An Awkward Affair

My feelings on Bowman can be described as, mixed at best. I guess some could describe it as a love-hate relationship but both of those words are too strong for me to use. I don't love a product because I believe that brand loyalty is dumb. Nor do I hate a product because if I didn't like something I just wouldn't buy it.

No my issue with Bowman comes down to how there are always some things about it that I care about and other things about that I don't care about. Usually putting me in a spot where I just ignore it entirely because my preference leans towards IPs/TTMs anyway.

Caring: Players I Like

Alright so the kind of stuff I care about is quite simple. The prospects. It's the only reason anyone should care about Bowman.

But when I say I care about the prospects, I don't mean it in a "I'm going to take out a mortgage to buy this player's BoChro autos!". What I really mean is that I'm happy that some of my favorite prospects are getting paid to have their likenesses, names and autographs used on cardboard. It's no secret that minor leaguers are very underpaid, if they can earn even a little bit more to help them in their pursuit to the big leagues that's very good in my book. Obviously a Topps contract isn't going to make anyone rich but I'm sure every little bit helps.

That's why when I see that my favorite prospects are getting Topps/Bowman cards, I get a little happy. The Jasson Dominguezes/Adley Rutschmans of the world will always get these deals but guys on my radar like Ezequiel Duran are a whole other thing entirely. I want "Zeke" to reap some benefits of being a really intriguing prospect. Seeing him get a Bowman Chrome autograph signals to me that he got a check from Topps, that makes me very happy for him. To most of you this name probably isn't much outside of "cool, his name Ezequiel is pretty unique.". But to me he's someone I've seen in person and left me impressed. It's players like Ezequiel who make Bowman a good brand to me.

Of course they can't all be Duran. Duran is unique in that he's actually good. So what about the rest?

Not Caring: Players I Don't Like As Much

This is probably more of a problem I have since I'm an extreme player collector who focuses on select few individuals with immense precision, but seeing the names in a checklist filled with people who don't mean anything to me is what makes me not care about the Bowman offerings, and really most card offerings in general.

Looking at the autograph checklist (because that's all that matters), the key thing to note is that most of the checklist is meh. Unless you pull someone with a Yankees logo, Bobby Witt Jr., Xavier Edwards, Vidal Brujan and maybe Brennan Davis the rest of the prospects in the product are mediocre and won't make you back any money.

And even if I didn't care about money, on a pure personal basis the non-Yanks don't mean anything to me. Am I going to root for them and become a superfan because I pulled their cards? No, I'm going to denounce the product and myself for being dumb enough to buy it instead of putting my money into a savings account that accrues interest (if such a thing exists anymore) so that by the time the Duran superfractor auto shows up I could just buy that instead.

When people say Bowman isn't for them, I know where they're coming from. It's tough to care about a developing player in a sport where development is anything but linear and success isn't guaranteed at all. And a product filled with players like that isn't going to work for everyone. It barely works for me half of the time.

And this is to say nothing of how I firmly believe Bowman and Bowman Chrome continuing to put in MLB players is bad. Established MLB players do not belong in a prospect oriented set. Putting in rookies is as far as a Bowman offering should go. Maybe have an insert set dedicated to former prospects or draft picks or something if they're so inclined, but not the base set. We're already drowning in millions of base cards made for the likes of Justin Verlander and Clayton Kershaw, we don't need more.

These prices will drastically drop in a few months

Now if you'll excuse me I need to be on the hunt for Ezequiel Duran.

Also if any of you pulls a paper autograph of Ken Waldichuk from Bowman retail let me know. I'm on the prowl for that too.

As always thanks for stopping by and take care.