I just need to give a quick shout out to the 1992 Bowman Baseball Card Set. When most people think Bowman, I guarantee they think of those 1989 Bowman Baseball Cards that were bigger than standard baseball cards and pissed everybody off. Or maybe they just made me mad? Wait… You know about these right? They were Bowman’s comeback set after being OOP (out of print) since the Mid50s. Topps bought Bowman back in 1955 but then buried the brand/set so that Topps could be the flagship product for the company. So when Topps dusts off the Bowman brand after 30+ years of it being hibernated, you have to make a splash right? Well… That splash was making the cards 0.25” in length to help them stand out at retail spots like Target, Walmart, Price Club, K-Mart and baseball card shops like (insert your local sports card shop here). The bigger cards meant bigger photography as well. Look at that Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card just saying what up to you.
I was 9 years old when these dropped and me and big bro ripped these packs. I still remember ripping these packs and just feeling that they were different. But that’s about all they were because when it came time to protect my bangers, my penny sleeves and top loaders didn’t fit these cards. Neither did my 800 count card boxes where I had to stash them at an angle and lose valuable real estate in that stuffed box full of raw cards. 1989 Bowman cards were a nuisance… aight… that’s rough… 1989 Bowman Baseball Cards had cool photography but nothing else was really memorable. And if I’m missing something, please hip me… And let me just cover 1990 and 1991 Bowman Baseball Cards as well because those were also meh. But this is no shade thrown at Kenny Lofton Jr. who was one of the players I collected. You do remember how dope Kenny Lofton was right? That is who I emulated my whole style off of.
My Kenny Lofton never made me rich but watching him play baseball has been instrumental in my life going all the way back to the early 90s. But the Kenny Lofton story is one for another day because fam…
We have to focus on 1992 Bowman Baseball Cards because when these dropped??! Wait… This is the same company that did the 1989 - 1991 sets? 1992 Bowman came out of nowhere and weren’t found at retail spots… to get the 1992 Bowman Baseball Card Packs you needed to hit your local sports cards store. Fam… LEGIT.
They didn’t make these cards available everywhere. It was a baseball card set that had limited production but also had a glossy feel on the cards, some really nice wrappers, and photography that was so dope. And Bowman always had the early lead on getting the new MLB prospects on cards for the first time. But yo… These photos were next level top shelf type shit… I got a couple of packs of Bowman but not many… and that was too bad because that set became something major not long after the drop. Demand went up… Pricing went up… Then they were out of reach for me as a collector. I was 12 years old… I didn’t have the loot… I just had those first 2 packs I got from the jump and then those 1992 Bowman were a nice to have but never gonna have.
Here I was in 6th or 7th grade with a style completely influenced by 90s rap music, sports cards, and professional athletes. These cards hit and no longer did I need the gold chains my favorite rappers had because now I just needed to look cool like these dudes in the 1992 Bowman Baseball Card set… Now not only were you potentially getting a rookie card that was going to make you rich over time but if that player also had that fire drip you now needed to get some new gear to keep up. Go look at that Mariano Rivera rookie card one time… Those Dockers have never been cleaner… I could get a shirt like that at Robinson’s or Broadway for sure… Or maybe I could go to the surf shop to get a tee with this wavy yacht rock vibes.
Look at Manny Ramirez… I could get a striped shirt like him and instantly become cooler… That was honestly how I was feeling. I needed to have the style of these MLB prospects and up and comers… Chipper was out here with the webbed belt and the tucked in shirt with his hands in his pockets like, what up?! Okay… It wasn’t every style I was trying to emulate here… Chipper wasn’t a style icon for me… But I got to see what Chipper was like off the diamond and he seemed like a chill dude… The hat is fire… Just think that at this time a young OutKast was working on their demos… Chipper, the Braves, and the Dungeon Fam… Fire.
These cards were going up in value like crazy. And here I was still just living off of those 2 packs that I bought where I got hot garbage from an investment standpoint… That ROI was horrible. But man was I feigning to get more of these cards… And not all of them had the drip either, some were just really good photography that I thought was fresh. The 1992 Bowman Baseball Cards were one of the earliest influences on my style career. How could they not be… These were premium at a time when Upper Deck was poppin, Fleer Ultra was making moves, Stadium Club was a wave… The junk wax era shifted into the premium era and I was here for all of it. BUT I COULDN’T AFFORD IT ANYMORE!!!! But that made the chase as to how I get my hands on them that much better.
I had the mullet just like Randy Johnson but I rocked the turtleneck underneath the jersey because that hair curl once it hit the turtleneck was a free flex on anybody watching your moves. And then Bowman had those Gold Foil cards too and they had different photography of the same player that was already in their sets with a regular card? Whaaaaat??? Now I didn’t need to chase for a Manny Ramirez base rookie in mint condition but I had to chase the limited edition Gold Print variant of Manny showing him head to toe? Those gold foil cards had me sprinting to every card shop and card show back then… even looking at them now I feel I need to cop some.
How about the Cincinnati Reds shortstop Trevor Hoffman?!?!? Check out the kicks…
or this one???
or this one??? I don’t know where Curtis Shaw is today but if he still has that shirt I need it… i feel like that watch is stunning too… let us see it kid!
This 1992 Bowman Baseball Card Set was everything to me… They were a crazy chase back then to not only have the cash to buy a pack but then there were over 700 cards in the set?!?!? So now the chase was even more challenging to get the banger you were after. It honestly just wasn’t a good investment from a ripping perspective. The chances you’d get a gold foil card of somebody good or you’d get that Carlos Delgado were slim to none unless you were a lucky fuck… that was never me… I’d get the cash for the packs, blow it, and have nothing… I would throw cards away at times right on the spot because I would be so mad… But when I hit…. BUT WHEN I HIIIIIIIIIIIT!??!?! Oh boy… best feeling ever… yup… this was gambling… I was brought into gambling as a young kid and I wouldn’t have it any other way… you??
