1997 Bowman's Best
Description
1997 Bowman's Best is a 200-card, rookie and prospect-themed set printed on chromium card stock. The set is divided into 100 current stars and 100 top prospects.
Rookie Cards include Adrian Beltre, Roy Halladay, Miguel Tejada and Kerry Wood.
Distribution
Hobby: Six cards per pack, 24 packs per box (MSRP $4.99/pack)
Retail: Three cards per pack, 24 packs per box (MSRP $3.00/pack)
Reviews
Insertion Ratios
| Cards | Total Cards | Numbered To | Hobby Odds | Retail Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Base | 200 | - | 6:1 | 3:1 |
| Refractors | 200 | - | 1:12 | 1:20 |
| Atomic Refractors | 200 | - | 1:24 | 1:40 |
| Best Cuts | 20 | - | 1:24 | 1:40 |
| Mirror Image | 10 | - | 1:24 | 1:80 |
| Best Cuts Refractors | 20 | - | 1:48 | 1:80 |
| Mirror Image Refractors | 10 | - | 1:48 | 1:160 |
| Best Cuts Atomic Refractors | 20 | - | 1:96 | 1:160 |
| Mirror Image Atomic Refractors | 10 | - | 1:96 | 1:320 |
| Mirror Image Inverted | 10 | - | ? | NA |
| Mirror Image Inverted Refractors | 10 | - | ? | NA |
| Mirror Image Inverted Atomic Refractors | 10 | - | ? | NA |
| Autographs | 10 | - | 1:170 | NA |
| Autographs Refractors | 10 | - | 1:2,036 | NA |
| Autographs Atomic Refractors | 10 | - | 1:6,107 | NA |
Checklist
Promos
1997 Bowman's Best Preview
This 20-card, chromium-stock, set was inserted into Series One 1997 Bowman packs. All cards are available in the following Refractor parallels.
- Refractor
- Atomic Refractor
- BBP1 Frank Thomas
- BBP2 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- BBP3 Barry Bonds
- BBP4 Derek Jeter
- BBP5 Chipper Jones
- BBP6 Mark McGwire
- BBP7 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- BBP8 Kenny Lofton
- BBP9 Gary Sheffield
- BBP10 Jeff Bagwell
- BBP11 Wilton Guerrero
- BBP12 Scott Rolen
- BBP13 Todd Walker
- BBP14 Ruben Rivera
- BBP15 Andruw Jones
- BBP16 Nomar Garciaparra
- BBP17 Vladimir Guerrero
- BBP18 Miguel Tejada
- BBP19 Bartolo Colon
- BBP20 Katsuhiro Maeda
Base Set
Veterans
- 1 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- 2 Cecil Fielder
- 3 Albert Belle
- 4 Todd Hundley
- 5 Mike Piazza
- 6 Matt Williams
- 7 Mo Vaughn
- 8 Ryne Sandberg
- 9 Chipper Jones
- 10 Edgar Martinez
- 11 Kenny Lofton
- 12 Ron Gant
- 13 Moises Alou
- 14 Pat Hentgen
- 15 Steve Finley
- 16 Mark Grace
- 17 Jay Buhner
- 18 Jeff Conine
- 19 Jim Edmonds
- 20 Todd Hollandsworth
- 21 Andy Pettitte
- 22 Jim Thome
- 23 Eric Young
- 24 Ray Lankford
- 25 Marquis Grissom
- 26 Tony Clark
- 27 Jermaine Allensworth
- 28 Ellis Burks
- 29 Tony Gwynn
- 30 Barry Larkin
- 31 John Olerud
- 32 Mariano Rivera
- 33 Paul Molitor
- 34 Ken Caminiti
- 35 Gary Sheffield
- 36 Al Martin
- 37 John Valentin
- 38 Frank Thomas
- 39 John Jaha
- 40 Greg Maddux
- 41 Alex Fernandez
- 42 Dean Palmer
- 43 Bernie Williams
- 44 Deion Sanders
- 45 Mark McGwire
- 46 Brian Jordan
- 47 Bernard Gilkey
- 48 Will Clark
- 49 Kevin Appier
- 50 Tom Glavine
- 51 Chuck Knoblauch
- 52 Rondell White
- 53 Greg Vaughn
- 54 Mike Mussina
- 55 Brian McRae
- 56 Chili Davis
