​If you’re trying to get a line on the 2016 Topps Finest baseball set, you’re on the right track. Lines —lots of them — play a significant role in the card design.

Horizontal lines are positioned behind a full color action shot of the player, and the shiny texture of the cards adds an almost three-dimensional effect. Almost. A banner runs up the side of the card, mostly up the left side.
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Originally, Topps was going to release its Finest product on the shelves, but a few weeks before its release it was changed to an online only product.
The base set consists of 100 cards, with a generous mix of rookies and veterans. There are plenty of parallels, too, with refractors, prism refractors and refractors in purple, blue, green, gold, orange (numbered to 25), red (5) and 1/1 SuperFractors.

Originally, Topps was going to release its Finest product on the shelves, but a few weeks before its release it was changed to an online only product.

The base set consists of 100 cards, with a generous mix of rookies and veterans. There are plenty of parallels, too, with refractors, prism refractors and refractors in purple, blue, green, gold, orange (numbered to 25), red (5) and 1/1 SuperFractors.
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I received a mini box from Topps, which contains six packs of five cards apiece. The big draw for Finest is the on-card autographs; there are two per master box, or one per mini. The mini I opened had a big, flowing signature of Diamondbacks outfielder A.J. Pollock. I love it when players take the time to create a nice signature on the card, and Pollock certainly delivers.

Finest Autographs like the Pollock card also come in parallels, like blue, green, gold, orange (numbered to 25), red (5) and 1/1 SuperFractor and printing plate cards. The set also has Finest Greats, which fall one per case and feature retired major-league stars like Al Kaline, Cal Ripken Jr., Nolan Ryan, Hank Aaron and Sandy Koufax. There are also parallels for this subset, in gold, orange (numbered to 25), red (5), SuperFractor (1/1) and printing plates (1/1).
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There are several inserts in Finest, starting with Franchise Finest. This insert pays tribute to a key member of a major-league team. I pulled two of these inserts — Paul Goldschmidt and Brian McCann. There are 30 of these inserts that a collector can pull.

Finest Intimidators is a 20-card subset that falls one in every eight packs. It features top players from the past, using a 1996 design. I pulled two cards — Mark McGwire and Edwin Encarnacion.

Topps Finest is a nice, shiny product. The autographs are bold and impressive, and the inserts remind collectors of a different time — has it really been 20 years since we’ve seen some of those designs? 

Yes.

Herb Pennock was a smooth, left-handed pitcher who excelled during the New York Yankees’ first burst of dynastic success in the 1920s. Standing six feet tall and weighing 160 pounds, Pennock was not an overpowering pitcher. But he had great control, pitched to spots and rarely was hit hard. From 1919 through 1928 he won at least 10 games and went 170-109 (a .609 percentage); during his career he averaged 234 innings pitched and never walked more than 71 batters in a season. The “Squire of Kennett Square” went 5-0 in the World Series and in 1927 came within four outs of pitching the first no-hitter in postseason history.

Pennock was deliberate in his style, hitching his belt, tugging at his cap, and then frustrating hitters with a well-placed pitch.

He was a successful scout for the Boston Red Sox after his retirement, and as general manager of the Philadelphia Phillies, was the architect of the 1950 National League champion “Whiz Kids.”
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Pennock won 241 games and was elected to the Hall of Fame. But his achievements were tainted by a telephone call he apparently made in May 1947 to Brooklyn Dodgers general manager Branch Rickey that allegedly included racial slurs. Since Pennock died in January 1948, he has been unable to challenge that episode, which has been printed as gospel in biographies of Jackie Robinson and even portrayed in “42,” the movie about the Dodger great’s life.

“Herb Pennock’s perspective on Jackie Robinson’s arrival and the subsequent integration of baseball has been reduced to a solitary instance of hearsay,” author Keith Craig asserts in his new book, “Herb Pennock: Baseball’s Faultless Pitcher” (Rowman & Littlefield; hardback; $40; 300 pages). “That claim is repudiated in this biography.”

Those issues are part of a thorough look at Pennock, and Craig waits until Page 185 to tackle the racial issue. Craig’s approach to writing this biography is much like the man he wrote about — methodical, purposeful and thoughtfully planned out. It will be up to the reader to decide whether Craig succeeds in his defense of Pennock’s actions as a baseball executive.

