In 1993, Topps finally caught up (more or less) with its competitors. At 825 cards, the set was Topps' largest yet. They brought back the Topps Gold parallel feature from 1992, but this time you would find one or more per pack, depending upon the pack size, and they added the attractive Topps Black Gold insert set which gave collectors a more traditional chase for their money. Also, 1993 marked the first time since 1973 Topps released its set in multiple series. Unlike those earlier years, however, in 1993 each of the two series were more like two quasi-sets - each had its own unique packaging, and, because series 2 debuted later in the year, several players featured in series 1 also popped up in series 2 with a new team. Series 2 also contains the first Topps cards of the two 1993 expansion teams, the Florida Marlins and the Colorado Rockies.
I built the 1993 set by busting packs, and I clearly remember being struck by what an improvement the set was over 1992.
Card fronts feature a large, uncluttered image area. The player's name appears in a colored banner at the bottom of the image and his team's name below that against the white border. Two bands of color bookend these features, set at 45 degree angles. The Topps logo appears in either white or black in either the upper left or upper right corner of the image.
Card backs are oriented vertically. Statistics and, space permitting, a brief descriptive narrative, are printed in black set against white which aids legibility. They are surrounded by a colored area which matches the color of the angled bands on the front, and more boldly-colored areas appear above to accommodate his vitals, position, name and card number. These latter features surround a small color photograph of the player.
The card stock is bright white which, although it can't be said to be 'glossy', nevertheless is very smooth to the touch, both front and back. It is also a bit thicker than that of the 1992 set. The result is a much, much better offering than the previous year.
Series 1: Cards 1-396
"A" Sheet
"B" Sheet
"C" Sheet
The 396 cards in series 1 were printed on three sheets, lettered A-C. Each sheet contains 132 unique cards.
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"Wax" packs contained 14 regular cards and one Topps Gold parallel card. Packs sold for 69 cents and were packed 36 per box. Cases held 20 boxes. Wrappers featured side panels which offered a "no purchase necessary" opportunity to receive a Topps Gold card as well as the odds of receiving various Topps Black Gold inserts.
These packs are an oddity. Red packaging is otherwise reserved for series 2 material, but here we have red boxes and wrappers holding series 1 cards. Packs contain 18 total cards, including 2 Topps Gold inserts. Neither the packs nor the boxes contain an MSRP. Compared to other packaging varieties, imagery of these is quite scarce, suggesting this was a limited release, or exclusive to a particular point of sale, etc. Packs have a hanger tag.
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Larger "cello" packs contained 34 cards, including 2 Topps Gold, and retailed for $1.39 each. They were packed 24 per box and cases contained 16 boxes.
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Still larger 'jumbo' packs contained 41 cards, including 5 Topps Gold. They came 24 per box and were priced at $1.99 each. Cases contained 12 boxes.
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45-card rack packs (which included 3 Topps Gold cards) came packed 24 per box, and cases held 3 boxes. Some cases (above) were destined for exclusive sale at club stores like Sam's Club, as evidenced by the unique packing code.
'Grocery Jumbos' held 74 cards, including a whopping 6 Topps Gold cards. Cases contained a single display stand which held 24 packs.
Cards also came in a 432-pack case which contained a store floor display. Presumably these were regular series 1 wax packs. No further information is available on this item; it is unknown whether this packing variety was also used for series 2.
And of course, series 1 also came in the familiar vending boxes, which held 500 cards and were packed 24 per case. Two boxes per case contained only Topps Gold cards, and each included 4 Topps Black Gold samples. The Topps Gold boxes can be visually distinguished from the regular boxes as they came sealed with special tape.
Of series 1's 396 cards, 383 are basic player cards. Included in this count are seven of the ten members of the 1992 Topps All Star Rookie team. The remaining 3 would appear in series 2. Those included here in series 1 are:
380 - Todd Hundley, Mets C
11 - Eric Karros, Dodgers 1B 298 - Scott Livingstone, Tigers 3B
123 - Moises Alou, Expos OF
331 - Kenny Lofton, Indians OF
83 - Reggie Sanders, Reds OF
45 - Dave Fleming, Mariners LHP
Ten cards depicting players taken the 1st round of the June, 1992 amateur draft appear in series 1. Card backs offer statistics and descriptions of the player's collegiate or high school career.
Cards 394-396 are checklist cards which mark series 1 off in increments of 132: 1-132, 133-264 and 265-396. Mercifully, Topps listed cards numerically on the checklists, rather than by team and subset as they had done the previous 3 years.
