April 8, 2026 • 28 mins
In this episode, we give our first reactions to the new 2026 Bowman design and some of the early preview images. The Jewce discusses why he was wrong about Topps Transcendent and then we play a game of guess the comp!
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:13):
Hello and welcome to Talking Cards with Grant Salami
and the Juice.
I am the Juice along here withBert.
How are you doing, Bert?
I'm doing good, Juice.
How are you?
Doing good today.
Um, I have a few things that Iwant to complain about, but
overall, I'm doing doing prettygood.
SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
Yeah, today's the first day of the TOPS industry
conference.
So social media has been floodedwith all kinds of fun
presentation snapshots and stufflike that.
Good, good content to talkabout.
SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
Yeah, I did see they're doing a fanatics credit
card, right?
SPEAKER_00 (00:41):
Fanatics credit card, yeah.
Something like spend$10,000 amonth for six months and you get
a free jersey.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Man, what a deal.
SPEAKER_02 (00:51):
Yeah, but a lot of people are hyped for that
because they're seeing umsomething about exclusive access
to drops and releases.
So maybe that's why they got ridof Montgomery Club, so that they
can find another way to get ourmoney plus interest now.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
That'll be interesting though.
If the if it actually is likesome type of a Monty Club uh
perk, that would be that wouldbe a reason to get a credit
card, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
It says like five percent off of collectibles,
things like that.
So we'll see how that actuallyworks.
And not something I'm tootempted to do.
Last thing I need is anothercredit card, especially one
that's specific for uh buyingcards.
Yeah.
Not not the best thing, I don'tthink.
It's it could definitely be goodfor the right people, but I
don't know.
Um okay.
(01:33):
Well, the first thing I want toget into, and I want to own it,
is last week we were talkingabout for the transcendent
release, how excited we were forlike breaks of this.
It's a premium product, verydifficult to get into.
Hey, don't throw me in thatbucket.
All right.
Well, we were discussing it asin you were at least a side of
the conversation, but I was veryexcited for it.
(01:54):
We were talking about how in thepast how much fun the breaks
would be, and then we went intoit without an actual checklist
and just off of some informationthat we were assuming was
accurate, and the informationwas not accurate.
Um, so first of all, we wereseeing everywhere one
superfractor guaranteed percase.
That is not the case.
(02:15):
Yeah, so that is the first thingthat should piss anyone off
entering into a break or buyinga case of you're spending$25,000
on a case of this, and you'reseeing guaranteed a
superfractor, you better begetting that superfractor.
And it is not even every othercase, from what I could tell.
I watch a lot of this up open.
It's fun to watch still, but andthen the other thing is no
invitation guaranteed, like itsaid, which makes sense because
(02:37):
now we're looking at it, and ifyou really break down the
numbers, the print run is Ithink someone said like 1100
cases.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
But yeah, I just topped just continues to to test
how far they can go and how muchthey can mess up before
regulation comes in.
Because when it's$25,000 a caseand you make claims like that,
you're just asking for some typeof class action lawsuit or
something like that.
It's uh it feels like it's feelslike it's only an a matter of
time with how muchmisinformation,
(03:06):
misadvertisement, misleading ofconsumers there is that's
happening from tops right now.
I wish that they would invest inthe quality control and the, you
know, the proofread editing thatneeds to happen to make sure
that those things are releasedto the customers without
misleading them, because I don'tthink regulation would be a good
thing for anybody, collectorsincluded.
So I don't know.
(03:27):
It's very, very frustrating tome.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
I feel like like it's not exaggerating to say
it's lately been a coin flip ofwhether or not the information
we get before a release isactually all correct.
SPEAKER_00 (03:36):
Yeah, total coin flip.
SPEAKER_02 (03:37):
Yeah.
