This year, it seemed almost impossible for Topps to do any wrong with their baseball line. From their flagship success, to the incredible popularity of Heritage, and even Finest… Topps has been landing nothing but knockout punches to its rival, Upper Deck.
In case you missed it, 2009 Bowman is now live on eBay. Aside from perhaps one of the most bland card designs ever given to Bowman, Topps has broken tradition and included sticker autographs on the rookie checklist. What is even worse is the huge white area for facsimile autographs in the base cards.
Topps, if there are sticker autographs in 2009 Bowman Chrome release, you just may end up losing ground in the prospect market to Donruss/Panini and even Razor Entertainment. Save your stickers for other products, all Bowman releases should be on-card.
This may be the worst thing to ever happen to Baseball cards. Damn I went by the shots on The Beckett Blog, and not Wax Heaven, and just blew my hard earned cash on garbage. What was I thinking?
Mojo
Beckett’s sole purpose is to advertise. What did you expect?
I am holding out hope for Bowman Chrome, though.
Say it ain’s so Mo. Ridiculous.
Love to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.
Exactly WHO is the person that would approve that.
Fire them. Fire them NOW!!
Is that Deolis Guerra with an Alexi Casilla sticker? I WANT THAT CARD!!
I just PUKED….IN MY MOUTH.
That is awful, and off center. At least Deolis has an auto now, though. Too bad it looks like 1990 bowman and turkey red’s bastard child.
Those are the paper prospect autos that are found in the Jumbo boxes. The chrome prospect autos are still on card like they always have been.
It might be a good idea to wait until more than 2 boxes have been opened before everyone freaks out.
It looks as though to me, Topps learned from their mistake last year of putting the better autos in the base Bowman release which cause Bowman Chrome to tank. If you look at the whole checklist, the non-auto prospects look pretty good. I’m sure some of the WBC parallels will do well also.
It seems to me like the plan is to beef up the Chrome release more this year in order to get it back to the prominance that it lost last year.
Charlie,
What do you think of the overall design?
Sonofa that is hideous.
Not only does that card looks ugly as hell, but it also looks like it is the wrong auto put on there at that….
I like the 08 design better than this year. But I think the “green” RC and Chrome prospect cards look better than the 07 design.
It just so happens, that one of the few auto cards for sale so far is the worst design of the 3.
I think people are reading this assuming that this is what the whole set looks like for this year, when in fact these are just the throw-in autos to fill out the Jumbo boxes. These are basically the equivalent of the Signs of the Future sticker autos from last year.
yikes. I really like Bowman, but that design is horrible.
I guess the 2009 Hot Streak for Topps ends here.
I think the hatred for sticker autos is irrational and stupid, for the most part. That card in the scan would look a lot nicer if it were a clear sticker, and especially if the sticker were as big as the little cut-out in the design.
Regardless, to the people who are bashing this card, answer this for me…would you rather have the card pictured numbered as part of the base set, or would you rather have that sticker put on a Signs of the Future Deolis Guerra auto?
I’ll give you a hint – the base auto will always sell for more than the SOTF.
Thomas,
Unfortunately most of the people commenting on this so far aren’t paying attention to the rest of the comments, and seem to remain convinced that this is what ALL of the 2009 Bowman autos are going to look like.
See my above comments for elaboration on the subject.
The design doesn’t bother me much, but the sticker just stands out like a sore thumb, and couldn’t look more unnatural on the product. I plan on buying a box, and am almost hoping I don’t pull an auto of somebody I collect – that way, it’s easier to part with.
Case in point.
PEOPLE – THE GOD DAMN CHROME PROSPECT AUTOGRAPHS ARE ON CARD!!!!!
THE CARD PICTURED ABOVE IS ONE OF THE PLAIN PAPER PROSPECT AUTOS THAT ARE INCLUDED IN HTA JUMBO BOXES ONLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mario, would you please do me a GIANT favor and at least mention that fact in the post. These people are driving me frackin nuts!!
charlie do u work for a card company?
I never said all cards were stickers but it should have been worded better.
I’d rather see stickers in a Sign of the Future type insert.
Breathe, Charlie.
Topps has been using stickers in the Bowman brand for the last few years. I have a 2006 Bowman Reggie Abercrombie base card with a big ol’ sticker AUn on it.
I do not now, nor have I ever worked for a card company.
And I’m the 1st person to bash a bad design. Ask Mario, he’ll tell you.
I just can’t stand rampant ignorance.
Man, I hope you didn’t confuse my misreading with rampant ignorance
To be honest, I don’t hate the design all that much. Foil sticker autos drive me nuts, but you have to accept them these days. The thing I really hate? I saw the Beckett preview and they have the scan of a David Price card. Look at his Series 1 card and then look at the Bowman card. The photo is so similar I honestly think they took them both on consecutive pitches from the exact same vantage point. That’s just inexcusable. With all the parallels we get we have to stare at the same photo on so many different cards as it is, this just makes it that much worse. And to top it all off, it’s a Spring Training photo. I HATE Spring Training photos. What, he didn’t make enough of a splash late last year to warrant a cameraman in some real games? Talk about an all around half-assed effort.
Charlie chill bro!
Anyone who knows anything about Bowman ( Im sure 98% of the people who posted here do) know the photo pictured above is from Bowman,Bowman Jumbo and not Bowman Chrome. First of all Bowman chrome says Bowman Chrome on the card, and regular Bowman says Bowman. I tend to judge a product on the previous years release, and as far as I know ( I may be wrong) out of the 3 cases I opened last year I dont recall any RC sticker autographs. Prospect autographs are usually reserved for Bowman S.O.T.F , Bowman Chrome, or Bowman Chrome Draft. Bowman S.O.T.F is a sticker autograph, and as far as I can recall has always been one. I like the victorian style framing on this years product which im assuming is the regular base. The square framed ones like the photo above are boring, and dont do much for me personaly, but then again thats my opinion not yours.
Mojo
Oh and by the way Signs of the future should actually be signs of the failure. Out of the 26 I pulled out of my drawer only five are descent players. I really don’t anticipate them whatsoever. What I meant by judging A product by the previous years release only applies to certain elements like autographs, redemptions, etc, and not card design.
Mojo
The card pictured above indeed is A prospect/ rookie auto, and is A Jumbo exclusive only. There are three variations. Blue #ed to 500, orange #ed to 250, red 1/1, printing plates 1/1, and yes they are all sticker autographs.
Yeah, but you’re a freak Mario. You like inserts.
I don’t mind inserts if they sell. SOTF doesn’t sell, and Bowman should stop making them. Please. I know they won’t, but they should.
Please, do the logical thing. Don’t waste those stickers on SOTFs. Make cards of those players, number them as part of the base set and use the stickers on those. It’s not too much to ask. You don’t even have to design a special insert. You don’t have to dig up a new photo or even edit one you’ve already got. Couldn’t be simpler.
Throw us all a freaking bone, Topps! Nobody wants SOTFs!
Point well made.
Mojo
Topps’ sticker autos are heinous, they aren’t going anywhere though, so the least Topps can do is redesign them or something, they take away so much from the overall look and appeal of their cards…