2016 Bowman - First Look

Blogging has been sporadic and will probably remain so for awhile. But I got some 2016 Bowman and had to spout off.

As usual, Bowman is split between 150 base cards and 150 Prospect cards. Each pack also contains 2-3 Chrome Prospect cards and the occasional insert. This will be a tough set to complete by buying packs. Out of a 10-card pack, at most 5 cards will be base cards.

Here's what they look like.

The card fronts are pretty nice. They are very similar to last year's cards but easier to read. 2016 Topps went to minimum foil; Bowman went with no foil. The player name, team logo and player position all are easy to see. The logo background is in a team color. Why they chose blue (a very minor part of the Phillies uni) for the logo background is beyond me. There is a blue parallel but I don't think that's what this is. The card is a bit busier than I like. For example, all that construction on the top and upper right corner could be done away with, in my opinion.

The black strip on the bottom, between the team logo and player position has the team name spelled out. It's almost completely unreadable.

I like the fronts but the backs are a hot mess. Let's list the problems: 1) the color contrast of the card number against the background, combined with the small font makes the card number very difficult to read on most cards; 2) All of the type fonts are too small, the bio info, in particular, is impossible. Why go through the trouble of writing stuff and then make is so hard to read; 3) The diagonal lines make the back hard to look at, it's hard to find the player name, team, position, etc., because your eyes are pulled away to the upper right and all the information is in the upper left. Did Topps pick up some 1980's Donruss designers?

The background colors are in the team colors and a nice pastel version of the colors, the only thing about the back that is acceptable.

I bought a couple of value packs which come with some yellow parallel cards. I've got 6 of them and they're all prospect cards. I can kill two birds here and show you a parallel card and a Prospect card. And an Astros card as well.

I think I like the Prospect card design more than the base cards but still too busy. I like the name at the bottom rather than on the side. You can see by looking at this why I think that Franco cards isn't a blue parallel. Not enough blue in it.

The backs are the same as the base cards, not worth showing another one.