Tuesday, January 30, 2018

My Best Collection

Today's post deals with my best collection.

Not best in the sense of greatest or most awesome.

Instead, I'm referring to


Bowman's Best.

This is a brand that came and went during the time I wasn't collecting, though it has recently been brought back from the dead.  It was typically a smaller set, so when I came back and started grabbing different brands, Bowman's Best was left behind.

It is left behind no more.

Bowman's Best arrived on the scene in 1994, at the tail end of the junk wax era.  It survived the downturn after the 1994 strike and was issued each year through 2005.  Towards the end Topps added more gimmicks, things like short-prints and autographed rookie cards as part of the main set.  None of that helped to save it.

In 2012 it came back as an insert set with regular Bowman.  Three years later, a full blown set was released and has been each of the two following years.

There are a total of 94 Cubs cards over the fifteen different releases.  Familiar names from the era are in abundance, guys like Grace, Sosa, Wood, and Prior.  You'll also see unknown prospects like Bobby Brownlie, Kevin Collins, and Jason Szuminski.

I spent an evening a couple weeks ago tracking down all 94 of the cards on Sportlots.  I try to minimize the number of sellers I use to save on shipping, so it took some time. In the end I found all but four, and those were just a couple clicks away on eBay.

My plan is to show a particular season once I have all of the cards from that year in hand.  The mailman and my scanner have been busy and I'll have my first year up tomorrow.

For the curious, here is the entire Bowman's Best Cubs rundown:

1994    9Mark Grace
5Brooks Kieschnick
58Randy Myers
71Kevin Orie
70Sammy Sosa
199519Mark Grace
12Brooks Kieschnick
35Sammy Sosa
199689Mark Grace
175Robin Jennings
113Brooks Kieschnick
180Kevin Orie
8Ryne Sandberg
48Sammy Sosa
146Amaury Telemaco
1997173Brant Brown
123Pat Cline
16Mark Grace
55Brian McRae
195Kevin Orie
8Ryne Sandberg
83Sammy Sosa
154Kerry Wood
199830Mark Grace
42Kevin Orie
87Sammy Sosa
125Kerry Wood
1999176Roosevelt Brown
61Mark Grace
182Phil Norton
159Corey Patterson
66Sammy Sosa
91Sammy Sosa
26Kerry Wood
96Kerry Wood
2000157Ben Christensen
188Scott Downs
25Mark Grace
110Corey Patterson
50Sammy Sosa
90Sammy Sosa
2001193Antoine Cameron
173Hee Seop Choi
194J.J. Johnson
155Luis Montanez
106Corey Patterson
25Sammy Sosa
83Kerry Wood
119Julio Zuleta
200218Moises Alou
96Ryan Gripp
115Nic Jackson
13Mark Prior
66Sammy Sosa
2003MBMatt Bruback
BHBrendan Harris Autograph
FBFelix Pie Autograph
MPMark Prior
FSFelix Sanchez Autograph
SSSammy Sosa
AWAron Weston Autograph
2004BBBobby Brownlie Autograph
JJCJon Connolly
MDCMatt Creighton Autograph
NAGNomar Garciaparra
AGAdam Greenberg Autograph
RNRicky Nolasco Autograph
MWPMark Prior
SSSammy Sosa
JSZJason Szuminski Autograph
2005136Buck Coats Autograph
71Kevin Collins
24Nomar Garciaparra
79Sean Marshall
35Casey McGehee
29Mark Prior
92Andy Santana
131Brandon Sing Autograph
2012BBP7    Brett Jackson
201516Jake Arrieta
50Kris Bryant
24Anthony Rizzo
6Addison Russell
93Jorge Soler
20162Albert Almora
41Jake Arrieta
65Kris Bryant
51Willson Contreras
44Anthony Rizzo
64Kyle Schwarber
28Ben Zobrist
201750Kris Bryant
38Ian Happ
35Anthony Rizzo





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