Buzz Break: 1989 Bowman baseball cards (two packs)

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there's a box you'd want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The packs: 1989 Bowman baseball cards (two)
Where to buy: Will take some looking ... BlowoutCards.com for other Retro Rips

Keep reading for a full breakdown and gallery of what was in this one.

Cards per pack: 13 (12 cards plus one reprint/sweepstakes entry card)
Set completion: 24 of 484 (5 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards – Keith Hernandez, John Kruk, Carney Lansford, Al Leiter, Jesse Barfield ... not a pair of packs that has aged well

Rookie Cards (5) – Juan Bell, Monty Fariss, Jeff Bittiger, Hugh Walker, Don Heinkel

Insert/short-print cards: None (unless you count the sweepstakes cards ... Mickey Mantle and Satchel Paige this time)

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: The "comeback" here was the revival of the Bowman name for baseball cards for the first time since the 1950s when Bowman was Topps' biggest rival card company and was perhaps winning the game with some notables locked into deals where they were only found in Bowman's packs. Topps bought them out and they went away before this return as a brand. The front design here? An ode of sorts to 1953 Bowman Color with some color/striping on the border, a facsimile auto and then a new logo. The backs? Purely data with the exception of newly signed names whose card backs were blank save for a pro debut descriptor for guys who had no stats. (A precursor for the 1992 flood of new names that essentially started the Bowman approach of today with many prospects in MLB unis years before their actual debuts ... if they debuted at all.) The biggest draw here? A Rookie Card of Ken Griffey Jr. and then a secondary card showing him and his dad together. There are, of course, other 1989 rookies in here -- Jim Abbott, Robin Ventura, John Smoltz, Gary Sheffield, Jerome Walton, etc. -- some with really nice portraits (Abbott, for example) and some with throwback bad airbrushing jobs (Ventura) to give it that throwback flair ... though bad airbrushing was still a thing in some 1989 sets. The highlight in these two snow-filled packs? It might be the Mickey Mantle card ... and it's not even a card but it does show a 1953 card for those who want to compare these cards to the original they are emulating. This one is all about Griffey if you ask me ... but elite-graded stuff here could be pricier than one might think for a lot of names as the printing and cutting here is definitely not that clean. I found these cheap so it wasn't a worry but these two packs are a reminder that old packs can be a whole lot more of a miss than a hit.

Product Grade: B (it's not bad ... but it's not that good, either)
Lot Grade: D (wasn't short on cards to fail ... but it wasn't far off)
Fun Grade: D (this one is best bought by the handful or box to maximize your star finds and better shot at Griffey)

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