Craig received a bachelor’s degree in media communications from Florida State University in 1983, with a double minor in marketing and English, and was a backup catcher (and two-time letterman) for the Seminoles in 1980-81.  When he received his master’ s degree in creative nonfiction writing in 2005 from the Vermont College of Art, Craig’s creative thesis was baseball oriented: “Tools of Ignorance: A Walk-on’s Walk-off at FSU.”

Craig currently is the public relations manager for Linode, “setting the table for journalists to report on the cloud,” according to his Twitter page. Linode is a virtual private service provider located in New Jersey. He also wrote  “New Garden Township,” a pictorial-history of a Pennsylvania town, in 2010.

Pennock was signed as an 18-year-old by Connie Mack and played his first 3 ½ seasons with the Athletics. Released in 1915 by the Athletics, Pennock was snapped up by the Red Sox and pitched 7 ½ seasons in Boston. When he joined the Yankees in 1923, Pennock became the final piece in New York’s championship puzzle and would be a dominant pitcher for the next six seasons, winning 115 games. He became close friends with Babe Ruth and enjoyed the bats of the Bambino and Lou Gehrig in the Yankees lineup. But as a pitcher, Pennock was precise and economical.

“My philosophy of pitching is enveloped in conservation of energy,” Craig quotes Pennock from a 1939 article in The Sporting News. Pennock’s theory also embraced noting a player’s quirks while recognizing his own.
“Don’t let the coaches read you,” he said. “It’s tough enough to fool the hitter without giving away what you are throwing.”

In addressing the “800-pound gorilla” tormenting baseball — integrating the major leagues — Craig places the blame for the story about Pennock’s alleged racial comment squarely on Dodgers traveling secretary Harold Parrott. A former sportswriter for the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, Parrott first revealed the telephone conversation in his 1976 book, “The Lords of Baseball.” He said Rickey told him to listen on a telephone extension when Pennock called the Brooklyn GM.

“Just can’t bring the (racial epithet) here with the rest of your team, Branch,” Parrott quotes Pennock telling Rickey. “We’re just not ready for that sort of thing yet.”

Roger Kahn quotes the exchange in his 1993 book, “The Era,” and Jonathan Eig picks up the same quotes verbatim in his 2007 book, “Opening Day,” Kahn goes a step further in one of his footnotes in “The Era,” writing that when Pennock was inducted into the Hall of Fame, he was “obviously not the only racist so honored.”

Kahn paraphrases Pennock’s comment again in his final book, 2014’s “Rickey & Robinson.”

Eig would tell the Philadelphia Inquirer in 2014 that “quite frankly, (Parrott) hasn't proved to be the most reliable source.”

Craig admits that with all three principals dead in 1976, the phone call “was and is impossible to corroborate.” Robinson, in his 1950 autobiography, attributed the call to Phillies owner Bob Carpenter.

“In 1947, no one involved put Parrott’s claim on the record,” Craig writes. “By 1976, no one involved was alive to question it.”

The same holds true in 2016.

Parrott was known to stretch the truth to sell newspapers, and the items about gamblers in the column he helped Brooklyn manager Leo Durocher write (“Durocher Says”) more than likely sealed the Lip’s suspension for the 1947 season.

“While it is reasonable to doubt Herb Pennock’s ever making such a phone call, it is undeniable that Parrott compromised truth when writing,” Craig writes. “It was his forte — from way back.”

It’s interesting stuff. As a side note, since 2009, Craig has been the master of ceremonies for the Kennett Old-Timers Baseball Association Banquet and Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Pennock’s hometown of Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.

Craig’s biography of Pennock is balanced, and he addresses the good and the bad about the man. He did several interviews with members of Pennock’s family and Kennett Square residents who knew the former baseball star.
When Pennock retired after the 1934 season, New York Times sportswriter John Kieran said the pitcher had “all the good gifts of nature.”

“He spoke as he pitched, gracefully, quietly, effectively,” Kieran wrote.

The same could be said for Craig’s workmanlike effort on Pennock’s biography. He wrote it like Pennock pitched it.

