1993 Finest Baseball Cards

1993 Finest is a 199-card set, which I always thought was weird. Why not fill it out to a whole number like 200? I never understood this. In any case, this is considered one of the most important releases of the 1999s because it was the first mainstream chrome release that featured the first refractors to ever be made in the entire hobby. Cards were issued in 18-pack boxes with 6 cards per pack with a release date SRP of $3.99/ea. Just 4000 cases were produced and this product was distributed exclusively through hobby dealers in the fall of 1993. Each box was packaged with one jumbo AS card box topper.

The only two rookie cards in the set are J.T. Snow and Mike Lansing. However, and while not a rookie card, the Mike Piazza is considered the most important rookie-era card in the set with refractors consistently fetching solid premiums in any condition. This product represented the first time a mainstream card manufacturer published production figures. While the print run of the refractors is believed to be 241, some are believed to be short printed as noted by the asterisk next to the associated players name in the checklist at the end of this article. This article ends with a discussion of the Orestes Destrade refractor, which is another card that’s become somewhat rare.

Shop on eBay for 1993 Finest

---

Set Information:

Date	Event
Fall 1993	Release Date

Set	Total Cards	Print Run	Odds
Base	199	–	6:1
Refractor	199	241	1:18
Promo	3	–	–
Promo Refractor	3	–	–

Promo Checklist:

Three promos were issued to promote the set with a player roster that includes Roberto Alomar, Don Mattingly, and Nolan Ryan. Cards are distinguished by the red text across the card backs that states, “Promotional Sample 1 of 5000.” A very small number of promo refractors were also made that are exceedingly rare and extremely valuable. The Roberto Alomar and Nolan Ryan feature the base design as opposed to the AS design used on the pack-issued versions of the same cards.

Card #	Player	Print Run
88	Roberto Alomar	5000
98	Don Mattingly AS	5000
107	Nolan Ryan	5000

Shop on eBay for 1993 Finest

Checklist:

Asterisks indicate perceived scarcity for the associated refractor parallel.

