On the Radar - 2021 Bowman - 1991 Buyback Autograph

 Robin has a surprise, or at least a surprise to me, card in the 2021 Bowman release.  He's featured in the buyback autographs.  And not only that but there are 50 copies to hunt!

2021 Bowman - 1991 Bowman Buyback Autographs #55 #/50

2020 Bowman Chrome Yount Checklist and Gallery

 I was very much to surprised to find Robin's name in the 2020 Bowman Chrome checklist.  Not that I'm complaining.  He's featured in the Farm to Fame insert set, which also has a couple parallels.  Oddly Robin spent very little time in the Minor Leagues in 1974 before being called up.

2020 Bowman Chrome - Farm to Fame #FTF-RY
2020 Bowman Chrome - Farm to Fame #FTF-RY Orange #/25
2020 Bowman Chrome - Farm to Fame #FTF-RY SuperFractor #/1

1990 Bowman Art Card Variation

Year: 1990

Manufacture: Topps

Set: Bowman

Card Number: NNO

Card Type: Insert

Insert: Art Card contest

There recently was a thread going on over at the TCDB about single and double asterisk variations on the 1990 Bowman Art Card Contest Cards.  The overall discussion was iablout if this a parallel or just a variation?  I think in the end the cards were listed as a parallel and it's own separate set.  After doing a little research I've found out that this variations, err, or parallel was pretty prevalent through out a lot of Topps sets, especially their non-sport sets.  The asterisks has to do with printing and printing plate designations, of which I'm still not sure I fully understand.  I will say that as far as Robin goes the other card I know that this affects is his 1977 cloth sticker.

Regardless the difference is small and fairly minor, but for completists I'm pointing this out, because it's most likely you already have both versions in your collection, like I did.  

1990 Bowman Art Card Contest

Year: 1990

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Bowman Baseball

Card Type: Contest Insert

Card Number: NNO

If you opened packs of 1990 Bowman, which was slightly better than the oversized 1989 Bowman only because it stored better, you got a ton of these contest inserts.  Well before the days of the internet when you still had to fill out the lines on the back of this card and mail it in.  The prize for this contest was a complete set of the 11 lithographs.  A total of 500 lithograph sets were produced.  250 were given away as prizes and the rest were offered to hobby dealers.  All the lithos are artist signed and numbered.  You can see my Yount litho here.  Seems in that post I may or may not have gotten the total produced wrong.  Back in the day this kind of counted as an insert and while common is still kind of neat.

1990 Bowman

Year: 1990

Manufacturer: Topps

Set: Bowman Baseball

Card Number: 404

Card Type: Base

I can remember when Topps resurrected the Bowman brand in 1989 it was a big deal.  Now we had two sets to chase. And yes if you had a little extra money you could go after the premium Stadium Club.  This was the start of what we have today with lots and lots of sets, but not as many as the mid 2000's.  Bowman had pretty much been extinct since Topps bought them out in 1956 and later Topps would rebrand Bowman as its premier prospects and rookies set.  In 1989 Topps also issued the cards with the original Bowman dimensions.  Which was neat, but a huge pain in the ass for collector's to store.  So in 1990 Topps just went back to the regular 2x3 dimensions.  This year's set was definitely all about the player.  Huge photo, minimal logo and wordage, same super crowded back.  The rainbow borders are a bit distracting and  remind me of Mork and Mindy, which was still in heavy syndication in 1990.  Overall still a great card and set and like everything from 1990 mega over produced so cards and sets are still super cheap.

2014 Bowman Is Back insert

Card Manufacturer: Toppps

Card Set: Bowman Platinum

Year:  2014

Card Number: 89BIB-RY

Card Type: Insert

Insert Set: Bowman Is Back 

Another one of my recent pick ups.  Topps has been inserting these cards in to various Bowman products for a couple years now.  And as luck would have it Mr. Yount got his mug put on one and inserted into this year's Bowman Platinum.  

The cards are really nice and shiny.  The front and back both mimic the 1989 Bowman release, but at least Topps didn't mimic the size like it did back in 1989. Those cards were a pain to store and display.  These cards are regular size.

1990 Bowman Lithograph

Card Manufacturer: Topps

Card Set: Bowman Lithographs

Year: 1990

Card Number:NNO

Card Type: Lithograph

Serial numbered: 222/500

Ah the good old 1990 Bowman Art sweepstakes insert.  Back in 1990 when you bought a pack of the second year of the new Bowman you got one of these art card inserts, that were really just an entry form into a sweepstakes for a set of art lithographs of all 11 of the players featured on the lithographs.  I was able to pick up this signed and numbered example a few years back. I have no idea what I paid for it, but I know it wasn't too expensive.  Craig Pursley was the artist that did the paintings. Here is an interview with the artist as he tells the story of the paintings and the giveaway.

Supposedly there were 500 sets produced for the contest and another 500 produced for distribution to hobby shops.  There seems to be some confusion to whether or not the hobby shop sets were signed or numbered at all. Craig seems to remember that all the lithos were signed, but only the contest sets were numbered.  So it appears I have a contest litho. And if I remember correctly the seller of this litho stated he had won the set back in 1990.

Craig Pursley is still cranking out art although it doesn't look like he specializes in sports over any other subject and looks like he does a lot of portraits. You can visit his website HERE.

Below we have one of the original art contest cards. There are two versions of this card too, with a tiffany version inserted with the Bowman Tiffany sets.