Card of the Day: David Robinson 1996-97 Topps Season’s Best En Fuego #5

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Card of the Day: Aubrey Huff 1999 Team Best Auto

Lions ’07 Donruss Classics Jersey Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Roy Williams 2007 Donruss Classics Sunday’s Best Jersey #’ed/250.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, May 5, 2017 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

Flashback Product of the Week: 1996 Best Harrisburg Senators Team Set

Throughout the summer I usually attend a handful of minor league games.  My main focus is on bobblehead giveaways.  As of right now, I’ve got tickets for the Harrisburg Senators and Lancaster Barnstormers.  The State College Spikes only have one bobblehead giveaway on their schedule so far, and its at the end of the season during the week.  I’m waiting for the Williamsport Crosscutters to post their promo schedule.  It drives me crazy when teams giveaway bobbleheads during the week.  I suppose it helps boost weekday attendance.

The first time I attended a professional baseball game was in 1997.  It was on City Island to watch the Harrisburg Senators take on the New Haven Ravens.  One of the Ravens players even gave me a broken bat as he walked by.  To this day, I still don’t know who that player was.  I like to think it was Todd Helton, but I believe he was in Triple-A by then.

Upon arriving to the game, I remember stopping at a souvenir booth.  It wasn’t a store that you could walk around in.  You’d walk up to the counter and tell the person working what you wanted to buy.  All of the items for sale were on display behind the employees.

Team sets for the 1997 roster hadn’t been released yet, so I picked-up one from 1996.  It consists of (29) cards.  The two most recognizable names you’ll find in there are Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro.  Both had long and successful careers in baseball.  A complete set can easily be found for $10.  It probably would be worth a lot more if these would’ve been the first cards of Guerrero and Vidro.  Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Vidro already had cards in nationally issued sets.  Guerrero in 1995 Bowman’s Best, and Vidro in 1993 Bowman.

Braves ’16 Bowman’s Best Auto Contest Winner Announced

Congrats to dawgpaws on being the lucky winner of the Sean Newcomb 2016 Bowman’s Best Auto.  Once dawgpaws sends me their mailing address, I will ship this card ASAP.  Thanks!

Braves ’16 Bowman’s Best Auto Contest! – NOW CLOSED

This contest is for a Sean Newcomb 2016 Bowman’s Best Auto.  Good luck!!!

Contest Details:

• This contest will end Friday, January 20, 2017 @ 8:00 p.m. EST.
• To enter, please leave a comment in this post.
• You can enter once per day.
• The winner will be selected at random.
• Please provide a valid e-mail address when entering.
• The winner will receive an e-mail when the contest is over.
• The winner has one week to send me their contact information or the contest will be held again.
• Once the contest is over, I will need the winner’s mailing address so I can ship them this card for FREE!!!

2016 Bowman’s Best Baseball Box Break & Review

The first card shop that I ever visited was called the Penalty Shot.  Don’t let the name fool you, it carried much more than just hockey cards.  It was a great shop with some glass cases full of singles, a dollar wall, and packs/boxes.  One of my first purchases was a Scott Rolen 1995 Bowman’s Best RC.  I had recently met Scott Rolen at an autograph signing during a local mall show and was collecting his cards.  I still own that card and never intend on moving it.  Sadly the Penalty Shot is no longer open.  That’s a shame because it was one of the most organized shops I’ve ever been in.  I think we can all agree that one of the key elements collectors look for in a card shop is organization.

2016 Bowman’s Best is the best of both worlds when it comes to collecting prospects and veterans.  It caters to both groups.  A single master box contains two mini-boxes.  Inside each mini-box you should discover two autographs.  That comes to four autographs for an entire master box.

The base set comes in at (100) cards that is divided up between (65) veterans/rookies and (35) top prospects.  Parallels you can pull include:

• Refractor
• Atomic Refractor
• Blue Refractor #’ed/250
• Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Gold Refractor #’ed/50
• Orange Refractor #’ed/35
• Red Refractor #’ed/5
• Superfractor #’ed/1

Autographs are a big deal when it comes to Bowman’s Best.  Most of them are signed on-card as well.  The Best of 2016 autographs are most likely what you’re going to find.  Parallels of these autographs include:

• Refractor
• Green Refractor #’ed/99
• Orange Refractor #’ed/50
• Atomic Refractor #’ed/25
• Red Refractor #’ed/5
• Superfractor #’ed/1

Inserts are plentiful too:

• Bowman’s Choice Autographs
• 1996 Bowman’s Best
• 1996 Bowman’s Best Autographs
• Baseball America Prospect Forecast
• Baseball America Prospect Forecast Autographs
• Dual Autographs
• First Impressions Autographs
• Mirror Image
• Stat Lines
• Stat Lines Autographs

Many inserts come with their share of parallels.

Last year the horizontally designed Hi-Def inserts really caught my attention.  This time around the 1996 Bowman’s Best inserts catch my eye.  Especially the parallels and autographs featuring veterans.

Overall, Bowman’s Best is really good for those collectors who want a mix of both prospects and veterans.  Boxes cost just under $100.

Here is what I pulled:

Autos

• Sean Newcomb
• Matt Manning
• Ozzie Albies
• Aaron Judge Green Refractor #’ed/99

Parallels

• Rafael Devers 1996 Bowman’s Best Orange Refractor #’ed/35
• David Dahl Blue Refractor #’ed/250
• Tim Anderson RC Atomic Refractor
• Michael Conforto RC Refractor
• Mookie Betts Refractor
• Bryce Harper Refractor
• Starling Marte Refractor
• Will Benson Refractor
• Aledmys Diaz RC Refractor
• Tim Anderson RC Refractor
• Giancarlo Stanton Refractor
• Jorge Mateo Refractor
• Yoan Moncada Refractor
• Anderson Espinoza Refractor
• Braxton Garrett Refractor

Inserts

• Jose Berrios 1996 Bowman’s Best RC
• Mark McGwire 1996 Bowman’s Best
• Clayton Kershaw/Julio Urias Mirror Image
• Buster Posey/Zack Collins Mirror Image
• Jon Lester/Steven Matz Mirror Image
• Anderson Espinoza Stat Lines
• Jake Arrieta Stat Lines
• Tyler O’Neill Stat Lines
• Nomar Mazara Stat Lines