1993 Topps Finest

Year: 1993

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Finest

Card Number: 192

Card Type: Base

We are lucky that Robin played long enough to be in the inaugural release of Topps Finest. From what I've read Finest was a huge success and I guess we can infer that since Topps has been putting out a Finest set ever since. But back then there weren't 18 types of refractors there was just one and it was super popular.  As a matter of fact Baseball Cardpedia states that it's estimated that there only 30000 base cards for each player produced and about 241 refractors.  That base allocation may seem like a lot, but remember this is 1993, the height of overproduction where card companies boasted that cards were limited to just 100,000 copies!

By today's standards this card isn't rare.  But it's refractor parallels are and are highly sought after, As a matter of fact collector Phil Gold has a website documenting his hoarding quest and realized real time prices.  Robin's refractor goes for about $70 raw and almost $250 for a graded Mint 9.

Me I'm a simple man and I'm more than happy to just have Robin's base card.  Although I still keep my eye out for a reasonable refractor.