The Hobby Boards

This is purely subjective and it's going to vary from person to person.

For me, it's Topps.

- Among the releases from Topps I like the most are 93/94 and 94/95 Finest, they have discoloration problems so the cards look like crap and these problems run nearly to the end of the decade.

- Poor checklist in their inserts, especially in those earlier years.

- No refractors for inserts, other than test refractors.

- No rookie card refractors for 95/96

- Most of their inserts are pretty ugly

- Poor choice of photography

- Back designs for the most part are pretty ugly

- Ruined Finest with too many parallels / tiers

- Inconsistent numbering style for serial numbered cards and non-existent serial numbering even for pack inserted parallels.

- Addition of Pop Culture cards in sports products

- Stopped making Topps Gallery for a number of years and then restarted all of a sudden after some of my favorite players were on different teams, or in career decline.

- Sticker autos galore in their 2000s stuff

- Creativity overall was poor (TSC, TSC Chrome, Topps Flagship, Topps Flagship Chrome, real original )

- Probably inspired Panini with the amount of parallels they put out over the years, especially in their TSC and later Chrome variants.

Tough one! I have a soft spot for Finest and Chrome, however, I definitely agree they made some missteps as you pointed out. The missing refractor RCs from 95 Finest has alway baffled me.

I also agree about the over parallel”ization” of later Finest releases, especially the mid 2000’s stuff. I really want to put together team sets of something from that time period for Finest (I do regular refractors and golds normally), but those mid 2000’s releases just have no consistency among parallels so I’ve mostly ignored those years of Finest for the most part.

Topps gallery going away was also disappointing! I never really thought about it until now but those were some amazing cards. Some of my favorites during the early 90’s as a kid.

I like each of them for their own merits to such a degree that I’d probably require a gun to my head to actually choose.

The greening issues with Topps is no doubt the biggest tragedy of the 90s, but I’m such a homer for 93-94, 94-95, 97-98 Finest and 96-97 Bowman’s Best that I can almost forgive their sins. Chrome is such an afterthought for me in comparison even though the 96-97 Penny and 98-99 Vince refractors are still on my wantlist. Hell, I’d take flagship 97-98 Topps over any Chrome release.

mindcycle wrote: ↑Sat Sep 30, 2023 10:11 am Tough one! I have a soft spot for Finest and Chrome, however, I definitely agree they made some missteps as you pointed out. The missing refractor RCs from 95 Finest has alway baffled me.

I also agree about the over parallel”ization” of later Finest releases, especially the mid 2000’s stuff. I really want to put together team sets of something from that time period for Finest (I do regular refractors and golds normally), but those mid 2000’s releases just have no consistency among parallels so I’ve mostly ignored those years of Finest for the most part.

Topps gallery going away was also disappointing! I never really thought about it until now but those were some amazing cards. Some of my favorites during the early 90’s as a kid.

I think this is a running theme for a lot of us who were kids when Finest first hit the shelves. I wanted to master set the 94/95 release as a goal of mine when I got back into the hobby over a decade ago, but after coming to the understanding that they would get discolored worse and worse over time, gave up on it. I too have a soft spot for those years and sometimes have to fight myself in order to keep from bidding on cards, even if they're no-names or bench warmers.

Topps Gallery...man, I just like to imagine what they could've done with that product line if they just kept it going consistently. They released its debut in one of the best eras, just my opinion anyway, but it would've been incredible if they did a 96/97 release as well. Especially with that rookie class.

darz90scardz wrote: ↑Sun Oct 01, 2023 11:52 am I like each of them for their own merits to such a degree that I’d probably require a gun to my head to actually choose.

The greening issues with Topps is no doubt the biggest tragedy of the 90s, but I’m such a homer for 93-94, 94-95, 97-98 Finest and 96-97 Bowman’s Best that I can almost forgive their sins. Chrome is such an afterthought for me in comparison even though the 96-97 Penny and 98-99 Vince refractors are still on my wantlist. Hell, I’d take flagship 97-98 Topps over any Chrome release.

