The lip is there because there are 18 card packs in the box (not divisible by 4). So in order to keep the top 2 packs from shifting around when moving the box, they put in the lip.
I bought a collection back when I was big into cards and it had two sealed boxes of this product. This brings back bad memories of the fire because losing boxes of this was a big hit. I hated losing these. Thanks for sharing Erik even though I lost them it was nice seeing some opened.
I have always enjoyed this set. Enough that I collected the 199 base cards. I opened maybe 5 to 10 packs total and traded for the rest. Was a lot of fun doing that. The only refractor I ever got is a Robin Yount - lucky to have gotten this one given that I am a Brewers fan. Loved seeing the pulls here - Congrats to the owner that got the Fisk refractor.
Thanks so much for the Blast from the Past!! This was a hugh release back in 1993. I bought 2 boxes online at $150 each in 94. I opened one and no refractor. Sold the second box years later. Your lucky those boxes were not searched. If I remembered corrected, 1993 Finest Baseball boxes were not wrapped in plastic or cellophaned. Thanks again!!!
Beautiful Carlton Fisk in that first box. I've always been more of a basketball card collector than a baseball guy but I can very much relate to this product. I loved NBA Topps Finest from the same era. Finest was always a great product.
I had three sealed 93 Finest boxes for YEARS. Finally caved because I always wanted to know if I had a Nolan Ryan promo retractor which is 10x as rare as the normal NR refractor (only 50 were made). Turns out my refractors were Darren Daulton, Bip Roberts, and Chuck Knoblach. Makes me sick I gave up $2200-2400 not selling the boxes for three common refractors.
Back in the day when I owned my own card business I actually had to buy cases of this from topps to remain a customer of theirs. And they did have hot boxes back then where every pack did have a refractor. And one my cases actually had one of those. Not every case had HotBox I believe it was one in five or ten back in the day that had hot box. The refractor would always replace the All-Star card unless the All-Star card was the refractor.
I bought a box when they first came out - every single card in every single pack was a refractor. I opened each pack in front of the store owner, who bought all the hot cards on the spot - Frank Thomas was a couple hundred I think. Nice day that was :-)
@@MakeArtHurt I have never heard of a super hot box back then. You must have gotten one of the luckiest mispack boxes ever. I Was A store owner for years up in Wisconsin and this is still the first I've heard of this. Congratulations my friend.
@@steverademacher Actually it was 1994 Finest :-) Sportscards, Etc., Steubenville Pike, McKees Rocks, PA. My one brief, shining moment in life. They probably still tell stories...
I remember seeing these for the first time in a local card shop for $10 per pack. Didn’t buy any but then went to another shop across town who didn’t have them and found out how scarce they were. The second shop owner told me he would buy any card from the set for 50% Beckett. I went back to the first shop and bought two packs. Don’t remember who I pulled but sold them all to the second shop to get money to buy more from the first. I went back and forth between the two all day doing this until my I ran out of money from my original two pack purchase. In the middle of this I learned about refractors and found I had pulled a Terry Pendleton refractor. I was in Georgia and the Braves were the hottest team around so I sold that for bigger bucks and kept my streak going. I finally ran out of resale money and stopped buying and selling when I decided to keep a Griffey, Nolan Ryan and Piazza that I had pulled. Still have the Griffey and Ryan. One of the most fun collecting days I remember back from my pack buying days. Spent a total of $20 of my money and ended up with those two cards in my pc and and full day of fun. I wonder how much of the complete set I could have put together with the cards I pulled that day.
So those recent auctions for several finest refractors were me! We had several walk into the shop and we had no idea what they were worth. We sold about 1100 in refractors including barry Larkin, Key, Deion Sanders and more. We had a local sell a Ken griffey Refractor ungraded for $2400!!!! This was great to watch. Didnt know they were so rare.
Nice job Erik! Those Refractors were in HIGH DEMAND in 1993! I bought pack after pack trying to find the Limited Edition John Wathan Parallel Refractor Game Used Patch Autographed Relic Double Sided Reverse Negative!!!
I have no watched yet but I've been asking for this since your first TBT. So excited. This and 94 are my favorite sets ever. Shame I'll never afford 93 :(
Something I've always wondered....Cards like these that are bowed over time (like the Fisk refractor), does PSA count the bowing against the grade of the card? Or could a bowed card still theoretically get a 10 grade?
