1993 Finest box

Description

1993 Finest (officially "Topps Baseball's Finest") is a 199-card, chromium-stock, set widely recognized as one of the most important issues of the 1990's. The Finest brand was Topps first attempt at the super-premium card market. Production was announced at 4,000, 12-box cases 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 production figures.

Because production figures were released, it is believed that there are approximately 30,000 copies of each base card, 1,500 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.

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.

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	241	1:15 (estimated, not stated)

Checklist

Promos

Topps gave 5,000, three-card, sets to its dealer customers to promote the release of its 1993 Topps Baseball's Finest set. The standard-size 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 is unknown.

88 Roberto Alomar

98 Don Mattingly

107 Nolan Ryan

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
84 Andre Dawson AS
85 Greg Maddux AS
86 Rickey Henderson AS
87 Tom Glavine AS
88 Roberto Alomar AS
89 Darryl Strawberry AS
90 Wade Boggs AS
91 Bo Jackson AS
92 Mark McGwire AS
93 Robin Ventura AS
94 Joe Carter AS
95 Lee Smith AS
96 Cal Ripken, Jr. AS
97 Larry Walker AS
98 Don Mattingly AS
99 Jose Canseco AS
100 Dennis Eckersley AS
101 Terry Pendleton AS
102 Frank Thomas AS
103 Barry Bonds AS
104 Roger Clemens AS
105 Ryne Sandberg AS
106 Fred McGriff AS
107 Nolan Ryan AS
108 Will Clark AS
109 Pat Listach AS
110 Ken Griffey, Jr. AS
111 Cecil Fielder AS
112 Kirby Puckett AS
113 Dwight Gooden AS
114 Barry Larkin AS
115 David Cone AS
116 Juan Gonzalez AS
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 1,500 of each of these cards were produced.

Refractors

Randomly inserted in packs at a rate of one in 18 (one-per-box), 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. In an example of such hoarding, Andre Dawson was known to pay premiums of up to three-times Beckett HI value for copies of his own '93 Finest Refractor.

Due to their high value, these cards are extremely condition sensitive, with much attention paid to centering and minor scratches on the card fronts.