One card only: Finest Franchises

Another Topps Finest card from the mid-90s. There are so many of these!

Card Number 648: Topps Finest, 1996; #320

This card series was divided up in themes and according to rarity. Gold cards were rare. Silver cards were uncommon. Bronze cards were common. I have blogged a bronze card in the "Sterling" theme previously. Today's card is another bronze one, this time in the "Franchises" theme.

Like the Finest Sterling card, this still has the protective film across it 25 years later. I'm not going to risk trying to peel it as the film tends to adhere more strongly to the card over time.

On the back is an explanation of why Tony qualifies to represent the franchise. He was already the Padres leader in a number of batting statistics in 1996, and of course still holds most of those today.

Tony also had a gold (rare) card in this set, which hopefully one day will make its way into my possession. There would have been a nice completeness to his cards if he had one gold, one silver and one bronze rather than one gold and two bronze in the set, but Topps seem to have always had a half-hearted approach to card allocation in their sets. Still other players didn't get a gold at all or only featured once in the set with a meagre bronze card, so it could have been worse.

Total: 648 cards