Following a brief delay, Topps released the much anticipated Bowman's Best Basketball set this week. Box and case prices for this high-end NBA product have been going steadily up in recent weeks, reacting to dealer allotments being reduced and word that production would be 50% of Finest. With all this hype and pack prices opening between $6 and $8 for six cards it would be easy to be disappointed. Fortunately that wasn't the case.
Bowman's Best, as always, is known for great rookie selection and attractive chromium cards. Last year it fell behind it's popular cousins, Finest and Chrome, but there's a chance it might come out on top in '98. Topps announced this week it will be producing Chrome again, but I've got to wonder if the huge popularity of last year's product might not tempt them to overproduce it this time, and leave Best as the one collectors and investors will be chasing in coming months.
For 1998, Topps has made a simple change and a nice addition to Bowman's
Best which should help the popularity immediately. The change is
in the numbering. Gone are the separate numbers for the subsets.
Rookies are still kept together (cards 101-125) and are silver (compared
to gold for vets), but the R label of '97 is gone so no one will think
they are inserts. The addition is even better. Autographs!!
Ok, so by this point you come to expect autographs in everything, but it
is exciting to think you could find an autograph of your favorite star
or rookie on a brilliant Bowman's Best card.
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Once again the big chase will be for the parallel Refractors and Atomic Refractors. Each card in the 125 card base set has two parallels as do each card in the four insert sets. Odds on coming across a refractor are 1 per 12 packs, while Atomics can be found once in every 24 packs. Last week when I was checking out Ebay for my look at online auctions, I noticed that some of the hottest cards selling there were Atomic Refractors from 96-97 Bowman's Best. It must be something about that glittering that draws people to Atomics.
The autographs come in three variations with the overall chance of coming
across one better than one in 300 packs. The Atomic Refractor parallel
autos are tough at nearly 6000 to 1. Mirror Images make their basketball
debut with four players on each card (two on each side of the dual-faced
card). You'll find one in every 48 packs, with Atomics checking in
every eight boxes or so.
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Finishing up the inserts are Best Cuts, a laser cut set with all your favorite stars found one per box. A refractor version is twice as hard and the Atomics are four times tougher. Best Techniques is something new with players making the set by being the best at something, from shooting to defending to running the floor. You'll find these spiral design cards once per 12 packs (1 per 48 for refractors and 96 for Atomics).
Rookie card selection is one of the keys to this set. Besides the twenty-five rookies selected to be in the base set, there is good use of the rookies in the inserts. I particularly like seeing Mirror Image cards with combinations of Kobe Bryant / Keith Van Horn or David Robinson / Tim Duncan. I think it will be cards like these that might draw collectors to Best before Finest and Chrome in 1998. I guess all we can do now is wait and see.
CHAT