It's been released afterrelease.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
We get the information at all, and like
especially when it's just pipiecemeal, we get it, you know,
like we get the oftentimes thefirst things that we'll see,
like with 2026 Bowman, isthey'll sneak preview a specific
card and do a first look at itor something like that and get
people's hopes up that the thatthat subset checklist is going
to be loaded, but you know, itmight not be.
Or they'll have information putout at the presale without a
(04:02):
checklist.
They'll start selling itpre-sale without a checklist and
definitely without pack odds,and they'll make all kinds of
mistakes in the bullets thatthey put out for product
information, right?
Things that change, things thatend up when they when they do
post the checklist and the packodds are objectively false.
It's extremely frustratingbecause you have to, with very
limited information, you have toat least use the information
(04:24):
that you're given to formulatesome type of evaluation in your
head about whether or not it'sgonna be a good product to rip,
to break, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
And if they're doing this, a lot of people are
thinking, well, this doesn'taffect me.
This is a$25,000, like, and it'snothing I'm ever gonna have to
worry about.
But if they're doing these kindsof things with a$25,000 box,
what are they doing with thecheaper boxes that don't really
require the same quality controlfor what they might call a
lesser clientele?
And these are the things that wecan prove and tangibly see.
(04:53):
Imagine the odds, because evenbreaking a hundred cases, I
don't know the math on it wherelike you can really start to
extrapolate the data, but you'renot really understanding the
odds fully.
I'm sure there's just a lot moreout there that we just don't
know about and we can't see thattopps is just plain wrong on the
odds for.
Sometimes it works in our favor.
Sometimes you get that chancemonopoly card, a bank error in
(05:15):
your favor, and they say twoguaranteed autos, and then you
end up seeing like two to threea box, which is nice.
But for the most part, Tops hasreally just been messing up
lately.
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
I don't know if it's because uh it could be a million
reasons, but with theTranscendent, there was actually
a thousand cases or so printed,and there was only a hundred
invites and ten of the VIPinvites.
SPEAKER_02 (05:37):
And the superfractors, like I can't
imagine buying a case for$25,000.
SPEAKER_00 (05:42):
Especially with the boom on superfractors right now,
too, dude.
Like superfractors are sellingof anybody of any product are
selling kind of higher from a uma parallel multiplier
perspective than I can rememberright now.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
So I haven't really looked at that because there's
not too many.
All right, but that's that'sgood to know.
All right.
So yeah, I just like to makesure that we're holding tops
accountable because I do likethem more than Panini and the
other, any of the other cardmakers.
They obviously have all thelicenses, but just uh it it's
(06:15):
just a shame.
I'm truly I don't know what'sgonna happen because the hobby
keeps growing and that theredoesn't have to be any
accountability as of now, butwe'll see what what happens if
like they keep having thesemissteps and mistakes.
So the next thing I want to talkabout is we got some Bowman
info.
We love our Bowman.
We do.
Every time there's a Bowmanproduct, we're going nuts for
(06:35):
it.
We don't have a checklist yet,of course.
That's a little bit of a waysaway, most likely.
But we did get a preview of whatthe cars are gonna look like,
the design this year, along withthe inserts and a couple of new
product designs.
New insert designs, I shouldsay.
New insert designs, I shouldsay.
(06:56):
So first we will start with justthe overall design of just the
Bowman base cards.
What do you think about thisyear?
SPEAKER_00 (07:03):
Bowman Prism Baseball.
I mean, that's I can't I can'ttell you how many people have
had that reaction.
The design looks very much solike a Panini Prism design.
I think it's it's the fullborder, the thickness of the
border, and the fact that theborder is not uniform in width
around.
It's got that very prism look toit.
And it's the first time that Ican remember Bowman having a
border like that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:24):
I like it.
Um, yes, I am here in the BowmanPrism elsewhere as well.
But I like it.
It's a very clean look, it's nottoo busy.
I'm not a big fan of the teamlogo being located where it's
at.
I get that they're going forsymmetry.