As mentioned above, I feel your pain, a lot of us do. The discoloration ruined something that is otherwise considered iconic by a lot of people. Still want to add the top rookies, but can't be bothered to dump even a little money into something that might go gonorrhea green or yeast infection white after I buy it.

Chrome has some winners later on in their release, I think they fixed discoloration for the most part in their base parallels in 98/99, the Penny from that year is a beauty. I hate the back designs though. I do like 99/00 Chrome and the super early 2000s releases, but then the designs just got weirder and weirder and started looking like those maze games you see on tray sheets at a Denny's or something.

^ It’s a shame Gallery didn’t have a couple more inserts. Loved the shots from that set though, really nice stuff.

I’m also being reminded that I still need the Penny Players Private Issue.

AbraCalabro wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:46 am Chrome has some winners later on in their release, I think they fixed discoloration for the most part in their base parallels in 98/99, the Penny from that year is a beauty. I hate the back designs though. I do like 99/00 Chrome and the super early 2000s releases, but then the designs just got weirder and weirder and started looking like those maze games you see on tray sheets at a Denny's or something.

It's interesting that topps fixed their discoloration issues so early. Had the cards begun discoloring that soon after being released? Not to mention the time it took to determine and fix the problem. Pretty impressive on their part.

SacKingsCards wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 7:01 am

AbraCalabro wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:46 am Chrome has some winners later on in their release, I think they fixed discoloration for the most part in their base parallels in 98/99, the Penny from that year is a beauty. I hate the back designs though. I do like 99/00 Chrome and the super early 2000s releases, but then the designs just got weirder and weirder and started looking like those maze games you see on tray sheets at a Denny's or something.

It's interesting that topps fixed their discoloration issues so early. Had the cards begun discoloring that soon after being released? Not to mention the time it took to determine and fix the problem. Pretty impressive on their part.

Great question. I wonder what year they first started turning. If it was pre-2000 when I was still actively buying cards, I don’t remember it happening.

SacKingsCards wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 7:01 am

AbraCalabro wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:46 am Chrome has some winners later on in their release, I think they fixed discoloration for the most part in their base parallels in 98/99, the Penny from that year is a beauty. I hate the back designs though. I do like 99/00 Chrome and the super early 2000s releases, but then the designs just got weirder and weirder and started looking like those maze games you see on tray sheets at a Denny's or something.

It's interesting that topps fixed their discoloration issues so early. Had the cards begun discoloring that soon after being released? Not to mention the time it took to determine and fix the problem. Pretty impressive on their part.

I had not noticed any discoloration until I got back into the hobby, which is about 15 years after the first iterations of Finest were released for basketball. I know that they were not discolored within the first couple years for sure, because I was opening packs of that stuff as a kid when I'd save up money to buy a seven dollar pack of the series two release just to pull a bunch of bench warmers I had never heard of. I would wish for a re-release, but the likelihood of that ever happening is as good as my having a pet T-Rex that I can communicate with telepathically.

darz90scardz wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 8:11 am

SacKingsCards wrote: ↑Sat Nov 11, 2023 7:01 am

AbraCalabro wrote: ↑Wed Nov 08, 2023 8:46 am Chrome has some winners later on in their release, I think they fixed discoloration for the most part in their base parallels in 98/99, the Penny from that year is a beauty. I hate the back designs though. I do like 99/00 Chrome and the super early 2000s releases, but then the designs just got weirder and weirder and started looking like those maze games you see on tray sheets at a Denny's or something.

It's interesting that topps fixed their discoloration issues so early. Had the cards begun discoloring that soon after being released? Not to mention the time it took to determine and fix the problem. Pretty impressive on their part.

Great question. I wonder what year they first started turning. If it was pre-2000 when I was still actively buying cards, I don’t remember it happening.

Really is a good question. I have to think that it was pre-2k because they did end up fixing the formula, but then again, was it just a fluke that they happened to change the formula, or did they notice an issue and go back to make changes? I think baseball Finest released a year prior to basketball, so maybe they noticed it there first? No clue.

I’ve posted this video before on BO but it’s pretty interesting. Little chromium tech history lesson thanks to mouschi.

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