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the 1964 Auravision Record set, which featured 16 of baseball's top stars -- including 10 future Hall of Famers.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/auravision-records-showcased-baseballs-biggest-stars/
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Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about an assortment of Willie Stargell cards:

​https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/willie-stargell-cards/

Ed Gruver’s latest book about the 1972 major-league baseball season is a lot like the Cincinnati Reds, one of the main subjects in “Hairs Vs. Squares: The Mustache Gang, the Big Red Machine and the Tumultuous Summer of ’72” (University of Nebraska Press; hardback; $29.95; 386 pages). There’s plenty to like and expectations are high, but when it’s all over, you wonder what might have been.

For the most part, Gruver, an award-winning author and sportswriter, delivers a solid narrative. The season began with the first strike in major-league history and ended with a taut seven-game World Series between the conservative, tradition-minded Big Red Machine and the flamboyant, hip and brawling Oakland Athletics. Oakland won three of the first four World Series games, then the Reds battled back to force a seventh game in Cincinnati.

“Rarely has a World Series featured such a startling contrast in championship clubs,” Gruver writes.

Gruver uses some nice imagery — Bobby Tolan’s batting technique is described as a “Lady Liberty stance,” for example — and some snappy word play, noting that the Reds were in for “a Rudi awakening” after A’s left fielder Joe Rudi made a spectacular catch  in Game 2.  

Another technique Gruver uses very effectively is quoting the actual broadcasts of key games during the 1972 season. It gives the reader a more intimate, “you are there” feeling, and in my case, made me go back to the actual broadcast and listen to the call. Gruver gives broadcaster Curt Gowdy his due, reminding old-time baseball television and radio veterans why “the Cowboy” was so good at his craft. Gowdy seemed to be broadcasting everything during the 1970s and at times came under fire for his understated approach. But a look back now shows how effective Gowdy truly was, and Gruver brings that point home in “Hairs Vs. Squares.”

The research for the 1972 season is generally on the money in Gruver’s work. It’s when Gruver strays from the ’72 season that he runs into trouble with some factual gaffes.

In the middle of a nice profile about 1972 American League MVP Dick Allen, Gruver notes that the slugger had been the first black to put on a Phillies uniform when he broke in with the club in 1963. However, shortstop John Kennedy actually had that distinction, debuting against the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 22, 1957.

In summarizing the first three National League Championship Series, Gruver writes that the Mets and Pirates had sandwiched four-game wins around a Cincinnati sweep. However, the Mets took three straight from Atlanta in 1969.
Gruver notes that when Harmon Killebrew retired in 1975, “The Killer” had hit more home runs than any right-handed hitter.  Willie Mays retired two years earlier with 660; perhaps Gruver meant American League right-handed hitters.

At one point, Gruver refers to George Weiss, the Yankees’ general manager during the 1950s as the team’s owner, and notes that Billy Martin’s final hit in the 1953 World Series gave the Yankees their second straight championship, when it fact it was their fifth in a row.

Gruver writes that former Yankees pitcher Fritz Peterson was said to be living in “semi-hiding.” Peterson is a very visible presence on Facebook these days, posting stories and anecdotes on a daily basis, so I’d question that.

And finally, Gruver writes that “many of the game’s hallowed moments have come in October,” but includes Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch in the Polo Grounds in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series. A monumental play, but it occurred on September 29, 1954. Yeah, I am being picky and probably piling on by now, but there’s no arguing the date in this case.

Despite these fact errors — and you have to be a baseball history geek (which I am) to find them — this book is very, very good. Gruver sketches some nice profiles of players who were key figures during the 1972 season — and not just those who figured into the pennant races. Stories about Nolan Ryan, Steve Carlton, Rod Carew and others give the reader a more rounded portrait of the season.

While the narrative drags in a few places, Gruver saves his best work for the postseason. He brings rich detail to both league championship series and the World Series, bringing the readers into the locker rooms, on the field, and even in the planes transporting the teams cross country.

​It is easy to dismiss the A’s as merely “the Mustache Gang,” but they were a fundamentally sound team that won — sometimes in spite of themselves. There certainly was some animosity between the A’s and Reds during the World Series, and Gruver documents it well. But Oakland had plenty of dissent to go around — first baseman Mike Epstein vs. manager Dick Williams, Vida Blue against fellow pitcher Blue Moon Odom — and these dustups took place after Oakland had won key World Series games. And of course, the entire team was aligned against maverick owner Charlie O. Finley.

