Tales of a Former Bowman Collector: Part 2

The "next big thing" had been a large part of the baseball card hobby for many years before I made my perfunctory discovery. The 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly and the 1986 Donruss Jose Canseco were two of the more prominent examples of collectors seeking out and hoarding prominent rookie cards of stars-in-the-making.

When the extreme overproduction era hit in 1987/1988, it wasn't just a matter of identifying the up and coming youngsters making their debuts on the major league rosters. It was about finding the prospect of the moment and making a financial killing on the cards by flipping them quickly before anyone was the wiser about their lack of future superstar ability and/or overabundance of these cards. The first example that comes to mind is Gregg Jefferies. Others may include such luminaries as Sam Horn, Phil Plantier, Kevin Maas, etc. How to invest in these rookies was simple; buy 100 card lots and sell as much as you can when the up arrow in the Beckett appeared (because no one understood what that really meant).

In 1989, the Bowman brand was introduced, primarily as a a nostalgia kick by Topps. However, there was something different about the brand. It included an overabundance of rookie cards (in terms of percentage) compared to the normal Topps base set. I opened one pack that year, and I honestly hated them. I couldn't properly rubberband the cards or store them in my album; they were too large!

One aspect did stick with me, for some cards (the first ones I saw were Ed Sprague and Tino Martinez), it simply said in the statistics section, "No Prior MLB Experience". How can they have a card without experience thought my wondering 8 year old mind?

As we see in subsequent years, it was a concerted effort to get the first card of a player out by Topps before any other company. This they normally could do because they signed individual contracts with players rather than going through the MLB Players Association.

1990 and 1991 Bowman (though extremely ugly in design) followed the same concept in providing a high percentage of first or rookie cards in the sets. It wasn't until 1992 when Bowman as a brand hit its stride

Slice of a Season: Part 2 of 18

Since the baseball season is long (a marathon, not a sprint they always say). Let's keep track of the Phillies 2009 season in digestible bites. A weekly wrap-up doesn't give justice to the ups and downs that a team goes through because it's so uneven.Therefore, I've decided to summarize the season in 9 game swaths, the equivalent of 3 series, barring rainouts and schedule unevenness. Plus, 9*18=162...I like even numbers.

Slice of a Season: 2009, Slice 2

Slice Record: 6-3

Cumulative Record: 10-8
Standing at Slice's End: 0.5 games behind suddenly reeling Marlins
Opponents that hurt the Phillies: Brewers, Padres

Opponents that helped the Phillies: Marlins, Nationals
Wins to Remember: Scoring 7 runs in the 9th to defeat the Braves 7-3 on April 24, 2009. Recovering from 2 different 4 run deficits with 2 grand slams to win 13-11 against the Nationals on April 27, 2009.
Loss to spill milk over: Giving up 4 runs in the 9th to lose to Padres 8-5 on April 18, 2009.

Nobody's perfect: But Brad Lidge was close for awhile

Bats do help: When facing Dave Bush (no-hit the Phillies until the 8th inning) and Braden Looper

New favorite opposing pitcher: Cody Ross, outfielder, Marlins

Nemesis Alert: Josh Johnson

Needs a 4 leaf clover and a rabbit's foot: Cole Hamels

Hitting Heroes: Chase Utley, Raul Ibanez, Ryan Howard, Pedro Feliz, Shane Victorino
Need Adjustments: Jimmy Rollins, Chris Coste, Greg Dobbs
Fire Starters on the Mound: Brett Myers, Joe Blanton, Scott Eyre
Holding the Fort Down: Clay Condrey, Ryan Madson, Chad Durbin, Jaimie Moyer

Let's call them the April comeback kids. The wins at Florida and against Washington were especially noteworthy, showing all you need is a decent bullpen and really potent bats to compete in the NL East. Ibanez and Utley are tearing up the league right now with Ibanez leading the league in .SLG and total bases. Feliz is drawing walks and flashing power and Howard's strikeout rate has declined since last year. On top of that production, Matt Stairs is the man, and I won't hear anyone else say otherwise. The team still has an .OPS above .800; that is really, really good. J-Roll...where hast thou gone?.....first base is but 90 feet away for you to tend to.

The pitching has improved enough to not be a complete liability. Hamels has shown flashes of returning to form, but a Prince Fielder line drive to the shoulder probably is not one of the top 100 feelings in the world. Myers is volatile like an organic solvent, and Blanton has shown himself to be hittable (14.6 H/9 IP). The middle bullpen has been solid with Condrey, "Everyday" Durbin, and Madson holding the opponents down until the offense decides to score after inning 7. It would be nice if the team ERA dropped below 5 at some point this season.

Overall, sweeping the Marlins in Florida was a great way to punctuate April, and allows them to clinch a winning April record for the second straight year. Game on, division rivals, game on. The race has truly begun.

A peek ahead: The conclusion of the Nationals series, the first and second series against the Mets, and an encounter with the Cardinals