 132 Tom Candiotti
- 133 Pat Borders
- 134 Kevin Brown
- 135 Travis Fryman
- 136 Kevin Mitchell
- 137 Greg Swindell
- 138 Benito Santiago
- 139 Reggie Jefferson
- 140 Chris Bosio
- 141 Deion Sanders
- 142 Scott Erickson
- 143 Howard Johnson
- 144 Orestes Destrade
- 145 Jose Guzman
- 146 Chad Curtis
- 147 Cal Eldred
- 148 Willie Greene
- 149 Tommy Greene
- 150 Erik Hanson
- 151 Bob Welch
- 152 John Jaha
- 153 Harold Baines
- 154 Randy Johnson
- 155 Al Martin
- 156 J.T. Snow RC
- 157 Mike Mussina
- 158 Ruben Sierra
- 159 Dean Palmer
- 160 Steve Avery
- 161 Julio Franco
- 162 Dave Winfield
- 163 Tim Salmon
- 164 Tom Henke
- 165 Mo Vaughn
- 166 John Smoltz
- 167 Danny Tartabull
- 168 Delino DeShields
- 169 Charlie Hough
- 170 Paul O'Neill
- 171 Darren Daulton
- 172 Jack McDowell
- 173 Junior Felix
- 174 Jimmy Key
- 175 George Bell
- 176 Mike Stanton
- 177 Lenny Dykstra
- 178 Norm Charlton
- 179 Eric Anthony
- 180 Rob Dibble
- 181 Otis Nixon
- 182 Randy Myers
- 183 Tim Raines
- 184 Orel Hershiser
- 185 Andy Van Slyke
- 186 Mike Lansing RC
- 187 Ray Lankford
- 188 Mike Morgan
- 189 Moises Alou
- 190 Edgar Martinez
- 191 John Franco
- 192 Robin Yount
- 193 Bob Tewksbury
- 194 Jay Bell
- 195 Luis Gonzalez
- 196 Dave Fleming
- 197 Mike Greenwell
- 198 David Nied
- 199 Mike Piazza
Parallels
Jumbos
These over-sized (approximately 4" by 6") cards were inserted one per sealed box of 1993 Topps Finest packs and feature reproductions of 33 players from that set's All-Star subset (84-116). Some hobby dealers believe because of the known production numbers that slightly less than 1500 of each of these cards were produced.
Refractors
Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 15 (mostly one-per-box, occasionally two), this set parallels the entire 199-card Finest set except that their fronts have been laminated with a plastic lens giving the card its trademark appearance. Because of the known production numbers, these cards are believed to have a print run of 241 copies of each card -- although this production figure was never officially confirmed by Topps. It is believed that there might be short printed cards in this set. Topps, however, has never publicly released any verification of short-printed singles, but some of the singles are accepted as being tough to find due to poor distribution and hoarding.
Some examples of such hoarding: Future Hall of Famer Andre Dawson attempted to corner the market on his own '93 Finest Refractor and was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies. One other collector claims to have amassed 122 copies of Randy Meyers's Refractor -- that's a little more than half the known production run.
Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts. Due to the subjectivity of card grading, some claim to have resubmitted the same refractors several times over the years to achieve a higher grade.
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