Front Design: The shiny Finest-like card front has a horizontal foil-etched pattern of blue lines that fades into a black border. A photo of the player is placed over the blue lines, with the set name, player's name and position in white over the black bottom border. The bat piece is contained in the "O" from the set name.
Back Design: The set name is repeated at the top, with a cropped blue-tinted version of the front photo placed in the O. The player's name and "factor" (highlight/reason) for appearing in the set follows, succeeded by the "authentic bat" notification. The card number is in a red box in the lower-left corner.
Parallels and Similars: There is a refractor parallel of the set, serial numbered to 25 copies.
Distribution: Pristine Factor bat relics were inserted 1:9 packs of 2003 Topps Pristine, a high-end release that focused mainly on uncirculated cards..
Thoughts: The cards appear to be made from the same card stock and printing processes seen in the Finest line. The background reminds me of a TV with no reception, but it's a fairly clean design. The photos on Pristine always appear plastic and two-dimensional, partly due to the card stock and partly due to the lack of context background to add some depth to the photo. Alex Rodriguez, Mike Piazza, and Nomar Garciaparra are the standouts in the checklist, making this a fairly simple relic set to collect, if it your style of design.
I liked the Pristine cards. I hadn't seen this insert before, but I love etching and dark colors.
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