Classic Fleer brought back from the dead by Upper Deck vs. classic Bowman brought back from the dead and susequently beaten right back to death by Topps in our third contest.
The packs:
2007 Fleer
224 Jeff Francis
238 Jhonny Peralta
115 Frank Thomas
25 Hank Blalock
306 Adam LaRoche Mini
367 Shawn Riggins RC
331 Ryan Sweeney RC
RS-RG Matt Garza Rookie Sensation
RS-JW Jered Weaver Rookie Sensation
391 Ryan Howard Checklist
2006 Bowman Heritage
193 Jose Valentin mini
BHP96 Pedro Beato
BHP97 Kyler Burke
167 Zach Duke foil
292 Hong-Chih Kuo RC SP
74 Ronnie Belliard
162 J.D. Drew
241 Joe Inglett RC
Checklist 1 of 3
Number of Cards:
Fleer not only has 10 cards to Bowmans 8, but the pack is half the price.
07 Fleer 10, Bowman 4
Number of cards that are actually good:
Fleer nets a Ryan Howard checklist, a LaRoche mini, Big Hurt, and even an extra Rookie Sensation as a bonus. Bowman thanksfully has a short print as the Zach Duke foil, Jose Valentin mini and JD Drew are kinda lackluster, to say the least.
07 Fleer 15, Bowman 6
Inserts and Short Prints:
Fleer has not one but TWO Rookie Sensations and Weaver and Garza aren't bad ones at that. A mini Parallel ups the count to three out of 10 in the pack. Bowman has the two 'insert' draft picks, two different parallel sets and the Kuo short print. While the extras are nice, it's hard to build a 300 card set when half the pack are inserts.
07 Fleer 19, Bowman 9
Attractiveness of the design:
Like I said before, Upper Deck has done a good job making their Fleer product look and feel like a Fleer set. Clean, simple design on the front and decent info on the back, even though there's a lot of wasted space. Bowman enlists cutting edge 1949 technology with their design. While Topps went overboard (or underboard as the case may be) in creating faded, off register fronts with random printing glitches in an attempt to look like an authentic '49 card, it actually works really well on some cards, especially on the minis. If only thay had put an ad for an official Major League Baseball Game and Bank on the backs. Oh, and not butchered their White Parallel cards. Seriously, Topps, what were you thinking??
07 Fleer 24, Bowman 11
Best card in the pack:
Fleer: 306 Adam LaRoche Mini
Bowman: 292 Hong-Chih Kuo RC SP
I don't know what it is, but these Fleer mini cards fascinate me. We've all seen cheesy parallel issues where a little divot was die-cut off the base card to make it special, but I don't think there's even been a case when the entire border was hacked off. An enterprising soul could make an entire mini set with a pair of scissors and a steady hand. I really wanted to give the best card award to the mini card in Bowman, but I can't give it to Jose Valentin. The SP wins by default once again.
07 Fleer 28, Bowman 13
Spokesman on the pack wrapper:
Fleer sports Ken Griffey Jr., still a Hall of Famer despite the DL stints. Bowman has a couple of refugees from a Monopoly Community Chest card playing a game of catch that defies the laws of physics. You have been drafted by the Pirates, collect $10.
07 Fleer 35, Bowman 14
Intangibles:
Ok, even if Bowman hadn't already been lapped by Fleer, Intangibles is really not their category this year. Seriously, your 1:4 pack parallel set is marked by a slightly different shade on the background color? When the actual '49 had no less than 3 different variations to choose from?? C'mon how hard is it to put a name on the front. And don't give me that "printer error" crap, you guys half-assed this one. I really hope there is a 2007 Bowman Heritage set because it would suck to end on this note. Fleer doesn't even mind it loses points for not numbering their insert sets.
Final score:
2007 Fleer 33, 2006 Bowman Heritage 7
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