A full checklist of the entire 1993 set, in a variety of printable formats, can be found at the Trading Card Database HERE.
Series 2: Cards 397-825
"A"/"B" Sheet
"C"/"D" Sheet
"E"/"F" Sheet
"F" Sheet
The sheet layouts for series 2 are a bit odd. On all the double-lettered sheets above, cards in the top 6 rows are lettered with the first letter, and those in the bottom 6 with the second. So, the top 66 cards on the "A"/"B" sheet are "A" cards, and the bottom are "B" cards, and so forth. Why they simply didn't have single D, E and F sheet is unknown.
Also, the series card count of 429 is 33 greater than what could appear on the dual-lettered sheets. A fourth sheet, with all cards lettered "F", was printed. It features 3 rows of 11 cards printed 4 times each. It must be assumed that print runs were adjusted to ensure that these 33 cards were not produced in 4x the quantities of all other cards in the series.
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Like their series 1 counterparts, series 2 "wax" packs contained 14 regular cards and one Topps Gold parallel card. Packs sold for 69 cents and were packed 36 per box. Cases held 20 boxes. Wrappers featured side panels which offered a "no purchase necessary" opportunity to receive a Topps Gold card as well as the odds of receiving various Topps Black Gold inserts. Some series 2 wax boxes carried a label advertising their inclusion of cards of the new Rockies and Marlins teams.
In series 2, the 18-card "mystery packs" were packaged in series 1-style blue wrappers, which is consistent with series 1's use of red. Packs contain 18 total cards, including 2 Topps Gold inserts. Neither the packs nor the boxes contain an MSRP. Imagery of these series 2 versions is even rarer than for series 1 samples.
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Larger "cello" packs contained 34 cards, including 2 Topps Gold, and retailed for $1.39 each. They were packed 24 per box and cases contained 16 boxes.
Still larger 'jumbo' packs contained 41 cards, including 5 Topps Gold. They came 24 per box and were priced at $1.99 each. Cases contained 12 boxes.
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45-card rack packs (which included 3 Topps Gold cards) came packed 24 per box, and cases held 3 boxes.
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'Grocery Jumbos' held 74 cards, including a whopping 6 Topps Gold cards. Cases contained a single display stand which held 24 packs. Display stands were the same blue color as their series 1 counterparts.
Vending boxes held 500 cards and were packed 24 per case. As with series 1, 2 of these 24 boxes contained Topps Gold cards, and could be identified by the special tape with which they were sealed.
Of 429 total series 2 cards, 330 are basic player cards.
Included in the basic player card count are 3 cards highlighting those members of the 1992 Topps All Star Rookie team not included in series 1.
703 - Jeff Kent, Mets 2B
480 - Pat Listach, Brewers SS
590 - Cal Eldred, Brewers RHP
Series 2 contains 18 draft pick cards, continuing and concluding the presentation of each club's 1st pick in the June, 1992 amateur draft.
Cards 401-411 are 1992 Topps All Stars - those players picked by Topps as the best at their positions in 1992. One player from each league is depicted on each position-specific card. All defensive positions are represented, as well as right and left armed starters and closers. Card backs provide the players' 1992 stats.
Series 2 contains 10 4-player Top Prospects cards. Cards group players by position, and feature draft picks as well as players at the A, AA and AAA levels. Card backs contain each player's vital statistics. Some featured players already had limited MLB experience.
Cards 501-514 depict managers for all 28 clubs, with two each per card. Card backs provide each man's vitals, as well as a a breakdown of his club's record in 1992.
Scattered throughout series 2 are 16 Future Stars cards, 8 each for the Marlins and the Rockies, showcasing youngsters Topps thought could feature brightly in the new clubs' futures.
Cards 797-822 are Coming Attractions. Each depicts a promising young player with limited or no MLB experience. Each of the 26 non-expansion teams are represented.
Card 633 is one of the more unique specialty cards Topps has produced. It depicts three young players then playing in the Angels' low minor league system. Each hailed from the former USSR. Topps Likely included this card to highlight, in their own way, the thaw which was then occurring in the wake of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.
Cards 823-825 are checklists. They mark series 2 out by numbers 397-540, 541-691 and 692-825. It's an odd arrangement as the series' 429 cards can be divided equally into 3 groups of 143, yet each checklist lists a different number of cards.
Hall of Famers Bert Blyleven (48), Gary Carter (205) and Carlton Fisk (230) appear for the final time, as do Frank Tanana (53), Dave Stieb (295), Dave Righetti (310), Willie Randolph (324), Dale Murphy (445), Jeff Reardon (475), Lance Parrish (609), John Candelaria (682) and Jack Clark (781).
