Ultimate Checklist: 2008 Topps Finest

I'm a fan of Finest, despite the daunting task of collecting the full "rainbow" of parallels. For some reason, of all the attention paid to Granderson's 20-20-20-20 season, Finest really does a great job. The card design is a little odd (what's with those borders?) but the photography is nice and the refractors really shine.

There are three different cards in this set. There is the base card, #95 complete with strange borders:

From Curtis Granderson Collection

There is also card FM-CG "Finest Moments" celebrating his 20-20-20-20. I think that this is one of the better cards of Granderson from 2008. Shown here is the Blue Refractor version.

From Curtis Granderson Collection

That card is stunning. It is a great and unique shot of Curtis that really evokes the exertion necessary to accomplish such an amazing feat. Upon further inspection, this card just notes his 20-20-20 feat. I'll have to explore further into the card as to why that is. Anyway, I think the photograph is great--it appears to also have been the one used in an etopps A&G style release at the end of 2007. I love how the picture extends beyond the border of the frame. I also think that the round frame is much nicer than the weird polygon used in the regular shots. Each of these cards are available in a full rainbow of parallel versions along with printing plates.

Refractor
Gold Xfractor
Blue Refractor #/299
Green Refractor #/199
Black Refractor #/99
Gold Refractor #/50
Red Refractor #/25
White Xfractor 1/1

Wax Heaven recently dubbed the quest for all of the parallels from 2007 "Mission Impossible". I am a little more optimistic, because none of these cards are autographed. However, there are autos in this set. The "Finest Moments" Auto (FMA-CG) features a different picture than the normal finest moments card and comes in regular, red (#/25) and White Xfractor (1/1) flavors. I, for one, give a kudos to Finest for not saturating the product with meaningless parallel autographs. Oh, and did I mention that the autographs are ON CARD? Nice.

I just happened to pick one of these up a few weeks ago (as part of the big pre-new years lot that I've mentioned before), but haven't scanned and cataloged it yet. I will try to add a picture as an update this evening.

UPDATE:
The Finest Moments Card commemorates the date where he reached the 20-20-20 mark. The back of the card recognizes the greater feat.

From Grand Cards

Meanwhile, here is the Red Refractor version of the Finest Moments Autograph Card. You can see that there is a new picture on the card and recognition of the full 20-20-20-20 on the front. Very, very nice.

From Curtis Granderson Collection