The Temptations of the Target Card Aisle

I really can't stand shopping and try to avoid it at all costs.  I can do the grocery store, hardware stores, and definitely the baseball card shop.  However, other places like Target, Wal-Mart, and big box malls are low on my list.  Why should I rummage through stacks of khakis at Macys or The Gap when I can just simply go click a few buttons and have pants sitting on my front porch a few days laters....

As much as I try to avoid these types of stores, sometimes they are a necessary evil.   Lord knows I cannot stand that Target dog, but seeing him means that I can always stop by the card aisle at Target.

Most of the time I glance through the cards, but I often pass up the chance to buy cards.  I don't like spending money on retail blasters and packs when I am just going to end up buying a Hobby box at some point.  The one time where I feel weak around the retail card aisles is when I have not had a chance to buy a hobby box of a product that I want to collect....

Sometimes in the past my local card shop has been a day or two late in receiving shipments and I have dabbled with a hobby pack or two, but in the case of this year's Bowman set I am skipping the Hobby Box altogether.  I have picked up a few autographs, which I have already posted, and I have also picked up a copy of a set.  It's just that I got one of those awesome Ebay messages about my seller being out of town and the shipment being delayed by 10 days.  Annoying, but I liked the price, so worth the wait.

In the meantime, I ventured into Target and I found myself grabbing a few packs of Bowman....

So a few quick thoughts on this year's set.  First, the design reminds me a little bit of the 1994 Bowman set.  I think it has a lot to do with the border in the top right hand corner with the Bowman logo.....

It sort of the reverse of the 1994 set which had a border, the line is a little thicker and extends the full length of the card, with the Bowman logo in the opposite corner.......

There are some obvious differences between the two card designs...94 was just the first thing that popped into my mind when I saw the cards.  

The rest of the set seems typical of what Bowman puts out each year.  As a minor league baseball guy this is a staple set in my collection and I love seeing a lot of the players I get to check out in the Minors, or will check out, in a card set.  

So, let's start with my minor league team of choice the Durham Bulls.  I was able to find a few former Durham players in my few packs of Bowman along with a current player....

although Schultz is currently on the DL with the Bulls.  The guy produces a serious amount of misses, good under the radar player if you are into that sort of thing.  

We get the top 100 prospects set back again.  I have often thought about trying to assemble one of these sets, but that seems like it would be a rather tough task.  I pulled two cards from this insert set....

I like the Maitan card.  I know several Braves fans who really like him.  I will file this one away and check in on it in a few years.  Even though I will probably not come close to finishing this inset set, I will at least go find the Cardinals and Rays cards in this set.  

We also have some international cards in the set this year because of the World Baseball Classic.  Not really a fan of these, but in the past some of them have turned out to be a big deal after players have joined MLB from other places.  

I pulled a Korean pitcher.......

kind of wish it was Seung Hwan Oh.  Not sure about Yang Hyeon-Jong. 

Last card is a Buyback.  Topps seems to have gone all in on these sorts of things of late.  I pulled a Freddy Garcia card.  

I like seeing some of the older cards and enjoy revisiting them, but it's Freddy Garcia.  It's Bowman.  If I am going to get a Buyback I was hoping for a prospect that didn't make it....