2009 Topps Finest Football Preview
by Tyler (broscards)
January 6, 2010
When Topps Finest first hit the market in the mid 1990’s, collectors (including myself) were immediately drawn to the glossy/refractor look of the product. I can remember single packs containing 4 cards costing upwards of $10-12 a piece. From 1994-1996 Finest was considered the “high-end” product in the sports card industry and provided collectors with an innovative and sleek new alternative design compared to other competitors.
Flash forward roughly 15 years and the 2009 version of Topps Football is both similar and very different to the original release. Each master box of 2009 Finest consists of 2 inner mini boxes which contain 6 packs of cards. Inside each master box the collector is guaranteed two rookie numbered autograph letterman and/or patch cards, two pigskins refractor cards, 10 parallel cards and various base rookies. Much like its previous releases, Finest football remains one of the most visually appealing sets to debut year after year. Topps has created a strong niche for themselves in the sports card industry in continuing to produce affordable “rookie based” products (ie: Topps Finest, Bowman Chrome and Topps Chrome) and providing consumers with a lot of content at a fair price.
The major upgrade to this year’s release of Finest football is the addition of the Rookie Autograph Patch (RAP) numbered /209 or less. The singles themselves look fantastic and should get serious consideration for rookie set design of the year. Much like the base and rookie refractors in Finest, the RAP set has many different parallel versions including the 1/1 White X-Fractor.
While many of the basics to Finest football have remained the same (including the “case hit” Finest Moments autograph sub set- 1 per case), the 2009 release has disappointed in the addition of the rookie autographed letterman. Many sports card collectors I have talked to are tired of the overall concept and mass production of manufactured letterman and feel these cards are no more then over saturated cardboard in an already over saturated game used/manufactured market. While the concept was innovative back in 2006 with the release of Donruss Threads Football, manufactured letterman and patches have quickly become the norm and the cards you are hoping to avoid when opening boxes. Our advice to Topps is stick to the Finest Moments insert set and work to improve upon the already stellar looking RAPs.
Back to Product Reviews...
| 
Affiliate
