Barry Larkin Collection 543: 1993 Topps - #110 - Rockies Inaugural Edition parallel

Barry Larkin
Year:  1993
Brand:  Topps
Parallel set:  Rockies Inaugural Edition
Card number:  110

This was a surprising card when I first discovered it - a "Rockies Inaugural Edition" card for a lifelong Cincinnati Reds player.  It seemed weird, but a little digging on baseballcardpedia cleared everything up...

To commemorate the debut seasons of the Colorado Rockies and Florida Marlins, Topps produced special factory sets. A Gold foil Marlins or Rockies logo distinguishes these from regular issue cards. These cards were only issued in factory set form.
5000 Rockies sets and 4000 Marlins sets were initially printed, but each team had the option of receiving a maximum of 10,000 sets. The Rockies sets were distributed through the four team-owned stores and at Mile High Stadium. The Marlins sets were distributed through FMI and Joe Robbie Stadium.

Luckily for me, someone must have bought one of those 5000 Rockies sets and split it up...and now I am the proud owner of the Barry Larkin base card from the set (even if the stamp is sort of wonky on my card).  I don't (yet) own the Florida Marlins Inaugural Edition parallel but I imagine it basically looks the same as this one except for the wording on the stamp.

Once I track down the Marlin's version of Larkin's base card, I'll have four copies of the base card that are only slightly different (gold, Rockies, Marlins plus the "normal" base).  That's a lot of versions of the same card for a set that came out in 1993...makes you realize just how long parallels have been in existence!