2011 Bowman Platinum
What I pulled--
Gold Parallels - Aroldis Chapman, Joey Votto, Jason Heyward, Andre Ethier
Emerald Parallels – Jason Heyward, Joey Votto
Ruby Parallel – Jeremy Jeffress
Chrome Prospect X-Fractors – Shaeffer Hall, Zack Cox, Garrett Richards, Blake Smith, Julio Teheran
Green Refractor – Billy Hamilton (#427/599)
Gold Refractor – Jimmy Paredes (#26/50)
Prospect Autographs – Hayden Simpson, Randall Delgado
Prospect Autograph Relic – Juan Miranda bat
Review:
Topps brings Bowman Platinum back for a second go-round. Hopefully there will not be a third.
The concept for Platinum is simple, and reminiscent of the base Bowman product. Vets get regular cards,
in this case glossy ones, while prospects get the Chrome treatment. The design is commensurate with
the name – everything is Platinum tinged and made to look like a higher-end product, even though the
price point for Platinum is closer to the base set than it is to a real high end product like Bowman Sterling,
for example.
And I think that is where it goes wrong. I a not sure Topps went all-in on this one, and think that it got
caught in no man’s land because of it. Instead of feeling high-end, the base cards feel cheap and feel like
they could look a whole lot better. The Chrome cards are considerably better, however, and do feel like they
belong in a product called Platinum.
Like last year, the hits are solid, and are loaded with big-time prospects, starting with Bryce Harper (once again, however, I
opened a product containing the top prospect, yet came away without a single one of his cards). I opened up my box the
morning after Randall Delgado flirted with a perfect game, so that immediately gave me a reason to feel good about the meat
of the product. I also like the array of parallels, even the base cards ones, and wish there were a few more per box. Maybe that
would have livened the product up for me a little more.
In the end, it is a mixed bag. And since that is the case two years in a row, maybe it is time to move Platinum aside and try
something different. With the Topps Heritage minor league set coming in a few weeks, I’m not so sure we need Platinum
anyway.......................
C
What I pulled--
Gold Parallels - Aroldis Chapman, Joey Votto, Jason Heyward, Andre Ethier
Emerald Parallels – Jason Heyward, Joey Votto
Ruby Parallel – Jeremy Jeffress
Chrome Prospect X-Fractors – Shaeffer Hall, Zack Cox, Garrett Richards, Blake Smith, Julio Teheran
Green Refractor – Billy Hamilton (#427/599)
Gold Refractor – Jimmy Paredes (#26/50)
Prospect Autographs – Hayden Simpson, Randall Delgado
Prospect Autograph Relic – Juan Miranda bat
Review:
Topps brings Bowman Platinum back for a second go-round. Hopefully there will not be a third.
The concept for Platinum is simple, and reminiscent of the base Bowman product. Vets get regular cards,
in this case glossy ones, while prospects get the Chrome treatment. The design is commensurate with
the name – everything is Platinum tinged and made to look like a higher-end product, even though the
price point for Platinum is closer to the base set than it is to a real high end product like Bowman Sterling,
for example.
And I think that is where it goes wrong. I a not sure Topps went all-in on this one, and think that it got
caught in no man’s land because of it. Instead of feeling high-end, the base cards feel cheap and feel like
they could look a whole lot better. The Chrome cards are considerably better, however, and do feel like they
belong in a product called Platinum.
Like last year, the hits are solid, and are loaded with big-time prospects, starting with Bryce Harper (once again, however, I
opened a product containing the top prospect, yet came away without a single one of his cards). I opened up my box the
morning after Randall Delgado flirted with a perfect game, so that immediately gave me a reason to feel good about the meat
of the product. I also like the array of parallels, even the base cards ones, and wish there were a few more per box. Maybe that
would have livened the product up for me a little more.
In the end, it is a mixed bag. And since that is the case two years in a row, maybe it is time to move Platinum aside and try
something different. With the Topps Heritage minor league set coming in a few weeks, I’m not so sure we need Platinum
anyway.......................
C
