The top quark is the most massive fundamental particle, and its large 
mass gives it unique significance in electroweak symmetry breaking and 
physics beyond the standard model.  Currently a large sample of top
quarks collected during Run 2 of the Tevatron at Fermilab are being
used to study top properties.  Top quark pair production is the basis
of most of these analyses, and the measurement of the production cross
section at CDF is interesting not only for basic top physics, but also
for analysis techniques which will be useful at future hadronic
colliders.