To basketball card collectors, the “Bowman” name is legendary. 1948 Bowman was the first all-basketball set and then the name disappears from basketball card history… Until 1996-97 when Topps revived it with the Bowman’s Best set. These were higher-end cards, (six-card packs sold for $3.99). Successful premium sets selling fewer cards at higher prices made sure to keep their sets compact with a higher percentage of stars, and ’96-97 Bowman’s Best was a compact 125 cards. There are 80 base cards, Michael Jordan being the highlight. Next are 25 rookie cards. These are part of the main set, but are numbered separately with an “R” prefix. The highlight there, and probably for the whole set, is the Kobe Bryant rookie. Finally, the set ends with a 20-card subset called Throwbacks. Again, these are part of the main set. They’re just numbered separately with a “TB” prefix.
These cards had the same feel as earlier Topps Finest because they used the exact same production process. The same patents and trademarks are mentioned on the back of both Finest and Bowman’s Best. How is the Chromium technology, and it’s metallic finish, used in these cards? First, the border… On the front is a wavy border on the left with the last name’s initial, and two rectangles on the bottom finishing the name. The colors of these borders are inverted for the base cards and rookies. On the base cards, the border on the left and the rectangle with the first name are gold while the bottom rectangle is silver. The silver and gold are switched for the rookie subset. But more interestingly, they chose select items to apply the metallic look. It’s often the basketball and the rim. Sometimes certain colors on jerseys stand out. Other cards place a metallic finish on the full jersey of the main player while leaving others in the photo more standard. The overall effect is subtle, not intruding too much on the photo.
The reverse of these cards is busy. Color and information everywhere. But in 1996-97 Bowman’s Best, Topps really put some thought into the stats. They’re the highlight, unique and interesting choices. Some that you see scattered throughout the set include, “Games and Games Started” (G-GS), which, when divided in reverse order, shows a player’s start percentage. Another is “Points + Assists per Minute” (PTS + AST / MIN), showing how a player contributes to the scoreboard, whether through an assist or scoring, during every minute they play. You see “Steals + Assists to Turnovers.” I’d like more clarification whether this is a steal leading to an assist, or simply adding steals and assists. Another is three-pointers made per field goals made, showing where a player is most effective, behind the three-point line, or deeper inside. “Points per Field Goal Attempt” is another stat that appears, a nice stat that incorporates more information than simple field goal %. And when there’s a larger stat, a “Super Stat” is included in the extra information.
Extra (What is Chromium Technology): Starting with Finest, Topps was innovating the actual card construction. They called it “Chromium” technology and it provided a unique, metallic shine. What was this technology? I want to draw your attention to a very informative blog post about how these cards were made. The author saw that Chrome printing plates were reversed from regular Topps. So he took apart a Chrome card, looked up the patents, and discovered that the ink is actually printed behind a clear plastic section that makes the front. This section is joined to foil, so think of the card as a sandwich…top plastic part, ink underneath that, then a foil part. To show that the ink isn’t on the front, he sanded the front. It scuffs the card, but no ink comes off. He also believes that the clear, protective coating on early Finest cards was probably used to make later Chrome cards, but the company removes it after printing before packaging. It’s a great blog post and really worth a read! And when you see the patents, you’ll realize just how much effort Topps was putting into this design.
Individual Cards:
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