Return of the Crotch Logos

Maybe's it's not so much of a return in the "definition" of the word (whatever that means), but Bowman baseball in recent years has made an effort - likely (hopefully) unconsciously - of placing MLB team logos directly on the crotch of unsuspecting big league players.

Perhaps it's censorship, perhaps it's laziness or individuality (no one else seems to be logo-ing up crotches), but the heart of the matter needs some acknowledgement from us, the people who still notice these things, and that will be my intentions with this post.

I swear. Just acknowledgement. No jokes.

Let's start with my boy Jose Reyes.

Based on the look on Jose's face, he's either super-happy to be a Blue Jay and not photoshopped (finally), or a nice Blue Jays logo on the crotch tickles a little bit.

Tickle or not, sometimes you get the dangling Ol' English D:

Hopefully the Venezuelan flag in the background is a bit of a distraction from that BAM right in the groin Tiger logo on Avi here.

I'm kind of speechless on this one. I mean, I am sure the mail-order art degree clan that design Topps cards (Let's take the border and make it 1/10 of an inch wider at the bottom! Genius!) saw this one on the printing logo and thought that it was an instant gem. Yet, the ever-so-softly floating A's logo seemingly descending from, uh, Yoenis' Cespedes, seems kind of fitting to how I feel about the hobby right now.

Unless the logo is ascending...then it's kind of how Topps feels about their customer's these days.

The winner, however, is actually from the chromed-up Top 100 insert set. Behold:

Dylan Bundy's number one.

Eep.

I mean, come on. That has to be intentional.

But seriously, folks. These are just jokes. If you want to go ahead and get offended by the comments I've made on these cards, feel free to not visit this blog ever again. 

2012 Bowman Retail Box Break (1)

Cue rapid heartbeat.

Let me get this off my chest, early on.

I love Bowman flagship, and I am extremely unapologetic about it.

Bowman provides collectors with a robust but not watered-down checklist. Tons of prospects but stars aplenty. Easy coloured parallels. A manageable retail price. The chance for hits is low, but no so rare as as bottom quality sets and not nearly as expensive as multi-hit boxes.

A hobby box of Bowman nets you one guaranteed autograph of what is very likely an unknown product. A year after it's release, I found a box of 2012 Bowman on Amazon for $50. That's half the price of a hobby box, same amount of cards, no guaranteed lame ass autograph.

Worth the gamble if you like the product, which I adore, and hey - you net about 30 parallels and a bunch of rookies and prospects. Sounds like money to me.

First - I had some goals for this box.

1. 24 Gold Parallels - They're guaranteed, so this will obviously be fulfilled.
2. 1-2 Blue (/500) or Green (/450) parallels. There are no stated odds, so I don't know what to expect.
3. 4 Bowmans Best Prospects/Veterans. They're seeded 1:4, so there should be two of each.
4. Individual Players: Xander Bogaerts and Oscar Taveras. I don't have any cards of these guys yet, so it would be awesome to finally get some. Ultimate goal is the International parallel of Xander Boaerts, featuring the flag of Aruba in the background. 
5. 3 International Parallels: They fall 1:8, which is kind of steep for their meager "market" value. Bowman's main fault is that it is extremely overproduced, and the paper cards are "worthless" to many breakers and are even thrown out in some cases.
6. An autograph. After pulling an auto from a Bowman Sterling rack pack and a Francisco Peguero autograph from a 2010 Bowman Chrome blaster, I am convinced their is a reasonable shot to get one, on average, in every retail box, row of blasters or row of rack packs.

I'll start with some base cards, but I won't address any of the goals or inserts in this post. I've seen other bloggers do this. Kind of a tease, I suppose, but oh well.

Straspedes

Hey, look you guys! Bowman base cards!

Pereyez.

I grabbed just about every one of my favourite players, including Blue Jays - which many of the readers here helped out with since my return in September or so. If you want some Blue Jays from this set, let me know, as I have tonsssss. But I am also okay with hoarding them, so if you don't want them, I will take them.

I know they're not spectacular, but aside from 2008, Bowman is always a clean-looking set, with good color usage under-appreciated photography and subtle and dignified design. It's no 2010, which most find incredibly boring, but 2012 is a very solid year for Bowman. Before this box arrived I had decided to go after the complete set. I stand by my decision. 