It's in like the bottom middleand it kind of sticks up a bit,
kind of intrudes on the rest ofthe card and the player design
(07:46):
to it takes away a little bit.
I'd rather that kind of tuckinto the corner, but I get the
symmetry they were looking for.
Overall, though, I'm a fan.
It's gonna be very easy to tellcentering on these two, which is
nice for if you're someone thatwants to submit to grade.
So I always I always like thatwhen when they make that easy on
us.
SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
I don't think we've seen a uh, you know, this thick
of a full border in Bowman since2020.
And 2020 was one of the all-timebest designs, very simple,
personally liked by collectors,I would say.
SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (08:15):
For sure.
One thing that I'm worried aboutthough is quality control.
Because anytime you have thisthick of a border on the
refractors, generally whereveryou see surface marks the most,
the most easily is on theborder.
So with that much border to workwith, I'm just worried about
things like dimples.
I'm worried about things aboutthings like staple marks, I'm
worried about things like littlescratches that will show up
(08:37):
really clearly.
And given the quality control asof late from Bowman, I don't
have a whole lot of confidencethat they're gonna be able to do
it right.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:45):
We will see.
Time will tell.
But here's here's hoping.
But again, Topps has not reallyearned my trust lately.
So we'll see.
Let's talk about some of the newinserts and the new designs that
they have.
So, first thing I want to talkabout is the stained glass.
I like it this year.
I think uh this design lendsitself well.
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
Why because it looks like Panini?
unknown (09:07):
Maybe.
SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
You know, I'm not really a big fan of glass, not
stained glass, juice.
It's etched in glass.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, we can't use the we can'tuse the panini jargon if we're
saying it doesn't look likePanini.
But then of course, Toppsannounced that NBA Hoops is
coming out today, so they'rejust straight stealing the
brands from Panini, it soundslike.
SPEAKER_02 (09:26):
So I was gonna make a gold vinyl joke, but we'll
move past that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:32):
Apparently, I didn't know this.
A lot of people didn't knowthis, but the hoops brand is
owned by the NBA.
That's how Topps is able to useit, because it just I guess with
a license.
SPEAKER_00 (09:41):
That's I figured, I'm sure, yeah, it wasn't it
wasn't anything outside of whatthey were able to do.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
But I'm I'm glad to I'm glad to see that hoops is is
still gonna be around becausehoops was awesome.
But yeah, this Eschin glass, II'm looking at it, I like the
design overall.
It looks clean, no complaintsabout it on my end.
Um I can't put my finger on it,but it does look nicer than
previous years.
I'll be excited to see thatactual card physically, not just
(10:08):
a mock-up design, but yeah, itlooks nice.
SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
I agree.
Yeah.
I like the way the crystallizedlooks a lot, especially this
year.
I know they they put out somesneak previews of the
crystallized, notably ShoheiOtani is gonna have a
crystallized.
So that no doubt is going to bea huge chase.
Crystallized first came out in2025, Bowman, just a year ago,
and immediately came out thegates a lot hotter than the
other case hit short prints thatyou see in Bowman.
(10:32):
Uh, mostly the the spotlight.
I'd say even they they came outthe gates even hotter than the
than the animes.
SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
But I like the crystallized, but I like the
other ones better.
Yeah.
But I I'm a sucker for uh shortprints, super short prints.
Uh, they're bringing back goldetch, which we saw on Bowman
Draft.
Um, everyone was a big fan of,but in person, that ink, I would
say like 75% of the time the inkjust did not translate well, the
gold ink.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
Ah, the gold inks, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
But it's such a nice looking card.
You know, no one's gonna beupset about calling them.
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
Yeah, hopefully they fix the pen issue this time
around.
Who knows?
SPEAKER_02 (11:05):
Obviously, nothing revolutionary with it, but they
did release a preview image ofthe Nolan McLean where he's
pointing to the sky.
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
You're gonna have to get that one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:14):
I need that card.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:16):
I need that card.