Card #	Player	Card #	Player
1	David Justice	101	Terry Pendleton AS
2	Lou Whitaker	102	Frank Thomas AS
3	Bryan Harvey*	103	Barry Bonds AS
4	Carlos Garcia	104	Roger Clemens AS
5	Sid Fernandez	105	Ryne Sandberg AS
6	Brett Butler	106	Fred McGriff AS
7	Scott Cooper	107	Nolan Ryan AS
8	B.J. Surhoff	108	Will Clark AS
9	Steve Finley	109	Pat Listach AS
10	Curt Schilling*	110	Ken Griffey Jr. AS
11	Jeff Bagwell	111	Cecil Fielder AS
12	Alex Cole*	112	Kirby Puckett AS
13	John Olerud	113	Dwight Gooden AS
14	John Smiley	114	Barry Larkin AS
15	Bip Roberts	115	David Cone AS
16	Albert Belle	116	Juan Gonzalez AS*
17	Duane Ward	117	Kent Hrbek
18	Alan Trammell	118	Tim Wallach
19	Andy Benes	119	Craig Biggio
20	Reggie Sanders	120	Roberto Kelly
21	Todd Zeile	121	Gregg Olson
22	Rick Aguilera	122	Eddie Murray UER (122 career strikeouts – should be 1224
23	Dave Hollins	123	Wil Cordero*
24	Jose Rijo	124	Jay Buhner
25	Matt Williams*	125	Carlton Fisk
26	Sandy Alomar Jr.	126	Eric Davis
27	Alex Fernandez	127	Doug Drabek
28	Ozzie Smith	128	Ozzie Guillen
29	Ramon Martinez	129	John Wetteland
30	Bernie Williams	130	Andres Galarraga
31	Gary Sheffield	131	Ken Caminiti
32	Eric Karros	132	Tom Candiotti
33	Frank Viola	133	Pat Borders
34	Kevin Young*	134	Kevin Brown*
35	Ken Hill	135	Travis Fryman
36	Tony Fernandez	136	Kevin Mitchell
37	Tim Wakefield	137	Greg Swindell
38	John Kruk*	138	Benito Santiago
39	Chris Sabo*	139	Reggie Jefferson
40	Marquis Grissom*	140	Chris Bosio
41	Glenn Davis*	141	Deion Sanders
42	Jeff Montgomery	142	Scott Erickson
43	Kenny Lofton	143	Howard Johnson
44	John Burkett	144	Orestes Destrade
45	Darryl Hamilton	145	Jose Guzman
46	Jim Abbott	146	Chad Curtis
47	Ivan Rodriguez*	147	Cal Eldred
48	Eric Young	148	Willie Greene
49	Mitch Williams	149	Tommy Greene
50	Harold Reynolds	150	Erik Hanson
51	Brian Harper*	151	Bob Welch
52	Rafael Palmeiro	152	John Jaha
53	Bret Saberhagen	153	Harold Baines
54	Jeff Conine	154	Randy Johnson
55	Ivan Calderon	155	Al Martin*
56	Juan Guzman	156	J.T. Snow RC
57	Carlos Baerga	157	Mike Mussina
58	Charles Nagy	158	Ruben Sierra
59	Wally Joyner	159	Dean Palmer*
60	Charlie Hayes	160	Steve Avery
61	Shane Mack	161	Julio Franco
62	Pete Harnisch	162	Dave Winfield
63	George Brett	163	Tim Salmon
64	Lance Johnson	164	Tom Henke
65	Ben McDonald	165	Mo Vaughn
66	Bobby Bonilla	166	John Smoltz
67	Terry Steinbach	167	Danny Tartabull
68	Ron Gant	168	Delino DeShields
69	Doug Jones	169	Charlie Hough
70	Paul Molitor*	170	Paul O’Neill
71	Brady Anderson	171	Darren Daulton
72	Chuck Finley	172	Jack McDowell
73	Mark Grace	173	Junior Felix*
74	Mike Davereaux	174	Jimmy Key
75	Tony Phillips	175	George Bell
76	Chuck Knoblauch	176	Mike Stanton
77	Tony Gwynn	177	Len Dykstra
78	Kevin Appier	178	Norm Charlton
79	Sammy Sosa*	179	Eric Anthony
80	Mickey Telltleton*	180	Rob Dibble
81	Felix Jose*	181	Otis Nixon
82	Mark Langston	182	Randy Myers*
83	Gregg Jefferies	183	Tim Raines
84	Andre Dawson AS*	184	Orel Hershiser
85	Greg Maddux AS	185	Andy Van Slyke
86	Rickey Henderson AS	186	Mike Lansing RC
87	Tom Glavine AS	187	Ray Lankford
88	Roberto Alomar AS	188	Mike Morgan
89	Darryl Strawberry AS	189	Moises Alou
90	Wade Boggs AS	190	Edgar Martinez
91	Bo Jackson AS	191	John Franco
92	Mark McGwire AS	192	Robin Yount
93	Robin Ventura AS	193	Bob Tewksbury*
94	Joe Carter AS	194	Jay Bell
95	Lee Smith AS	195	Luis Gonzalez
96	Cal Ripken Jr. AS	196	Dave Fleming
97	Larry Walker AS	197	Mike Greenwell
98	Don Mattingly AS	198	David Nied
99	Jose Canseco AS	199	Mike Piazza
100	Dennis Eckersley AS

Shop on eBay for 1993 Finest

Regarding the Orestes Destrade Refractor:

While the Orestes Destrade line item doesn’t contain an asterisk and isn’t considered an officially documented short print, production and cutting problems reduced the number of high-quality, collectible-worthy examples, which has made it quite a bit tougher to find. Here’s a more thorough rundown of why the Orestes Destrade refractor is elusive:

Production issues: Many collectors have reported that the Orestes Destrade refractor was often found with centering and cutting issues with many identified as miscut or undersized making high grades nearly impossible to achieve.

Minimal appearances: While the print run of the refractors is 241, the Orestes Destrade refractor seems to surface less often than many other players of similar caliber.

Hobby recognition as an SP: While dealers and collectors frequently adopt the Destrade as a short print (SP), there is no confirmed evidence that Topps intentionally printed fewer Destrades than other refractors, but the hobby has treated it as a rare anomaly due to its low availability and grading population.

The Corner Card: Orestes Destrade was located in the upper-left corner of the 1993 Finest sheet, a position that carries a higher risk of cutting and trimming issues during production. Edge cards are often susceptible to these problems, but corner cards are particularly vulnerable because they sit at the intersection of two sheet borders. However, not all corner cards are affected equally. If a sheet drifted to the left during the cutting process, cards in the left column would be impacted more than cards on the right side of the sheet. Likewise, if the top trim experienced a similar issue, cards in the top row would be affected more than cards in the bottom rows. In this scenario, Orestes Destrade, as the upper-left corner card, would be exposed to both sources of error. The image below demonstrates two important points. First, the base set and refractor set were produced using the same sheet arrangement, as shown by the overlaid sheet images. Second, Orestes Destrade occupies the upper-left corner position on both sheets. This placement may help explain why the Destrade refractor appears to be condition-scarce rather than print-scarce when compared to other cards in the set.

Shop on eBay for 1993 Finest