Gruver, recapping Game 5 of the 1972 NLCS, writes that Johnny Bench believed that “while growing old was mandatory, growing up was optional.” The Reds went to four World Series during the 1970s, winning twice. The Athletics won three straight from 1972 to 1974. Both teams achieved their success with a childlike enthusiasm and combined for a memorable World Series in 1972.

Despite its warts, “Hairs Vs. Squares” captures that vitality through Gruver’s narrative.

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about Lelands auction house preparing to sell memorabilia of Hall of Fame pitcher Gaylord Perry.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/64631-2/​

Here is a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the 1941 Double Play baseball set:

​https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/64394-2/
​

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily on former major-league manager Bobby Cox, who turned 75 on May 21.

​https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/bobby-cox-baseball-cards/​

Here' s a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the release next week of Panini Classics football:

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/2016-panini-classics-football-preview/

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily on the 2015-16 Upper Deck Ice hockey set, which is set for a May 25 release:

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/2015-16-upper-deck-ice-preview/​

Racism remains an ugly scar in American history. And even now, that scab still is pried open, revealing a festering wound that is both shocking and shameful. Civil rights has come a long way, but still has a long way to go. In our history, we have seen men and women who made a difference, staring down blatant racism and moving forward with a goal of achieving equality.

Dr. Martin Luther King was one of those pioneers. So were Ralph Abernathy, Julian Bond, Rosa Parks, and athletes like Jackie Robinson, Larry Doby and Muhammad Ali.
Add St. Petersburg physician Ralph Wimbish Sr. into that group.

Wimbish’s actions in his hometown helped desegregate lunch counters, integrate hospitals and golf courses, and, significantly for athletes, help eliminate the Jim Crow laws that kept white and black teammates from staying in the same hotels and eating at the same restaurants.

Wimbish’s story is told, albeit briefly, in Adam Henig’s second book, “Under One Roof: The Yankees, the Cardinals, and a Doctor’s Battle to Integrate Spring Training” (Wise Ink Creative Publishing; paperback; 132 pages, $9.95).  This self-published book is only 100 pages long (not counting notes and acknowledgments), but Henig does a nice job tracing the career of a man who would not be denied.

The central theme of “Under One Roof” is how Wimbish worked to ensure that black baseball players who came to St. Petersburg for spring training would be able to live and eat in the same places as their white teammates. The St. Louis Cardinals had three black stars in Bob Gibson, Bill White and Curt Flood. The New York Yankees had Elston Howard, Hector Lopez and Jesse Gonder. All of them were forced to live in residences of black families, and not in the segregated hotels that housed their white teammates.

Henig opens the book with a story about author Alex Haley, who was on assignment for Sport magazine to write about segregation at spring training. Arriving in St. Petersburg, Haley was met by White, a star first baseman and future National League president.

“You fly down here hot to do a story to show what segregation’s like on a ball team,” White told Haley. “There isn’t any segregation on the team. The segregation is in St. Petersburg — and Florida.

“That’s the story!”

Wimbish intended to change that story. A distinguished family physician, Wimbish believed that racism could be defeated through “covert means,” self-control, and money out of his own pocket if necessary. He graduated from Florida A&M in 1946 and then from Meharry Medical College in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1950.

Wimbish’s “booming voice” made him a leader in the black community (he was president of the local NAACP chapter), and even a cross-burning on his front lawn in 1956 did not deter him. Wimbish helped integrate restaurants at Howard Johnson motels and the Maas Brothers department store, and waged a long battle to integrate Webb’s City, “The World’s Most Unusual Drug Store.”

There was a “red line” in St. Pete, whose borders were 6th and 15th Avenues South, west of 17th Street South. Blacks were basically barred from living or running businesses outside that perimeter until 1954, when St. Petersburg dentist Robert Swain challenged the city it refused to issue building permits for an office he wanted to open at 1501 22nd St.  South. The city backed down when legal action was threatened.