Brarper Jr.

Prospects and veterans are equally represented in Bowman. No short prints.

Doesn't that sound like a novel idea? 

Say it aloud to yourself:

No short prints.

I am willing to bet a smile came across your face.

I did pretty well with prospects, scoring two highly sought-after ones pictured above in Bryce Harper (which I dinged after scanning) and Jackie Bradley Jr. Also, these two guyers:

Mapldor.

Dillon Maples is one of the better pitching prospect of the Chicago Cubs (#4 on one of my more trusted sources if I remember correctly) and is also the subject of that sweet 2012 Bowman Platinum Autograph I pulled last month. Lindor, of course, has full-on Man Crush credentials at this point, and has become one of my stronger player collections of those who have never made a major league at-bat outside of Spring Training - and is the Cleveland Indians #1 prospect.

On to the review: Base Cards (Weighted 25%)

The design is clean. Crisp lines, solid colors matching team's primary . The foil is unnecessary and the lack of it would probably reduce price. A good deal of the prospects are photoshopped to horrific proportions, and recently traded players also show the same. Sometimes, the logos are placed directly on the crotch of the player due to poor photo cropping decisions.

Overall, nothing is offensive about the design and the checklist is very, very good. Overall, I give the base cards 4 out of 5.

Hey, Nice Rack! (Volume 1)

2012 Topps Update Series

I'm not a huge fan of 2012 Topps. Or, really, Topps Flagship in general. I miss Upper Deck, Donruss (Panini), Studio, Fleer, Fleer Ultra, Pinnacle, etc.

But the void left by these companies must be filled by something, and Topps-Bowman are doing their best (not really) to throw out fresh (read: recycled) products every year.

I do, however, enjoy Topps Update Series. Yes, I can do without those blasted inserts. And three-five card of every player is totally unnecessary.

But I don't care. I love the 1987 minis (but of course, I pulled Chipper, CJ Wilson and MadBum...not scanner worthy) and I wanted me some Harper-Cespedes-Trout-Darvish rookie p0rn.

And some new Blue Jays

And classy powder-blue 2012 All Star Logos.

And I got them. All of them. Sometimes twice on the same card. Except Darvish.

So here they are. I bought 4 rack packs in a total Nationals win celebratory move last night. Enjoy.

Really great looking card. I have been having no trouble pulling Cespedes so far. Let's hope that continues.

BRYCE!

Another looker. Energy. Bright red Nationals alternate away jersey. Shit eating grin. Very, very Harper.

(Click the Joeys to embiggen)

It's nice to have a perennial all-star in Toronto that actually deserves it (I'm looking at you, post-2004 Vernon Wells). There's a lot to love about these. The diving grab in the Blue Jays base (with sexy blue glove). The Home Run Derby logo, in Royals Blue & Gold in the All-Star card. Two really great cards that I enjoy quite a bit.

MOAR HARPERZ

The overall design of the Golden Moments insert is fine for a memorabilia insert, but if you're not going to stick a shred of your neighbor's high school varsity swimming trunks inner-lining, don't bother. Cards with big empty spaces just don't work. But hey! This doubled my Harper collection. Yes. I now have two.

Golden Greats...kind of lame.

But who am I kidding. Take a picture of Junior Griffey hungover after New Year's, laying on his couch in Yankees attire and slap it on a baseball card. Chances are, I still want it. 

Hutch!

I looked briefly at the Blue Jays Update checklist before buying. I knew it wouldn't have many heavy-hitters on it, but it would be my first chance at a Luis Perez (who was F# nails before HIS injury, and who I did manage to pull), but must have skipped over Drew Hutchison. Hutch was super-impressive before he was injured. And then Drabek was injured. And then Luis Perez and eventually Brandon Morrow.  Yeah. Not a good season.

And finally, Yasmani Grandal in shimmery gold. I pulled this, the gold version of the base of the MLB Debut date and the base-base RC logo. Ugh. Too many. Also, the base-base has a sick catcher shot. Which is wayyyy better than this, but significantly less shiny.

And we all love shiny, don't we?