Grudging respect for 1993 Topps

 

 

This is kind of a spin-off post from yesterday.

Of all of this year's Topps anniversary sets -- 1953, 1963, 1973, 1983, 1993, 2003 and 2013 -- the one that I pay almost no mind is 1993. You will find odes, or at least solid mentions, on this blog for every other Topps set with an anniversary this year.

But '93 Topps arrived at an unfortunate time in my collecting history.

Let's review quickly:

The first cards I owned were from a cello pack of 1974 Topps in '74. The first cards I bought and collected were packs of '75 Topps. I continued the '75 pattern all the way through 1983, even trying to operate in the same manner when Donruss and Fleer arrived in 1981. In 1984, my first full year in college, I knew I had no more time for this method and bought complete Topps sets in '84 and then in 1985. By 1986, I had moved away and also moved away from cards, buying almost nothing in 1986, 1987 and 1988. Post-graduation, I returned in force to Topps cards (and only Topps cards) in 1989. Moving away again, I did virtually nothing with cards in 1990 then jumped in with both feet for 1991 and 1992.

And here we are in 1993.

For an in-depth review of the '93 card scene by me, check this out, I won't repeat myself much here except to say that I found 1993 Topps so underwhelming that the mystique that Topps held for me for 19 years -- yes, even during those college years when I didn't collect -- had vanished. I didn't feel it anymore. It was like a long relationship where you know you've made the right decision to break up. I just didn't feel anything anymore.

I wasn't impressed with the '93 Topps design. The photo corners and the color combos used turned me off. The photo presentation is very good in this set, but I didn't notice that much because I had fallen completely in love with '93 Upper Deck that year and, wow, UD could do photo presentation like no other at that time.

Even today -- 30 years after 1993 cards were released -- I'm operating a 1993 Upper Deck blog, but where is that '93 Topps blog? (There is one, but it hasn't been updated for quite awhile).

So this is a short post to show grudging respect for 1993 Topps, on its anniversary.

These are all notable 1993 Topps cards that I've shown at one point or another on this blog. Several are card-collector favorites in general and have been shown over and over on various baseball card sites. 1993 Topps does have that kind of power.

This is my favorite Dodger card from the 1993 Topps set. It shows off the interesting photography that may not be as frequent as in '93 Upper Deck but it is there.

 

Here are some 1993 Topps cards in my collection that I like that I probably haven't shown before. I have just 278 cards from the giant 825-card set and almost all of them were bought opening underwhelming packs in '93. Maybe a handful are from repacks or something similar.

Since this is the first set that didn't possess that Topps magic for me, I don't see myself ever trying to complete it. It's interesting the vast gulf there is for me between 1992 and 1993 Topps. I'll own that '92 Topps set someday soon and will enjoy it. But starting in '93, I have zero inspiration, and that runs through the rest of the decade for Topps flagship.

 

1993 Topps is known for a few things, it contains Derek Jeter's rookie card, it features the Marlins and Rockies for the first time. But those aren't unique to Topps. What is are these things:

Everyone had gone insert crazy by 1993 and these Black Golds certainly helped. I'm not a big '90s insert guy but I do find a few of them attractive. This is probably the best early '90s one for me (It blows away those Fleer Pro Visions cards that everyone raves about that don't do it for me).

But I won't try to complete this either. I rarely attempt to complete insert sets.

So that's all I have to say for 1993 Topps, 30 years later. Just one blog post, rather than the 800-plus that I'm supposedly writing for '93 Upper Deck.

I get why some people like this set. It just came along at the wrong time.