The next step was to hit St. Petersburg in the wallet. Baseball was the economic spark for the city, with two major-league teams drawing thousands of customers for games. Out-of-state fans ate at restaurants and stayed at hotels in St. Petersburg, so the economic impact was enormous. In January 1961, Wimbish decided the time was ripe to put the squeeze on the city that depended upon the Grapefruit League every spring. He met with St. Petersburg Times sportswriter Jack Ellison and announced that housing segregation would not be tolerated — and discontinued.

Easier said than done, of course.  Another cross was burned on Wimbish’s yard, and another controversy was sparked when black players were left off the list of invitees for St. Pete’s annual “Salute to Baseball” breakfast. Bill White was especially miffed about the snub, and despite his denials years later, that had to be a factor in his opposition for a major-league franchise in the Tampa Bay area in the 1990s. He helped block the Giants’ proposed move to St. Petersburg (it had seemed like such a “done deal” that the Tampa Tribune and St. Petersburg Times put out special sections welcoming the Giants), and when the area was finally awarded a major-league team, it was from the American League.

Wimbish died too soon, at age 45 in 1967, to see some of the progress that has been made in racial issues. While Henig notes that Wimbish doesn’t even have a Wikipedia entry, it should be noted that his wife, C. Bette Wimbish — who died in 2009 and was a crusader in the same vein as her husband — does. Bette was the first black member of the St. Petersburg City Council, elected in 1969, and later was the city’s vice mayor.

Henig uses several sources in “Under One Roof,” including interviews with Wimbish’s children; White; and Elston Howard’s widow, Arlene. The spark for this book was ignited by an article written by Tampa Tribune correspondent Michael Butler on May 9, 2015, and also from the assistance of former St. Petersburg Times reporter Jon Wilson, who retired in 2007. Newspaper and magazine articles also add to Henig’s narrative.

“Under One Roof” is a story of courage and determination that needed to be told. National civil rights figures have received a great deal of credit — and deservedly so — but men like Wimbish were working hard at the grassroots level to eliminate hatred and racism. 

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily, highlighting some of the cool cards of Minnesota Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew.

https://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/64445-2/​

Here is a story I did for Sports Collectors Daily about some of the more interesting cards of Orioles Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson.

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/brooks-robinson-baseball-cards/

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about cards issued during the 1941 season, when Joe DiMaggio embarked on his 56-game hitting streak. He got his first hit in the streak 75 years ago today:

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/1941-joe-dimaggio-baseball-cards/

Sports metaphors are ingrained in everyday speech, and can be used in a variety of ways. For example, The Tampa Tribune, the newspaper where I worked for 28 years until it was bought and closed down last week by the rival Tampa Bay Times, is finally down for the count.

The clandestine deals that led to the shutdown were considered dirty pool and below the belt by now-former employees. They were hoping to be saved by the bell, but instead were floored by the power play that took place. Some were even bowled over.

You get the idea. Seven sports metaphors in two paragraphs. These catchy phrases are used in business, personal relationships and family matters. Thanks to author Josh Chetwynd, these bits of sports wisdom have been collected in a handy little reference guide that will evoke smiles, laughter and wonderment — as in, “I didn’t know that.” “The Field Guide to Sports Metaphors: A Compendium of Competitive Words and Idioms” (Ten Speed Press; hardback; $15; 216 pages) is a fun, fast read.

This is Chetwynd’s sixth book. Others include “How the Hot Dog Found its Bun” and “The Secret History of Balls.” He also has written for USA Today, the Hollywood Reporter and U.S. News & World Report, and has done baseball broadcasts in the United Kingdom for the BBC. He served as the BBC’s color analyst for the World Series five times between 2003 and 2012. He played collegiately at Northwestern, where he was the Wildcats’ catcher, and at age 21 got into three games professionally in 1993 with the Zanesville Greys of the Frontier League, making two plate appearances (a walk and a sacrifice, meaning he had no-official at-bats). You might say he was in the minors for a cup of coffee (a sports metaphor in its own right, but not a universal one …).

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about five different, favorite and odd cards of Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench.

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/johnny-bench-baseball-cards/

Just like Topps has a flagship product for baseball, the card company also has one for professional wrestling. The Topps 2016 WWE Wrestling product has the same design as this year’s baseball set, with the WWE logo positioned in one of the bottom corners of the card front.