Jabs @7:30 you mentioned Duryea.........it's in my back yard......... it's up near a city called Pittston........close to the bigger city of Wilkes-Barre..... I'll take ya on a tour :D
Same! The Big Hurt was my PC as a kid and favorite player. I still grab cards of his and have all the ones I collected back then. A Thomas refractor would be super sick!
Love the Fisk. The spacer was because there was 18 packs. 5 packs in a stack on the bottom and 4 pack on the top. That lip helped make the stacks even then.
@@sum-tim-Wong actually Canseco was most valuable player in 1988. In spring training of 1989 Jose went on the DL with a Hammett bone injury... only played half a year and they still won the division.
Jayme Patton I had no problem with Sierra until that trade. Really a bad trade for both teams if you think about it. LaRussa really had a hard on for Rueben, until the trade also. Then he just became another player (like Rickey) that didn’t really buy into what LaRussa was teaching.
The packs containing a refractor had a printing variation on the wrapper. And sure enough at 15:08, you can see that variation on the player’s shirt; there are no black wrinkle shadows on it. Look for that, and you’ll have your refractor. Typically only one per box.
Great video!! Extremely tough set to get in my area back in the day. Loved these cards! Only got hooked up with a couple packs. Thanks for sharing!! God Bless!!
This was at a time when collecting was fun and the high end product was affordable unlike today the price of cards have gotten ridiculous and if it continues like this card collecting will be a forgotten hobby thank god for card shows where you can find real deals and have fun doing it those boxes of assorted cards at shows can be a gold mine 👍👍👍
I collected this complete set and all the best stars graded psa10s. Also had 93 sp set with duplicates of all the rookies. I sold both sets for $1000 a few years ago when I needed money. I miss them&their probably worth alot more now if I wanted to buy them back..
Great video Erik, I sent you a package that should be at your PO Box by today, so look out for it, I prepared a little extra special something for this package, hope you enjoy it
Not a bad couple of boxes...the only thing I saw that I found worrisome were all the printing lines. I remember going into a card shop back In the early 90's and the guy refusing to deal with me because of a printing line issue.
What....no BBCE authentication on these? lol j/k I remember seeing these at card shows in 1994 for $15/pack. Helped provide several hours of discussion with my father about the hobby, what it was when he was a kid, what it was for me as a kid, and where it was going based on products like this essentially turning the hobby into a lottery game. Back then, several stars in this set had refractors booking for several hundred dollars. I remember at one show watching a guy buy two of these packs and pull a Don Mattingly refractor. He legit screamed and shouted. People were high-fiving him. I think the Mattingly refractor booked around $600-$800 at the time. My father and I shook our heads. We knew this hobby was going down the drain.
You keep saying only notable rookie is JT Snow. Tim Salmon and Piazza came in the same year as JT Snow. I know because Salmon is my cousin. So if the JT Snow is considered a RC then so is Piazza and Salmon. Piazza and Salmon both won ROY in 1993. Piazza only played 20 games in 1992 and Karros won ROY that year. So obviously its their RC too.
The second box refractor, once again the minor printing variation on the wrapper. The player’s shirt has less pronounced black wrinkle shadows on it. A dead giveway!
I remember how big the buzz was when i was younger as to pulling a Refractor. Great memories!!!
The lip is there because there are 18 card packs in the box (not divisible by 4). So in order to keep the top 2 packs from shifting around when moving the box, they put in the lip.
I bought a collection back when I was big into cards and it had two sealed boxes of this product. This brings back bad memories of the fire because losing boxes of this was a big hit. I hated losing these. Thanks for sharing Erik even though I lost them it was nice seeing some opened.
Awsome, so much fun to watch you open these!
Those refractors are so awesome! Great to see this set again!
"Hitting a weak grounder back to the mound"...that's the kind of sarcasm I can get behind. Well done sir!
Very very cool Erik. Great TBT. Love those cards. Thanks for doing this for us.
Wow I remember buying these who they came out. Top premium cards at the time!