- 57 Wade Boggs
- 58 Jeff Bagwell
- 59 Roberto Alomar
- 60 Dennis Eckersley
- 61 Ryan Klesko
- 62 Manny Ramirez
- 63 John Wetteland
- 64 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- 65 Edgar Renteria
- 66 Tino Martinez
- 67 Larry Walker
- 68 Gregg Jefferies
- 69 Lance Johnson
- 70 Carlos Delgado
- 71 Craig Biggio
- 72 Jose Canseco
- 73 Barry Bonds
- 74 Juan Gonzalez
- 75 Eric Karros
- 76 Reggie Sanders
- 77 Robin Ventura
- 78 Hideo Nomo
- 79 Dave Justice
- 80 Vinny Castilla UER (blue back)
- 81 Travis Fryman
- 82 Derek Jeter
- 83 Sammy Sosa
- 84 Ivan Rodriguez
- 85 Rafael Palmeiro
- 86 Roger Clemens
- 87 Jason Giambi
- 88 Andres Galarraga
- 89 Jermaine Dye
- 90 Joe Carter
- 91 Brady Anderson
- 92 Derek Bell
- 93 Randy Johnson
- 94 Fred McGriff
- 95 John Smoltz
- 96 Harold Baines
- 97 Raul Mondesi
- 98 Tim Salmon
- 99 Carlos Baerga
- 100 Dante Bichette
Rookies & Prospects
- 101 Vladimir Guerrero
- 102 Richard Hidalgo
- 103 Paul Konerko
- 104 Alex Gonzalez RC
- 105 Jason Dickson
- 106 Jose Rosado
- 107 Todd Walker
- 108 Seth Greisinger RC
- 109 Todd Helton
- 110 Ben Davis
- 111 Bartolo Colon
- 112 Eli Marrero
- 113 Jeff D'Amico
- 114 Miguel Tejada RC
- 115 Darin Erstad
- 116 Kris Benson RC
- 117 Adrian Beltre RC
- 118 Neifi Perez
- 119 Pokey Reese
- 120 Carl Pavano
- 121 Juan Melo
- 122 Kevin McGlinchy RC
- 123 Pat Cline
- 124 Felix Heredia RC
- 125 Aaron Boone
- 126 Glendon Rusch
- 127 Mike Cameron
- 128 Justin Thompson
- 129 Chad Hermansen RC
- 130 Sidney Ponson RC
- 131 Willie Martinez RC
- 132 Paul Wilder RC
- 133 Geoff Jenkins
- 134 Roy Halladay RC
- 135 Carlos Guillen
- 136 Tony Batista
- 137 Todd Greene
- 138 Luis Castillo
- 139 Jimmy Anderson RC
- 140 Edgard Velazquez
- 141 Chris Snopek
- 142 Ruben Rivera
- 143 Javier Valentin
- 144 Brian Rose
- 145 Fernando Tatis RC
- 146 Dean Crow
- 147 Karim Garcia
- 148 Dante Powell
- 149 Hideki Irabu RC
- 150 Matt Morris
- 151 Wes Helms
- 152 Russ Johnson
- 153 Jarrod Washburn
- 154 Kerry Wood RC
- 155 Joe Fontenot RC
- 156 Eugene Kingsale
- 157 Terrence Long
- 158 Calvin Maduro
- 159 Jeff Suppan
- 160 Darond Stovall
- 161 Mark Redman
- 162 Ken Cloude RC
- 163 Bobby Estalella
- 164 Abraham Nunez RC
- 165 Derrick Gibson
- 166 Mike Drumright RC
- 167 Katsuhiro Maeda
- 168 Jeff Liefer
- 169 Ben Grieve
- 170 Bob Abreu
- 171 Shannon Stewart
- 172 Braden Looper RC
- 173 Brant Brown
- 174 Marlon Anderson
- 175 Brad Fullmer
- 176 Carlos Beltran
- 177 Nomar Garciaparra
- 178 Derrek Lee
- 179 Valerio De Los Santos RC
- 180 Dmitri Young
- 181 Jamey Wright
- 182 Hiram Bocachica RC
- 183 Wilton Guerrero
- 184 Chris Carpenter
- 185 Scott Spiezio
- 186 Andruw Jones
- 187 Travis Lee RC
- 188 Jose Cruz, Jr. RC
- 189 Jose Guillen
- 190 Jeff Abbott
- 191 Ricky Ledee RC
- 192 Mike Sweeney
- 193 Donnie Sadler
- 194 Scott Rolen
- 195 Kevin Orie
- 196 Jason Conti RC
- 197 Mark Kotsay RC
- 198 Eric Milton RC
- 199 Russell Branyan
- 200 Alex Sanchez RC
Parallels
Refractors
All 200 base cards are available in the following Refractor parallels.
