2001 Finest Cubs

The 2001 Finest set marks the transition to the small set that is Finest today. With just 140 cards, the 2001 set has 148 fewer cards than the 2000 set. That’s a reduction of a little more than 50%.

A shrinking base set also means a shrinking number of Cubs. The 2000 set had eight Cubs. In 2001 the number was reduced to only three.  And if being reduced to only three cards wasn't bad enough, two of the three were of rookie prospects...and prospects that never really made it.  And if THAT  wasn't bad enough, the rookie cards were numbered short prints.  I had to spend way more than 18¢ for cards of Luis Montanez and Steve Smyth.

 

Both of the cards are /999 and it took a little bit of shopping to find them at a reasonable price.  

The only active Cub card in the set was this one of Sammy,  It was part of a numbered (/399) subset called Standout Veteran.  That means that all three Cubs cards from Finest 2001 were numbered and too expensive for what they are.

2001 Finest was not one of Topps' finest moments for this Cubs fan.