The cards I'm blogging about today are from Topps Finest sets. They are heavy duty shiny cards that came with a thin layer of peelable plastic film over them to keep them pristine.
There is something slightly sad about cards that have had a protective film on them for upwards of 20 years. They have never had that layer peeled away, and their true beauty admired, and now they never will. Because if you try and peel that protective layer away now it could rip away the top layer on the card and that's a risk not worth taking.
And so, these cards have sat for decades, their lovely shininess forever dimmed and hidden behind the ignored words "PEEL AND REMOVE".
There's a metaphor for life in there, somewhere.
Card Number 373: Topps Finest, 1995; #196
Look, it even instructs the owner to peel and remove coating. That never happened.
The "Finest Moment" on the back is pretty noteworthy - 10 hits in 13 At Bats. That series was against the Phillies and was probably the highlight of a losing season where the Padres finished fourth out of four teams in the division. It was the season when Tony recorded a .394 batting average, of course, and those early season hits helped set him on his way.
Card Number 374: Topps Total Bases, 1995; #12
In 1995 there were also inserts in Series 2 of the regular Topps flagship release that looked like Finest cards. Just to add to the confusion, Topps used the 'Finest' protective film on them. Andy M from the UK Baseball Card Collectors group on Facebook sent me this as he had been busting some junk wax era boxes, so this is a freshly opened 25 year-old unpeeled card.
The back lists the "Total Bases" that Tony reached with his hits in 1994. About half his bases came from singles, which is remarkable really as they only count as one base each compared to Home Runs which count as four bases.
Tony's Major League ranking in Total Bases matched his card number in the insert series.
Card Number 375: Topps Finest, 1996; #61
All the cards in this set had different words written across them. Like Finest Gamers or Finest Intimidators. They were also given different colours of gold, silver or bronze. Card number 61 was a Sterling Bronze card.
The peeling instructions are right over Tony's face.
On the back we get a quote from Tony. He rather simplifies things.
That is a strange stats box because it picks the best stat in his career, up to that point, but it doesn't say what year he achieved those bests. In order it has taken stats from 1986 (# games), 1986 (at bats), 1987 (runs), 1987 (hits - he would pass this total in 1997!), 1993 (doubles), 1987 (triples), 1986 (home runs - another total he surpassed in 1997), 1995 (RBI), and 1994 (batting average).
Card Number 376: Topps Finest, 1998; #90
This has an odd ripple effect on the front. The peeling instructions now run vertically down the card instead of diagonally across it.
The back has Tony looking directly at the camera while milling about with his team-mates.
The write up manages to contradict itself in the first sentence saying that Tony's hitting ability "defies adjectives", after using the adjective "superhuman" to describe it.
That arm patch on the sleeve of the guy to Tony's left (as we look at him) is the Jackie Robinson 50th Anniversary patch worn in 1997.
(I don't own the patch; photo just for illustrative purposes.)
Card Number 377: Topps Finest, 1999; #
The final unpeeled card of this post.
Topps were still using the offset vertical peeling instructions, but this time it still managed to go over Tony's face.
There's a slight 3-D effect on this card, but otherwise the design is quite plain.
There are two "Finest Moments" on the back - one from 1998 and one from his career. The obvious Finest Moment in 1998 was his home run in Yankee Stadium during the World Series, so kudos to Topps for picking something more obscure, and arguably more impressive.
I own some peeled Finest cards as well, but those can wait for another post.