- Refractor (1:12 packs)
- Atomic Refractor (1:24 packs)
Jumbos
This partial-parallel features 16 cards in a 4" by 6" jumbo format. These cards were available exclusively as a set to members of Topps' Stadium Club. Only 900 sets were printed and each set included three random Jumbo Refractor and one Jumbo Atomic Refractor parallels.
- Refractor (Three-per-set, limited to 169 copies)
- Atomic Refractor (One-per-set, limited to 56 copies)
- 1 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- 5 Mike Piazza
- 9 Chipper Jones
- 11 Kenny Lofton
- 29 Tony Gwynn
- 33 Paul Molitor
- 38 Frank Thomas
- 45 Mark McGwire
- 64 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- 73 Barry Bonds
- 74 Juan Gonzalez
- 82 Derek Jeter
- 101 Vladimir Guerrero
- 177 Nomar Garciaparra
- 186 Andruw Jones
- 188 Jose Cruz, Jr.
Inserts
Cuts
This 20-card set has holes burnt into the card with a laser. Each card is available in the following Refractor parallels. These are called Laser Cuts on retail packaging.
- Refractor (1:48)
- Atomic Refractor (1:96)
- BC1 Derek Jeter
- BC2 Chipper Jones
- BC3 Frank Thomas
- BC4 Cal Ripken, Jr.
- BC5 Mark McGwire
- BC6 Ken Griffey, Jr.
- BC7 Jeff Bagwell
- BC8 Mike Piazza
- BC9 Ken Caminiti
- BC10 Albert Belle
- BC11 Jose Cruz, Jr.
- BC12 Wilton Guerrero
- BC13 Darin Erstad
- BC14 Andruw Jones
- BC15 Scott Rolen
- BC16 Jose Guillen
- BC17 Bob Abreu
- BC18 Vladimir Guerrero
- BC19 Todd Walker
- BC20 Nomar Garciaparra
Mirror Image
This 10-card set features four players (two veterans and two rookie/prospects; one on each side) who all play the same position. The veteran players are displayed in the larger photos with the rookies appearing in smaller corner photos. Each card is available in the following Refractor parallels.
- Refractor (1:96/packs)
- Atomic Refractor (1:192/packs)
NOTE: Some refractors are missing the "Refractor" notation below the card number.
- MI1 Nomar Garciaparra / Derek Jeter / Hiram Bocachia /
- MI2 Travis Lee / Frank Thomas / Derrek Lee / Jeff Bagwell
- MI3 Kerry Wood / Greg Maddux / Kris Benson / John Smoltz
- MI4 Kevin Brown / Mike Piazza / Ivan Rodriguez / Eli Marrero
- MI5 Jose Cruz, Jr. / Ken Griffey, Jr. / Andruw Jones /
- MI6 Juan Gonzalez / Jose Guillen / Richard Hidalgo / G
- MI7 Paul Konerko / Mark McGwire / Todd Helton / Rafael
- MI8 Wilton Guerrero / Craig Biggio / Donnie Sadler / Chuck Knoblauch
- MI9 Adrian Beltre / Chipper Jones / Russell Branyan
- MI10 Vladimir Guerrero / Bobby Abreu / Kenny Lofton / Albert Belle
Mirror Image Inverted
This variation parallels the regular Mirror Image set, except that the photographs on each side are swapped -- i.e. younger players have the bigger photos and the veterans are relegated to the inset. Each is available in the following Refractor parallels.
- Refractor
- Atomic Refractor
Autographs & Game-Used
Bowman's Best Autographs
This 10-card set is a skip-numbered, de facto, partial-parallel of the base set. The odds of finding an autograph are 1:170/packs. All autographs are on-card and available in the following Refractor parallels.
- Refractor (1:2036/packs)
- Atomic Refractor (1:6107/packs)
- 29 Tony Gwynn
- 33 Paul Molitor
- 82 Derek Jeter
- 91 Brady Anderson
- 98 Tim Salmon
- 107 Todd Walker
- 183 Wilton Guerrero
- 185 Scott Spiezio
- 188 Jose Cruz
- 194 Scott Rolen
| Bowman's Best |
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