Review – 2009-10 Bowman ‘48 Basketball

Introduction

I’m not really a fan of most of the vintage themed sets.  Its hard for me to feel nostalgic about a product that came out decades before I was born.  As crazy as it may seem, I don’t actually like bad photography and blocky card designs limited by 1950s technology.

The last product I reviewed, 2009 Upper Deck Philadelphia, was a cheap product attempting to cash in on the current vintage “craze”.  From what I saw, I suspected that Bowman ‘48 was going to be more of the same; however, it looks like I may have been wrong about that.

My Box Break

Cards 1 – 100 are common while cards 101 – 122, the rookie and Play Cards, are short printed and serial numbered to 2009 and 1948 respectively.  Given that this product targets set builders, a full box of ‘48 should at least give you the first 100 common cards and my box did just that.

Although my autographs weren’t anything special, my box break was probably a little better than average.  Getting the printing plate was a nice bonus and I can’t really complain about getting both a Blake Griffin RC and a Tyler Hansbrough RC.

Here is what I pulled from my box break:

• One Printing plate (1:564) – Carlos Boozer
• Three autographs (1:9) – Kevin Love, Corey Maggette, Kirk Hinrich
• One Play Card (1:21) – Single Cut Off Post
• Three rookies (1:10) – Blake Griffin, Tyler Hansbrough, Tyreke Evens
• 24 Parallels (1:1) – A few rookies, a Play Card, and several others.
• Base Cards – All commons (1 – 100) and several duplicates to trade.

(click to enlarge the thumbnail)

Base Cards

The idea of cutting the background out a photograph and replacing it with a solid color doesn’t interest me at all.  However, the idea of presenting the player statistics in a interesting way does.  Rather than listing the numbers in the standard tabular fashion, Bowman ‘48 gives the stats to you in a pros form that mixes in some interesting information.  I also like that the base cards feature random facts about each player (see the scan above for an example).

The various parallels (Red # to 1, Black # to 48, and Blue # to 1948) give the set builder some short print variations to chase.  While completing the Red set would be all but impossible, completing the Blue set should be do-able for a dedicated set builder.  The parallels and short prints (from number 101 – 122) present enough of a challenge to make things interesting, but not such a challenge that it would drive away the completists among us.

While the base cards aren’t a good enough reason to buy a box, they are good enough to make opening each pack interesting.

The Inserts

I’m happy to say that this set does not feature a single political insert card.  Instead, Bowman ‘48 features an insert that actually relates to the sport:  Play Cards.  Sure, the front of the card won’t blow you away, but the information on the back is worth while.

The design of the autograph cards won’t really impress anyone; however, they look good enough to do the job.  Although the autographs are not on-card, the sticker fits into the design well.  You do have a shot at pulling a nice legend autograph (Bird, Magic, Walton, Russell, West, etc..); however, you should be prepared to end up with nothing better than a Kevin Love auto.

The Play Cards, autographs, and printing plates combine to make for some interesting pulls.  They won’t get you your money back (even if you hit a bigger name), but they do make opening the box fun.

Conclusion

An interesting thing to consider is what sort of value will the rookie cards have.  It seems to me that there will be fewer Blake Griffin rookie cards from Topps and Upper Deck than Panini; however these cards do not feature the rookies in their NBA uniforms (neither Topps nor Upper Deck attended the Rookie Photo Shoot).  While they are the first to the market, they may end up being just as valuable as a Press Pass or Sage “rookie” card.

Had it not been for this review, I probably would not have opened a box (or even a pack) of this product.  After breaking a box of Bowman ‘48 I’m actually pretty pleased with the product.  If you don’t like retro sets or if making your money back is important, don’t bother.  Otherwise, this is a pretty fun low-end break.