It was a daring move for Topps’ tradition-laced baseball sets, but in the wrestling sets it looks like a natural fit. The design features a smoky technique in the opposing top and bottom corners of the card, the kind of effect you get when standing near ringside. The action shots are crisp in most cases and slick looking.

A hobby box contains 24 packs with seven cards per pack. Topps is promising two hits per box. The cost of a hobby box should be in the $60 to $75 range, depending on the retailer. As I have noted before, Topps supplied me with a box to open and critique.

The WWE set takes a look at the organization’s past and present, with some glossing over in places. I am glad, for example, that in the 100-card base set, new legends include Randy “Macho Man” Savage, Miss Elizabeth and Andre the Giant.

Kerry Von Erich is also a legends newcomer, although I can’t shake the image of the “Modern Day Warrior” wrestling in the NWA’s Dallas-area promotion run by his father, Fritz Von Erich. Sure, Kerry was posthumously inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame, but his time in Vince McMahon’s promotion was only three years.
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The same with Sting. Do you connect him with the WWE, or with World Championship Wrestling, where he starred for years?

WWE superstar John Cena is not in the main set, but does appear in parallels and autograph cards.

I do like the inclusion of “Superstar” Billy Graham, the Ultimate Warrior and Ted DiBiase, infamous referee Danny Davis and the Bushwackers (who once ran a restaurant in Tampa on South Dale Mabry Highway and were frequently seen roaming through the place to sign photographs). I still find it difficult to open a WWE set that doesn’t include Bobby “The Brain” Heenan or “Mean” Gene Okerlund, along with Gorilla Monsoon, Curt “Mr. Perfect” Hennig and Jesse “The Body” Ventura. If you’re going to pay homage to the past, include these guys — doesn’t matter if they’ve been in sets before.

Hulk Hogan is not included as one of the legends, most likely because of racist comments he made on a tape that got him fired last year.

But, back to this year’s product.
It is nice to see Tampa resident Titus O’Neil included in the set, mainly because of his presence in the community, his charitable work and mentoring of students.

Good guy.

In the hobby box I opened, I pulled 97 of the 100 base cards; the only cards missing were Booker T., Corey Graves and Nikki Bella. Some rookie cards include Mandy, Tyler Breeze and Becky Lynch. There were 12 bronze parallels, falling one in every other pack, and a silver parallel of “Raw” commentator JBL.

Every pack in the hobby box had one NXT card, which showcases up-and-coming talent; there are 33 of these cards to chases. The Perspective subset takes 18 wrestlers and depicts each in an “authority” and “anti-authority” mode. The box I opened contained 13 Authority cards and 11 Anti-Authority cards
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The Rock Tribute picks up where it left off in February’s WWE Road to Wrestlemania set, with 10 more cards honoring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. The latest insert features cards 11 through 20, and there were four of these cards in the hobby box I opened. There will be 40 cards overall in this tribute set; look for another 10 when WWE Heritage is released in August.

As promised, there were two hits in the hobby box I opened. The first was a sticker autograph of Braun Strowman, numbered to 99. The second one was a SummerSlam mat relic card for Sheamus, numbered to 199.

The WWE set is slickly done and has a decent cross-section of competitors. I wish there had been others included from the past, but it’s good to see younger talent getting their due.

Now, what I'd really like to see is a card set commemorating the old Championship Wrestling From Florida promotion. I doubt it would ever happen, but I'd do my best to complete such a set if one were ever issued.

​Collectors who enjoy cards of rookies and prospects eagerly await the release of Bowman baseball every year, and this year’s set should not disappoint. With a nice rookie crop like Miguel Sano and Kyle Schwarber, and young stars like Kris Bryant, Mike Trout, Kevin Kiermaier, Carlos Correa and Corey Seager.
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A hobby box of the 2016 Bowman baseball product will include one autograph. That box will have 24 packs, with 10 cards to a pack. The price is in the $85 to $95 range, depending on the retailer. Now in some instances, I’ve even seen them as low as $59.95 for a 24-pack box. But that was a special sale and I am sure is not typical for the market.

​The base set includes 150 cards, while there are 150 prospect cards and 150 chrome parallels. A typical pack might break down with four or five base cards, two or three prospects, two chrome cards and an insert.

