The 1993 season was the inaugural season for the Colorado Rockies franchise. To commemorate the new team and their players, Topps released sets of collector baseball cards featuring the Rockies. The 1993 Topps Rockies set would be the first ever cards issued for the Denver franchise.
The Rockies set was part of Topps’ flagship complete setrelease in 1993 which included cards for all 28 Major League teams. The Rockies cards took card numbers 601-630 which maintained the team’s order of finishing last in the National League West division in 1992 as an expansion franchise.
Some notable rookie cards featured in the set included outfielders Larry Walker and Charlie Hayes, pitchers Bruce Ruffin and David Nied, and catcher Joe Girardi. Walker would go on to have a Hall of Fame caliber career winning three batting titles. Girardi became a long-time big league catcher and manager.
Veteran players with prominent cards included outfielder/first baseman Andres Galarraga, who belted 40 home runs in 1993 for the Rockies. Pitchers like Alejandro Pena, who led the NL in wins in 1993 with 17 also had cards. The highest numbered Rockies card and team leader was that of slugging first baseman/outfielder Dante Bichette at #630.
Design-wise, the Rockies cards matched the classic brown & teal team colors used in their inaugural 1992-1994 seasons. With a purple border on the front, the artwork featured headshots of players on a purple-hued rocky Colorado landscape background. Statistics like batting and earned run averages were listed on the rear of the card along with a career record and fun facts for each player.
The Rockies cards were part of a larger 1993 Topps set totaling 792 cards which included all players, managers, umpires, records, andCHECKCHECKCHECK archives. This made completing the full base set quite challenging for collectors due to the sheer number of cards. The set also included various special parallel and insert cards like Topps Gold Stamp and All-Star cards which added to the excitement and challenges of collecting.
In the years since, the 1993 Rockies rookie cards of Walker, Hayes, Ruffin, Nied and others have increased in value given their contributions and the team’s history-making status. Gem mint conditioned copies of stars like Walker and Bichette routinely sell for hundreds of dollars online. Even commons from the set command premiums due to the nostalgia for the Rockies expansion years coupled with the cards’ venerable vintage from the early 1990s baseball card boom.
For Colorado-based collectors and fans, the 1993 Topps Rockies set holds added nostalgia and importance as the first cards representing their hometown nine. Completing the full 30-card Rockies mini-set within the larger 792-card Topps issue remains an achievable goal for both new and vintage collectors. Prices for most commons remain affordable allowing Rockies true believers to build an early club set chronicling the stars and prospects from that inaugural campaign.
While relatively short-lived within the full ‘93 Topps release, the 30-card Colorado Rockies subset stands out in franchise history as the very first baseball cards acknowledging the new National League club. Featuring stars and emerging talents from that starting nine, the cards maintain an iconic status among both vintage collectors as well as Colorado fans seeking to represent their Rockies in a wallet or binder. Over 28 years later, the ‘93 Topps Rockies retain their nostalgic charm and remain attainable for many seeking a link to the early years of the franchise.