That is such an awesome card.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Very cool.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
And there is a new parallel that they announced.
It is the Chrome Prospect PackFractor Variation, number to 89.
And um, yeah, this is this is anawesome looking card, I think.
It's got the 89 Bowman pack asthe background.
It still has like the frame upthere, but it goes to the edge
(11:41):
of the card, which is, I justthink it's a really cool card.
And what are your thoughts onthat one?
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Well, first and foremost, this the sneak preview
they gave is Kevin McGonagall,and I'm super happy that
McGonagall's in the ChromeProspect Auto checklist.
I think such an important partof Bowman baseball is having
those guys that where it's nottheir first Bowman auto that are
coming back for their second orthird Chrome Prospect Auto that
are indeed the top prospects.
They did a great job last year.
(12:05):
Guys like um, guys like ConnorGriffin, Jack Caglione, Travis
Bazanna, the guys from theprevious draft year.
And it's very encouraging thatthey're actually bringing back a
guy like McGonagall, who had hisfirst in Bowman the previous
year.
So it'll be very interesting tosee what that what that
checklist looks like.
I love the design.
The McGonagal looks great.
Clearly, I think they're gonnahave to do a good job with their
(12:26):
Photoshop to make a card lookgood.
I think some of them might lookkind of funky.
The McGonagal works, but veryinterested to see what these 80
89 Bowman wax packs look like inperson.
There's gonna be non-auto andauto versions, it looks like,
which is great.
SPEAKER_02 (12:41):
They're bringing back the Bowman Red Rookie
Redemption program, which isnice.
Um, don't want to spend too muchtime on that.
Same thing as last year.
If one of their guys, the redguy rookie of the year, he'll be
eligible for future fan cashrewards too in the future, where
you can turn into fanatics.
What I really like this year isthe update on the anime design.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
Yeah, why?
SPEAKER_02 (13:01):
It used to be it had like the brown borders like a
TV.
Now it is like the chromerefractor border, which I think
gives it a much sharper, moremodern look.
And then with those parallelstoo, it just looks really sharp
to me.
And it's just always such a fundesign.
I'd never hit one.
Maybe this is the year, alone myMcLean spotlight.
Maybe I could hit an anime.
SPEAKER_00 (13:21):
We'll see.
So they they were they releaseda sneak preview of the Aaron
Judge in the Team USA uniformand also Shohei Otani in a Team
Japan uniform with the kanjinameplate.
I'm curious to see if there'sgonna be a different subset for
the WBC animes than from thestandard ones, because they also
released Connor Griffin, andobviously that he didn't play in
the WBC, but he's just in the inthe pirates get up.
(13:43):
So I'm curious if they kind ofpartition those or if they're
just gonna be jumbled into thesame checklist.
Like I wonder if Aaron Judgecould also have a Yankees anime
in addition to the WBC.
Same with Otani if he has thethe Dodgers one in addition to
the Team Japan.
SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
I mean, if there's a way for them to put more Otani
in there, they're usually gonnado it.
Yeah.
I guess we'll find out.
Hopefully you find out soon.
But overall, I'm liking whatthey what I've seen from Bowman
so far.
Obviously, with Bowman, italways comes down to the
checklist because it's just run.
Hopefully, it's not just, youknow, three base autos, a jumbo,
(14:18):
and just hoping like that yourtwo boxes has at least one
color.
Hopefully your odds are a littlebetter this year.
But having hold my breath onthat, it's all about those, the
base and the parallels of that.
The inserts are always nice, butBowman, you always got to go
back to that for.
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Yep.
And it's usually about theprospects and not the rookies.
We know the rookie class isstrong, but we know that it's
gonna be a lot harder to hit arookie auto than a prospect
auto.
Unless, of course, they go theroute of Bowman basketball,
which I highly doubt.
