Topps Finest Baseball

With all the talk about the licensing agreement between Major League Baseball and the trading card manufacturers limiting their number of releases per calendar year, it’s a huge relief that these ordered cuts didn’t result in the elimination of what has become Topps signature premium brand – Finest.

Thanks baseball card Gods!

And I also wanted to send a special "shout-out" to Major League Baseball for creating a new market for newly minted "rookie cards" of Francisco Liriano, Jason Botts, Scott Olsen and Ryan Garko, even though they’ve each had what were previously defined as rookie cards several times since 2002, some with multiple releases during this time. If this all sounds confusing to you, it should and it shouldn’t be.

In other words, Topps makes the "Rookie Card" logo plain to see for all to love and enjoy in this product – and we love it!

For instance, base "rookie card" autographs (e.g., Liriano, Olsen, Botts, Garko, and Josh Johnson, etc.) have been moving extremely well in the eyes of set collectors (of course) and those hard-core rookie card collectors who undoubtedly are hedging their bets on these players who’ve they accumulated and hoarded previous rookie cards of just in case those inherit the dreaded “XRC” (extended rookie card) label from our good friends at Beckett (Tracy Hackler – what’s up dog?!)

Now, aside from these “rookie card” autographs, the real winner here is the rookie card (notice, no quotation marks) autograph of Seattle Mariners Japanese import Kenji Johjima, this year’s version of Ichiro Suzuki or Hideki Matsui and not of Hideki Irabu or Kaz Ishii.

Yes folks, a Johjima Finest autograph will set you back at least a Benjamin, which is OK, especially considering the fact that the card is short-printed. Plus, Johjima is a legitimate Rookie of the Year candidate, as well.

As has been one of the cornerstones of Finest since the early 2000s, certified autographs of some of the games current stars can be found right here. Look for autographs of David Wright, Chipper Jones, Robinson Cano, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield, just to name a few.

There are also various "1 of 1"s in this product including the signature Finest printing plates (some of which are autographed) and Framed X-Fractors.

As a box-topper this year, Finest features serial-numbered sub-sets tracking the career highlights of Topps spokesmen Barry Bonds and Mickey Mantle. There are also low serial-numbered parallels of each of the cards, and as expected the Mantles command big bucks.

Similar to last year, 2006 Topps Finest comes packed three mini-boxes per box with each containing at least one autograph. The other five packs in the mini-box contain at least one serial-numbered refractor, but in the two boxes I opened, I received two refractors in a pack several times. Needless to say I was not disappointed.

The new 2006 Topps Finest baseball checks in as a man among boys in the new baseball card market. The price point can’t be beat (SRP $5.99 per pack) and the sheer value contained within each mini-box is right up there with the best.

I thoroughly enjoyed my two box break and recommend that you run out to your local hobby shop and buy a box, as well.

My break included the following highlights:

Autographs (base) – Francisco Liriano, Jason Botts, Dan Ortmeier
Autographs (green x-fractor) Liriano
Autographs (black x-fractor) Scott Olsen
Autographs – David Wright

Good luck with yours!