2016 Bowman Albert Pujols oversize card

I was able to pick up four different 25h anniversary Arizona Fall League 5x7 cards at a couple of AFL games I attended - the cards were handed out in pairs, with an Andrew McCutchen card to go with the Pujols.

The other cards I got were of Matt Holliday and Adam Wainwright - these cards resemble the 2016 Bowman design but with the AFL's league 25th anniversary logo added in front.

The card backs identify the players' fall league teams as well as a AFL team logo added - there is a write-up of the players' career highlights with a line featuring their fall league stats.

Vintage baseball card display #1

During a pit stop at the McDonald's by the Salt River Fields in Arizona, I was wandering around and found a couple of baseball card related displays - no apparent theme, just a bunch of cards someone decided to matte and frame.

I assume many of the cards are original - but I can't really say for all them and there might be a few reprints.

Befuddled by actual baseball cards featuring guys who don't quite make it in professional baseball

As an in-person autograph collector, I put together cards for the 30 MLB teams on a year-to-year basis with a 'block' of cards for anyone with the big league team and another 'block' of cards [USA, draft pick, first year prospect, minor league] - for players/coaches in the minors, along with any extra cards for the Major Leaguers.

As I'm slaving away when it's about 90 degrees in a room where most of my baseball cards are, trying to do some sorting, to keep things in order - besides top prospects and players I assume will get an MLB shot, I always find myself looking at some minor leaguer's card, wondering if he could still possibly with the big league team I've sorted his card in.

There are always minor league players I have to Google to see if they've likely been released by a particular MLB team - when I look at a player's profile on MILB.com and find his status as 'released,' there is some closure and I can remove those players' cards from whichever team set I'd organized them into the first place.

Sometimes I might have to go digging around through blog / twitter posts or peruse a posted transactions list on Baseball America] when a cut player's profile was never updated on MILB.com - it's kind of funny when I have cards of players who have been cut a year or so ago.

A baseball card collector gripe I've occasionally heard since Bowman brand was re-introduced 25 years [!] ago - was a collector would likely be stuck with cards of players who ends up not making the Major Leagues instead of cards featuring proven players at the MLB level.

Maybe it's because Topps is too eager to add unproven players to the checklist of various products like Bowman / Topps Pro Debut / Topps Minor League Heritage in search of the next big league star - even if it's really just to fill out the base set.

As an autograph collector, I don't mind pulling cards of players still in the minor leagues - since I'm hoping I can get to see the particular players and get cards I've hoarded signed at some point.

However, for players who end up basically being non prospects, there is a 'here and now' aspect with any draft pick / first-year prospect / USA cards - just because a guy in the minors or a draft pick gets a Bowman card, doesn’t mean he is any sort of prospect at all.

I run into my fair share of cards featuring guys who are basically fillers in Bowman [or any other brands like Panini Elite Extra Edition] products - if I have access to get the cards signed when they first come out, then it's doesn't hurt as much, but it basically sucks to be stuck with cards of 'never has been' types who are at times cut before I see them in-person.

Featured break
Last Saturday, I picked up a blaster box of 2008 Bowman [$19.99 at Target] - the smaller blaster boxes are much compact and nicer than the older ones. The bump in the road [with the blasters] was after talking about the BC autographs, I realized there were no odds listing for a Bowman autograph and realized it was probably a hobby only hit.

Regular Bowman isn't the popular Bowman Chrome and/or very popular Bowman Draft. Still, the product features Bowman Chrome autographs of Matt LaPorta, Jason Heyward and Josh Vitters among others.

Even though those players had 2007 first-year autographs [in Donruss Elite Extra Edition, Bowman Sterling], it will be their first Bowman Chrome autographs - will that distinction matter since for the key prospects, it won't really be their first year cards or are people deluding themselves into thinking these will be key cards if any of these players break out or since everyone loves Bowman Chrome, it will not matter as much [especially for any related parallels].

The borders around the base cards make it appear like a TV screen and while 2008 Bowman is similar to past years' designs [black borders] - the veteran cards are framed with an inner red border, while the MLBPA logo rookie cards are framed with an inner green border.

Veteran cards [particularly stars] don't interest me because I already have too many of particular players - I can't get them randomly autographed in-person/through the mail as easy as young prospects and/or a rank-and-file player.

Bowman prospects - Bowman has been Bowman for the last decade with a number of first-year player rookie cards. This year maybe the first to distinguish the prospect cards from the other cards, even though they are numbered differently anyway. The outer border of the prospect cards being white and the image framed with a light blue border/graphic.

My best pull out of the box was a Jonah Nickerson gold refractor serial #'d 30/50 - though the card is off-center just a little bit, it could have been worse.