I'm sure they'll just stick withthe same blueprint that's been
working for years and years andyears in Bowman baseball.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Yeah, basketball is just so different because they
they just split that betweenuniversity and current players.
So I I get why they did it.
I actually really like that theydid it that way.
SPEAKER_01 (14:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
To know that I'm gonna get a current player in
every box, and if I'm a fan ofuniversity, which I'm not, but
yeah, to be able to get that, Ithink that's cool.
But that's a conversation foranother day.
SPEAKER_00 (15:06):
Yeah.
And we could talk about theplayers uh that we anticipate
seeing in 2026 Bowman a littlebit later, too.
Of course, there's some hugenames out there, some of which
have been verified, EthanHoliday being one of them, but I
know a lot of people are hopingfor Eduard Florentino.
And uh yeah, we can we can getinto a deep dive, I think, uh uh
in future episodes.
Looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
Yeah, we are looking to do a very deep dive.
We're gonna be splitting up ourBowman breakdown, I believe,
into six episodes.
So everyone be prepared forthat.
You need six episodes, we'regonna do one episode per
division.
There's just so much to discuss,and it's just so much unknown
with players.
Right now, if I whenever we saykind of griffin, you know who he
is.
But outside of you know the topthree players, I'm not gonna
(15:44):
lie, I don't know much about anyof these players in Bowman.
SPEAKER_01 (15:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
It'll be a lot of fun.
Uh, we're gonna try to bringsome experts in.
So that is something to lookforward to as well.
And we will see how that goes.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
All right.
SPEAKER_02 (15:55):
Our last thing that we're gonna do today, it's gonna
be a new segment.
I am going to test Bird out alittle bit.
We're gonna play a game calledGuess That Comp.
I am going to give him somecards, and for each card, he's
gonna guess what the most recentcomp would be on that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (16:12):
And yeah, I try to find cards where it's not like
the most recent comp doesn'tmake any sense with everything,
where it could be a reasonableexpectation based off of current
performance and pastperformance.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Does that make some sense?
Okay, so what is this likeaverage the last five or
something like that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
No, I I mostly I went off of the last comp.
If it if it would seem like atotal outlier, I just try to
pick a different card in player.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Are you gonna give me the date of the comp?
SPEAKER_02 (16:37):
No, because it it was in the last couple weeks, if
any.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
Last couple weeks.
Okay, got it.
All right.
SPEAKER_02 (16:41):
So first I'm gonna do maybe the most famous common
card out there.
We are going to do Mike Trout,Mike Trout, tops update rookie,
PSA 10.
Just the base, just the base.
What do you think that's goingfor right now?
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
Just the base, I'm gonna say uh 750.
1,075.
Okay, wow.
So he's bounced back a littlebit, I think, from the bottom.
SPEAKER_02 (17:05):
Once you start seeing a player play, yeah, that
can definitely help too.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
Yeah, he's had a somewhat decent start until the
Mariners, of course, pegged himin the hand.
I couldn't believe when thathappened.
Casey Legomino of all guys topeg him in the hand.
Brutal.
He's back though, right?
He's back in the lineup, Ithink.
unknown (17:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
You think I would know because I have him in my
fantasy, but it's been a busy,busy couple days.
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
Wow.
So, wow.
I mean, that card has alwaysbeen like, I wonder what the
peak is for that card.
It would have been COVID era,COVID peak.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
That that card was probably I think a little a
little post-COVID, I would 2021.
SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
I'm sure that card was over like 2,500 bucks at one
point.
SPEAKER_02 (17:41):
Yeah.
All right.
So you were off by about 25%.
I'm gonna give you a miss onthat one.
Okay.
All right.
This next one, it might be alittle tougher.
This is maybe the most infamouscard of the past few years.
The Shohei Otani through theyears insert.
The one where it's the facsimileauto of like his from 21 dynasty
(18:03):
patch auto.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (18:04):
I think that's what they card it.
That that's what the card was onthere.
