The Road To Redemption(s)

Although not officially released until Wednesday 3rd July some folks out there have already been breaking boxes/cases of Topps’ inaugural Bowman Inception Baseball, and cards have already started to trickle out onto eBay over last 24 hours!

When I previewed 2013 Bowman Inception a few months ago I couldn’t help but question the need for another prospect-based product, and I also had some concerns about the overall look and design of the cards. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what it was I didn’t like, but I wasn’t anticipating Bowman Inception to be top of my 2013 ‘must have’ list!

However having seen a few of the cards I may be willing to partly change that stance and may look at picking a few individual cards up!

Here’s a few examples of what the cards look like!!

I’m loving that Oscar Taveras, if I have to be honest!!

However while scouring eBay for some of these cards I also noticed a number of listings that were slightly more concerning!

Let me ask you a question – What do all these players have in common?

Yasiel Puig
Ryu Hyun-Jin
Corey Seager
Manny Machado
Xander Bogaerts
Jurickson Profar
Bubba Starling
Mike Olt
Casey Kelly
Anthony Rendon
Lance McCullers
Barrett Barnes
Billy Hamilton
Nick Franklin

Anyone??

Anyone at the back???

Well, as crazy as it might sound (or perhaps not), all of these players have redemption cards inserted into Bowman Inception!! And these are the only ones that I’ve found so far! There may be  more that appear as more boxes get busted!

That’s 14 different names so far!!! 14!!!

Now I know that redemptions are a necessary evil! Especially in the case of Yasiel Puig whose recent appearance in the majors has set the Baseball world on fire and collectors clamouring for his cards! Topps had to rush them in somehow and a redemption card is the only pertinent solution!

But surely this number of redemptions is a bit of a joke?

Come on Topps!!! Collectors don’t want to see these damn things!

It’s not as if some of these players are insignificant either! There’s some big names on that list, and as a collector I’d be concerned if I’d spent a decent amount of coin on a box of Inception only to find redemptions inside! It’s not as if there’s a guarantee these redemptions will be honoured either, especially given Topps’ recent change in policy with regard to currently outstanding redemptions and the re-issue of replacements!

And I know Topps aren’t the only company that issues redemptions. Panini is also cursed with this problem as well but at least Tracy Hackler sends out updates every Friday through The Knight’s Lance blog with regard to what redemptions are being processed in a particular week! Seems a bit more organised if you ask me!

So, I guess there’s another question out of all of this.

Would you, as a collector, go out and purchase a ‘not cheap’ box of Inception Baseball knowing that there’s a pretty good chance you might be pulling a redemption of a not-insignificant player?

Personally it would be a big NO for me. As I said earlier I’d much rather pick up the individual cards that I was after and leave the box-busting (however much fun it might be) to others!

And in the meantime I’ll go on living in my self-contained little collecting dreamworld where redemption cards have flown away with the fairies and all boxes contain just good, old-fashioned Baseball cards!

— sigh —

Good times!!

2013 Bowman Inception Baseball Preview

Topps appear to have been busy recently!

With rumours of several product previews coming in the very near future, many were surprised to see Bowman Inception slip under the radar earlier this week.

A well received and popular Football brand for the last couple of years, Inception is now being released on the Baseball Prospect collectors market (I’m taking a punt here and guessing that it will replace Bowman Platinum, another Prospect driven release due at a similar time of the year) and you can see the first images on the sell sheet right here.

So… any thoughts??

I’ve got too admit that my first impressions aren’t too favourable. I’m not a big fan of Topps’ ‘other’ Bowman output (Platinum and Sterling) and the look and style of these cards feels to me as if the design department was trying a little too hard!

What’s the deal with all those clouds?? Very atmospheric I’m sure, but several of them look as if the faces of Death Eaters are going to appear out of them!

Last years Inception Football release has been criticised for a high degree of chipping around the card edges, so it will be interesting to see if Topps has learned from that experience, as well as taking on board the feedback received from 5-Star Baseball late last year around the very same issue!

I’m more than happy to reserve my judgement until I can get my hands on one of the cards to see it up close, but as of now it’s a big ‘Thumbs Down’ from me I’m afraid!!

I’m curious to know what the rest of you think!

2013 Bowman Inception Dylan Bundy Autograph