Hall of Famers Derek Jeter (98), Pedro Martinez (557), Trevor Hoffman (572) and Mike Piazza (701) make their first appearances in the 1993 set, as do Tim Salmon (20), Tim Wakefield (163), Jeff Kent (703) and Jim Edmonds (799).
Topps produced several versions of a complete factory set. Above is the basic version, which contained an assortment of 10 Topps Gold cards and 3 Topps Black Gold cards (more on those below).
To observe the inaugural seasons of the Florida Marlins and Colorado Rockies, Topps released commemorative factory sets in which all 825 cards came with a gold embossed Marlins (left) or Rockies (right) logo as appropriate.
Finally, late in the year, a special factory set package was issued which included a set of 9 pre-production 1994 Topps cards. Each card has a single variation. Some, as with Juan Gonzalez shown here, have the team name and other elements printed in different colors. On others the differences relate to image cropping or vertical vs. horizontal orientation.
A somewhat unusual offering was the 1993 Topps Baseball Collection. These special boxes contained 400 total cards - 360 random cards drawn from both series 1 and 2, as well as 36 Topps Gold cards and 4 Topps Black Gold cards. The general consensus today is that these were produced for sale at large retailers such as Wal-Mart.
For the third and final year, Topps issued a Micro version of its set, wherein all 825 cards were reduced in size to 1" x 1 3/8". Each set came with a 12-card Micro Prism insert set. Each card was a parallel of its regular Micro version printed on multi-colored prismatic stock.
As they had done in 1992, Topps produced a Topps Gold parallel version of its set. All 825 cards (minus the 6 checklists) were printed with the team and player name section overlaid in embossed gold foil. Unlike in 1992, these were widely available in packs (as detailed above), card backs were identical to regular cards, and no factory complete sets were produced.
In place of the 6 checklists, the following players who are not included in the basic set were featured on Topps Gold cards:
394 - Bernardo Brito (Twins)
395 - Jim McNamara (Giants)
396 - Rich Sauveur (Royals)
823 - Keith Brown (Reds)
824 - Russ McGinnis (Rangers) [right]
825 - Mike Walker (Mariners)
Topps debuted its popular Topps Black Gold insert set in 1993. The set consists of 44 cards, each of which depicts a prominent player silhouetted against black with refractive gold foil elements at the top and bottom. Card backs offer narrative descriptions of the player's accomplishments. Cards were randomly inserted into packs. In wax packs they appeared in every 72 packs, meaning 1 per every two full boxes. Other packaging formats had similar odds.
The 44-card set was organized into groups of 11 lettered A (1-11), B (12-22), C (23-33) and D (34-44). Groups A and B were included in series 1 packaging and groups C and D in series 2. Instant winner cards were also randomly inserted which would entitle the bearer to complete sets of groups A, B, C or D, as well as groups A/B combined, C/D combined and A/B/C/D combined. A and B winners were inserted in series 1 wax at a rate of 1/180 packs and A/B winners at the rate of 1/720 packs. In series 2, C and D winners appeared 1/180 packs, C/D winners appeared 1/900 packs and A/B.C/D winners (only available in series 2) appeared 1/3600 packs. Other packaging types featured similar odds.
Winning groups were mailed out in packs which contained the cards won plus a parallel winner card.
Winning cards found in wax and other packs include a form to complete to claim the cards on the reverse (left) and winning cards mailed out with the cards include something of a congratulatory statement and checklist of the cards received (right).
C and D winner cards (with forms on the reverse) can be found erroneously showing cards 1-11 and 12-22, respectively, on the front and C/D winners (with forms) can be found erroneously showing cards 1-22.
Topps again produced a 132-card boxed Traded set late in the season to reflect those players who had changed teams and players as well as managers not included in the base set. Cards are numbered 1T-132T.
The set contains 130 basic player cards, including members of Team USA, the national collegiate team, as well as 1 managers card and a checklist. With the exception of the addition of a "T" to card numbers, the Traded cards are indistinguishable from cards in the main set.
Unlike in 1992, the 1993 Traded set was not issued in a Topps Gold parallel version.
The set contains the first appearance of Hall of Famer Todd Helton (19T).
Multiple cards in both the basic and Traded sets are formatted horizontally to permit wider and more interesting images.
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This sheet of 9 1993 pre-production cards was likely distributed by Topps at card shows in late 1992. It features a different assortment of players than the 9-card set which came packed in late-issue 1992 Topps factory sets. The backs feature the same gray circle indicating these are pre-production samples, and all cards bear a "000" card number.