If you were a rookie collector in 1996, there were two great products for you to feast on. For the old school collector, you had Bowman and for the “Joe Collector” like myself, there was Bowman’s Best, which featured lots of chrome and parallels (Refractors/Atomic Refractors). With two such great products one has to wonder why and when did they decide that it wasn’t enough because the very next year, Bowman released the first ever ‘Bowman Chrome’.
If you recall, ’97 Bowman Chrome was groundbreaking and today is arguably the most popular baseball product each and every year. It was great for collectors but in the end, Bowman killed off one product and decreased the interest in another one in 1997. By releasing ‘Chrome’, Bowman’s Best became obsolete almost overnight. As far as their flagship product, it never went on to hold much value as pretty much everyone wanted the ‘Chrome’ version instead.
In 2001, the legendary Bowman Chrome Albert Pujols surfaced, officially making Chrome the King of Baseball Cards, while putting the nail in the coffin of Bowman & Bowman’s Best. Today, Bowman is still somewhat popular but have been reduced to including one Chrome card per pack in order to keep collectors interested. Bowman’s Best has been upgraded (or reduced) to being a “high-end” product. 2007 Bowman’s Best were some of the nicest cards I have ever seen in almost twenty years of collecting but still all anyone in the hobby cared about was a 2007 Bowman Chrome rookie autograph of flame-throwing Yankee pitcher, Joba Chamberlain.
Bowman had a perfect product in 1996. Was it greed or the chase for evolution that drove them to creating Bowman Chrome. Whatever the case, there is one collector in South Florida who misses the days of Bowman and Bowman’s Best.
Here’s to keeping it “old school” and Atomic Refractors!
I remember buying a (very overpriced) mini box of 2007 Bowman’s Best from the card shop near my parent’s place. The cards REALLY blew me away. Shiny, super thick and really nice looking all around. In the end, the price didn’t matter because I got a Tim Lincecum rookie auto. Didn’t recognize the sweetness of my find till later though.
I miss the old-school Bowman’s Best. 1995, in my mind, still tops todays Chrome sets, mainly because it was loaded with stars and rookies. Even the refractors are still hard to find. And getting one without the refractor line is like finding a BGS 10 Pujols Chrome RC.
Canseco had some sick Bowman’s Best cards, prized cards.
I think Topps realized it had a winner in Topps Chrome, so they decided to branch into Bowman Chrome and create two “super premium” Bowman products they could sell. I’m sure the idea was that if collectors love the Bowman’s Best product, which featured the chrome technology, then why not create a second similar looking product. Remember, this was still a time when over production was still very much in play. Unfortunately “Chrome” took the desireability out of “Best” because collectors, I think, still realized the importance of the base Bowman product. Bowman has always been synonymous with “rookie card” so if you could chose between two chrome-style products, which would you take, one that involved a edgy design, or one that took on the look of your typical base Bowman card? I’ll take the base/bowman chrome product every day of the week.
Mario, you made me pull out the 1997 Bowman Chrome promo sheet …
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