2002 Finest debuted in September, 2002. The set checklist is comprised of 62 veterans, 40 rookies, 14 veteran jersey cards (5 #/499, 9 #/999), and 22 autographed rookie cards. Since 1999, Topps made parts of the base set short printed. 2002 is the first time that memoribilia and autograph cards are part of the base set. This started a trend that Topps would follow fairly consistently from 2002-2009.

Each box is comprised of 3 mini-boxes, each mini containing 6 packs of cards. Each pack contained 5 cards. The MSRP for each mini-box was $40. Some autographs were inserted as exchanges/redemptions which expired 09/30/2004.