I have always enjoyed this set. Enough that I collected the 199 base cards. I opened maybe 5 to 10 packs total and traded for the rest. Was a lot of fun doing that. The only refractor I ever got is a Robin Yount - lucky to have gotten this one given that I am a Brewers fan.
Loved seeing the pulls here - Congrats to the owner that got the Fisk refractor.
Thanks so much for the Blast from the Past!! This was a hugh release back in 1993. I bought 2 boxes online at $150 each in 94. I opened one and no refractor. Sold the second box years later. Your lucky those boxes were not searched. If I remembered corrected, 1993 Finest Baseball boxes were not wrapped in plastic or cellophaned. Thanks again!!!
I worked in a card shop in 93 as a kid, played pack wars with customers, so many refractors pulled, so much fun, I was 13 at the time
Beautiful Carlton Fisk in that first box. I've always been more of a basketball card collector than a baseball guy but I can very much relate to this product. I loved NBA Topps Finest from the same era. Finest was always a great product.
I had pack 17 in box 1. I was getting really excited when we got to pack 16 without a refractor...oh well : ). Congrats on the Fisk.
For 1993, these cards were for sure high end. They are still nice today! Great break!
Congrats on getting 2 clean boxes. These were easily searchable back in the day.
I had three sealed 93 Finest boxes for YEARS. Finally caved because I always wanted to know if I had a Nolan Ryan promo retractor which is 10x as rare as the normal NR refractor (only 50 were made).
Turns out my refractors were Darren Daulton, Bip Roberts, and Chuck Knoblach. Makes me sick I gave up $2200-2400 not selling the boxes for three common refractors.
Back in the day when I owned my own card business I actually had to buy cases of this from topps to remain a customer of theirs. And they did have hot boxes back then where every pack did have a refractor. And one my cases actually had one of those. Not every case had HotBox I believe it was one in five or ten back in the day that had hot box. The refractor would always replace the All-Star card unless the All-Star card was the refractor.
I bought a box when they first came out - every single card in every single pack was a refractor. I opened each pack in front of the store owner, who bought all the hot cards on the spot - Frank Thomas was a couple hundred I think. Nice day that was :-)
@@MakeArtHurt I have never heard of a super hot box back then. You must have gotten one of the luckiest mispack boxes ever. I Was A store owner for years up in Wisconsin and this is still the first I've heard of this. Congratulations my friend.
@@steverademacher Actually it was 1994 Finest :-) Sportscards, Etc., Steubenville Pike, McKees Rocks, PA. My one brief, shining moment in life. They probably still tell stories...
Ive had a very honest person told me they got a hot box where every single card was a refractor but it was the first year finest basketball 93-94
I remember seeing these for the first time in a local card shop for $10 per pack. Didn’t buy any but then went to another shop across town who didn’t have them and found out how scarce they were. The second shop owner told me he would buy any card from the set for 50% Beckett. I went back to the first shop and bought two packs. Don’t remember who I pulled but sold them all to the second shop to get money to buy more from the first. I went back and forth between the two all day doing this until my I ran out of money from my original two pack purchase. In the middle of this I learned about refractors and found I had pulled a Terry Pendleton refractor. I was in Georgia and the Braves were the hottest team around so I sold that for bigger bucks and kept my streak going. I finally ran out of resale money and stopped buying and selling when I decided to keep a Griffey, Nolan Ryan and Piazza that I had pulled. Still have the Griffey and Ryan. One of the most fun collecting days I remember back from my pack buying days. Spent a total of $20 of my money and ended up with those two cards in my pc and and full day of fun. I wonder how much of the complete set I could have put together with the cards I pulled that day.
So those recent auctions for several finest refractors were me! We had several walk into the shop and we had no idea what they were worth. We sold about 1100 in refractors including barry Larkin, Key, Deion Sanders and more. We had a local sell a Ken griffey Refractor ungraded for $2400!!!! This was great to watch. Didnt know they were so rare.
Nice job Erik! Those Refractors were in HIGH DEMAND in 1993! I bought pack after pack trying to find the Limited Edition John Wathan Parallel Refractor Game Used Patch Autographed Relic Double Sided Reverse Negative!!!
1993 refractors still in much demand. John Wathan cards, not so much 😆
I have no watched yet but I've been asking for this since your first TBT. So excited. This and 94 are my favorite sets ever. Shame I'll never afford 93 :(
Let me know
@@robsoldstuff1670 Let you know what?