In the interest of transparency, I should note that Topps provides me a hobby box to review. By the way, that does not affect how I review cards — or the books I review on this site.
Anyway, from the hobby box I opened, there were 102 base cards, 72 prospects and 48 chrome prospects. The design is vertical and straightforward; the player is shown in an action pose, while the background is displayed in soft focus.
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The Bowman logo is placed in the upper right-hand of the card front, with the team logo in the bottom left-hand corner. Position of the player is at bottom right of the card, inside an unevenly shaped, eight-sided figure. For base cards, the player’s name is placed in the left-hand margin of the card, turned sideways. I’d prefer his name was placed at the bottom, right-side up; it would not have detracted from the design and would be a natural for a collector, whose eyes would be drawn to the photo and then to the bottom to read his name.

​The player’s name is at the bottom of the prospect and chrome prospect cards and looks much better.
In addition to the base cards, there was one blue base parallel of Reds second baseman Jose Peraza, numbered to 150. Among prospects, there was a purple paper parallel of the Giants’ Phil Bickford, numbered to 250; and a silver paper parallel of Rangers pitcher Ariel Jurado. Plus, there were two chrome prospect parallels. One was numbered to 499 and was a refractor featured Cubs minor-league third baseman Jeimer Candelario; the other was an orange parallel of Athletics shortstop prospect Mikey White, which was numbered to 25.
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Other paper parallels that collectors might find in addition to silver and purple are gold (numbered to 50), orange (25), red (5) and metallic (1/1). For the chrome prospects there are parallels in purple, blue, gold, red (numbered to 5), hobby exclusive SuperFractors (1/1) and printing plates (1/1). New twists this year in hobby boxes are green, orange and red Shimmer variation refractors.

What’s nice about the Bowman sets is that autographs are signed on-card. The one I pulled was a Chrome Prospects Autograph card of Reds minor-league pitcher Sal Romano. It’s an orange parallel, numbered to 25. This is a very nice autograph card as Romano signs with a flourish, using a Sharpie.

Collectors looking for inserts have a few options. The Bowman Scouts Top 100 ranks the game’s top future talent. It’s a 100-card set, and I pulled three of these cards from the hobby box I opened — including Rays pitcher Brent Honeywell. International Ink is a nine-card set that highlights prospects signed from around the world; I found two of these inserts.
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Sophomore standouts is a 15-card subset that looks back at some of the top rookies from the 2015 class. I pulled two of these cards. Family Tree is a four-card set that features, as you might expect, father-and-son pro baseball combinations. The card I pulled was of former major-leaguer Charlie Hayes and his son, Ke’Bryan Hayes.

Rookie Recollections pays tribute to the 1991 Bowman set. It’s a seven-card subset that features seven rookies who became standout major-leaguers, including Ivan Rodriguez and Tampa native Luis Gonzalez. The card I pulled was former Atlanta Braves star Chipper Jones.

The most unusual-looking insert is the Turn Two card, which showcases two different players. One player is features on each side of this thicker card, and there are 30 cards in this hobby exclusive insert set.
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Once again, Topps scratches the itch of rookie and prospect collectors with 2016 Bowman baseball. The format has been fairly consistent for several years, so collectors know what to expect. 

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily, looking at six neat cards of baseball Hall of Famer Al Kaline:

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/six-cards-of-no-6-mr-tiger-al-kaline/

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily previewing the 2016 Topps Gold Label baseball set, returning after 14 years.

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/64219-2/

Here's a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the sales that will end Saturday in Goldin Auctions' spring offering:

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/goldin-auctions-has-some-big-ticket-items/

Here's a piece I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the O-Pee-Chee Platinum hockey set, which comes out May 4:

http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/2015-16-opc-platinum-hockey/​

Here is a review I did for TBO.com on the 2016 Topps Major League Soccer set:

​http://www.tbo.com/sports/blogs/sports-bookie/collect-call-2016-topps-major-league-soccer-20160502/

Here is a story I wrote for Sports Collectors Daily about the 2016 Topps Bunt card set, which mixes traditional cards with digital collecting:

​http://www.sportscollectorsdaily.com/2016-topps-bunt-baseball-cards/
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