Saturday, January 12, 2019

Bowman's Best always comes out of nowhere

Bowman's Best always catches me off guard.

Just when I think card releases for the year are winding down, Bowman's Best cards start popping up on eBay all over the place. I have no idea how it is even distributed. I'm going to guess via hobby shops and online retailers, as I don't recall ever seeing it Target.

Regardless, it can serve as an "update set" in two different ways. First, it includes many new draft picks found in Bowman Draft, and often their autographs go for much less. It's definitely a cheaper alternative in that regard.

Second, it gives the opportunity to find late season acquisitions in their new uniform. While Andrew McCutchen was only a Yankee for a short time, he was awarded a last-minute SP in Update because he was an August 31 acquisition. However, in Bowman's Best, he's part of the Yankees team set.

While I would never compete with Collecting Cutch, and I made sure he had this card before I posted, I really do want to pick up a run of McCutchen Yankees cards. I got the Update SP, and my second one comes in from Bowman's Best, an Atomic Refractor. It looks great!
In a 2018 filled with ugly, uninspiring cards, Refractors and Atomic Refractors still hold up, despite any other design flaws within the set itself. Although I do like Bowman's Best design overall, it just feels similar to years past or Topps Finest They all get me confused these days. This card only set me back about 2/3rds of my whopping $3.21 in eBay bucks, so it was well worth the cost.

It was fun to have Cutch in pinstripes for a short time, and hopefully the early 2019 releases still depict him as a Yankee.

5 comments:

  1. Bowman's Best does shiny up right. It's one of my favorite card designs every year, but it's almost always an afterthought for me due to late nature of the release.

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  2. Very nice Cutch card. Bowman's Best is often overlooked, and I don't see them in Target either (probably a hobby exclusive set.)

    I had about $3 in eBay bucks myself, but the single card I purchased hasn't arrived yet.

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  3. Gotta love it when eBay hooks you up with a free atomic refractor!

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  4. I'm ashamed to say how much I have in eBay bucks. I did all my Christmas shipping on eBay this year and took advantage of the multiple eBay bucks primotuons they did this year.

    Thanks for checking in on seeing if I needed the atomic. It's a great looking card.

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  5. Nice free pick up! And you have some left over change! I'm generally ignorant of Bowman's Best.

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