How you want our first kiss too take place the cards you want lol
I loved those cards!!!! Bought and opened two boxes.
Something I've always wondered....Cards like these that are bowed over time (like the Fisk refractor), does PSA count the bowing against the grade of the card? Or could a bowed card still theoretically get a 10 grade?
Goodall10 could still get a 10
Nostalgia in a box! Fun video, thanks
Nice break on the 93 Topps Finest very nice cards👍
Jabs @7:30 you mentioned Duryea.........it's in my back yard......... it's up near a city called Pittston........close to the bigger city of Wilkes-Barre..... I'll take ya on a tour :D
My ultimate PC want is right in this set: Frank Thomas finest refractor. I need this card badly.
Same! The Big Hurt was my PC as a kid and favorite player. I still grab cards of his and have all the ones I collected back then. A Thomas refractor would be super sick!
Sure like Finest. This is a nice break! Loaded, as always, with info.
Love the Fisk. The spacer was because there was 18 packs. 5 packs in a stack on the bottom and 4 pack on the top. That lip helped make the stacks even then.
The irony of getting a Jose Canseco and a Ruben sierra in the same pack....😳
@@sum-tim-Wong actually Canseco was most valuable player in 1988. In spring training of 1989 Jose went on the DL with a Hammett bone injury... only played half a year and they still won the division.
Jayme Patton I had no problem with Sierra until that trade. Really a bad trade for both teams if you think about it. LaRussa really had a hard on for Rueben, until the trade also. Then he just became another player (like Rickey) that didn’t really buy into what LaRussa was teaching.
@Luke Enno the A's haven't been back to the World Series since he was traded.
The packs containing a refractor had a printing variation on the wrapper. And sure enough at 15:08, you can see that variation on the player’s shirt; there are no black wrinkle shadows on it. Look for that, and you’ll have your refractor. Typically only one per box.
Great video!! Extremely tough set to get in my area back in the day. Loved these cards! Only got hooked up with a couple packs. Thanks for sharing!! God Bless!!
These also were always out of my price range. The first one I ever owned is a Dante bichette that came out of a Fairfield box I bought last year lol
The early Finest sets were some of my favorites. Great box break. Go Mets.... 👍
One of the best
And one of my personal favorites
Love your vids brother getting us through this quarantine 👏 thank you
Very cool to see u open these!
YES!! Thanks JABS!!!
How do u tell if it's a refractor? I got a collection gave to me with lots of the green all star cards.
This was a cool break to watch.
Beautiful cards
Nice cards. Sweet Fisk refractor. Thanks for sharing!
I have never seen these cards. Very nice looking. Great break!
Dale Murphy needs to get into the Hall of Fame!
i have a 1973 nolan ryan 11of 18 i found it in my dads shed what do you think about it
This was at a time when collecting was fun and the high end product was affordable unlike today the price of cards have gotten ridiculous and if it continues like this card collecting will be a forgotten hobby thank god for card shows where you can find real deals and have fun doing it those boxes of assorted cards at shows can be a gold mine 👍👍👍
Ron Silvia I remember these being $10 a pack which was not affordable to a kid in 1993.
These sold for about $23 a pack back then
so cool, thanks for sharing i enjoy these breaks.
Never bought any packs of 93 Finest they were either going for $16 or $18 a pack when they first came out at my local card shop
I collected this complete set and all the best stars graded psa10s. Also had 93 sp set with duplicates of all the rookies. I sold both sets for $1000 a few years ago when I needed money. I miss them&their probably worth alot more now if I wanted to buy them back..
I believe that there were only 241 of each refractor.
Love 1993 topps finest
Imagine how much a Jeter RC refractor from this set would go for.
Jeter isn’t in this set
@@ad6maddenshorts - That's why he said "imagine". LOL
Probably 15 grand or more.
Nice break Jabs! Really enjoyed seeing that juiced Canseco card in box 2. Always wanted one of those.
Orestes Is now a Rays pre and post game commentator
I know you are all shocked but that card shop isnt around anymore here in the Portland area.
Great video Erik, I sent you a package that should be at your PO Box by today, so look out for it, I prepared a little extra special something for this package, hope you enjoy it
Luv ur story telling style, Fans from Taiwan !
The Fisk is mine!!!
big congrats clayton! awesome card
The Refractors was always in the same spot in all 1992 Finest Boxes. Congratulations on the card. 🤓⚾️ Remember it being Pack 2 (Top Right).
Neat looking packs.
Love this break
Could never afford a pack when I was a kid. Cool break
Now these boxes sell for $2k. Great rip! ⚾
Recently sold sealed box in 2024 is $1499 and a PSA 9 Griffey Refractor $4077
Not a bad couple of boxes...the only thing I saw that I found worrisome were all the printing lines. I remember going into a card shop back In the early 90's and the guy refusing to deal with me because of a printing line issue.
Finest! Good info.
You know it serious when Jab pulls out the one touch.
Dont think Alex Fernandez threw no Hitter..Had 1 Hitters but do t think He had nono?! I think it was Wilson Alvarez who had the 90_91 no Hitter
Love these boxes. Do not love incorrect info babble between cards
So, what happens with the box toppers jabs? I've recently started to collect them......
Refractor pulls at 16:50 & 21:50
The Fisk PSA 9 on EBay is 338 and the PSA 10 Fisk is 2500 (asking prices)
Sweet and awesome baseball cards
18:20 The lip is intended to account for the two extra packs - 18 packs = 2 stacks of 5 and 2 stacks of 4.
30:35 Yep
Any still available?
I bought a few packs of these when they came out and I think they were going for at least $18 a pack. I lucked out and got a John Smoltz refractor.
Best commentary in the game
Remember the Hot boxes i know the basketball had jumbo Hot packs and Boxes
Most recent eBay auctions have the Fisk card selling for near $200 graded, and $40 ungraded. Reggie Jefferson $25-30 ungraded. Not too bad.
I was still collecting a bit back in 1993 and I don't think I ever bought a single pack of these, they were just to expensive
What....no BBCE authentication on these? lol j/k I remember seeing these at card shows in 1994 for $15/pack. Helped provide several hours of discussion with my father about the hobby, what it was when he was a kid, what it was for me as a kid, and where it was going based on products like this essentially turning the hobby into a lottery game. Back then, several stars in this set had refractors booking for several hundred dollars. I remember at one show watching a guy buy two of these packs and pull a Don Mattingly refractor. He legit screamed and shouted. People were high-fiving him. I think the Mattingly refractor booked around $600-$800 at the time. My father and I shook our heads. We knew this hobby was going down the drain.
That refractor is nice
I bought a big box of cards and was hype when I found a David Justice Finest...but then I realized it wasn't a refractor :(
How can I get in on future box breaks like this?
Oh man the nostalgia. I remember having these cards in my collection at a younger age. Thanks for the throwback video Jabs
Carlton Fisk & Harold Baines.. 2 White Sox Hall Of Famers in the same pack. Nice!
You keep saying only notable rookie is JT Snow. Tim Salmon and Piazza came in the same year as JT Snow. I know because Salmon is my cousin. So if the JT Snow is considered a RC then so is Piazza and Salmon. Piazza and Salmon both won ROY in 1993. Piazza only played 20 games in 1992 and Karros won ROY that year. So obviously its their RC too.
The second box refractor, once again the minor printing variation on the wrapper. The player’s shirt has less pronounced black wrinkle shadows on it. A dead giveway!
Good vid
I had never seen the packs before. Ty.
So far a Chris Sabo and a Mo Vaughan have been pulled. Those two alone are worth the price!
Ok looked through them all now I can see it .. the 2 griffeys are not.. but I did find a David justice refractor maybe it's worth a buck or 2 lol
@jessesam sold it for 200. :)
Psa10 Jefferson sold for $370 back in June.
The 2 caminitis would be the hit for me, but a refractor too?
Refractor psa9 sold for $190 a day ago
Lip on bottom is because there are 18 packs. 2 more packs on bottom have then the top
How do I get into your breaks?
Me: Wonders why the hate for Wetteland
Me: Googles
Me: Oh.
Good looking cards, although it's interesting most of them look scratched up.
Robin Ventura is the only man to get 6 hits off of Nolan Ryan in the same game, same inning!!!