So this is the fake auto.
It's infamous because people putthis on eBay and they don't put
that it's a reprint orsomething, or they put RP or
well, that was the thing foryears and years and years, and
now it's just actually thatvaluable.
SPEAKER_00 (18:20):
People have figured it out and still are willing,
willing to pay as much as theyare.
SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
So this is the rest of these are all doc rated.
These are all raw cards, by theway.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
These are raw?
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
Yeah.
So this one, the past threesales have all been right about
the same number, and thenrecent.
What do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (18:35):
I think like right around$200.
One okay.
Yeah.
$150.
SPEAKER_02 (18:39):
$200 is not a terrible guess, though.
Uh I know based off the otherone we said you're about 25%
off.
I guess the same here, but Ithink that$200 is a reasonable
guess.
Yeah.
$150.
SPEAKER_00 (18:50):
I wonder what the last 10 to sell for was.
They're all over the place.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
Yeah, people are all over the place for those.
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
Weird.
Such a weird phenomenon, thatone.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
I mean, such a good example of how the Otani economy
is so unique.
This is something that we'venever seen before.
SPEAKER_02 (19:04):
Yeah, I have a card show next week, and I'm just
going through all my boxes ofbase and just looking for any
Otani cards right now.
SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
I'm trying to figure out what the next all Aces is
going to be.
You know, this 2023 Series 1 AllAces has obviously gone off over
$300 for a base insert.
Raw.
SPEAKER_02 (19:19):
I'm I'm searching for that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:21):
This series one for the years, that's a perfect
example of another one.
Another one that's interestingis out of 2019 Topps update.
He has, I believe it's 1980, Ithink it's 84.
It's the 84 insert, you know,the typical flagship insert that
you see.
That's a throwback.
Is that right?
Maybe it's 86.
Anyways, it's 2019, but it hasit has the rookie card logo on
(19:45):
there.
It's an error card.
And they're very common.
Those are also like over$100raw, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (19:50):
Very common does not matter for him.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (19:53):
So let's talk about one of the new guys to the
league, Connor Griffin.
How do you think his firstBowman auto is going for right
now?
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Raw.
Raw base.
Well, I think his PSA 10 baseautos are like right around
2,000 or 2,000 to 2,500.
So I'd say probably raw firstBowman auto, probably like 900.
SPEAKER_02 (20:12):
Excellent guess.
$100.
SPEAKER_00 (20:14):
$800.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (20:15):
But yeah,$900 is probably what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
A little bit of a slow start.
He hit that double in the firstat bat, and I was watching.
I haven't seen any of his atbats since, but I I know he's
been kind of struggling.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
I'll get there.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
We know how um we know how flippant collectors can
be.
You know, it's uh it doesn'ttake much of a sample size to
make it to pass a judgment.
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
If you see those prices dip, it could be the time
to buy, but we'll see.
Yeah, we'll see.
I'm not a buyer we need$100, andwe'll talk about that in a
little bit.
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
Um Julio did his rookie year, where he ends up
making the home run derby andthen he gets a home run derby
spike, something like that.
I could see it.
SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
Next up, Roman Anthony first Bowman Auto base.
SPEAKER_00 (20:53):
Okay.
Lower than Connor, but not bymuch.
700.
Higher than Connor.
Surprised me, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:59):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
Okay.
Yeah, the Roman market isinsane.
I don't know if it's Austinmarket that helps.
He's got one of the weakestnoodle arms I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
That's terrible.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
He looks like Johnny Damon out there.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah, that that was that was bad, but people don't
collect him for that arm.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
No, no.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
So that's that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
That's crazy.
So Roman's higher than Connor.
I thought Connor had surpassedhim, but right around the same.
I wonder who I was surprised aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
I mean, it's gonna be whoever has a better season,
I think.
SPEAKER_00 (21:30):
Yeah, it will be.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
That's really then they're close enough where that
that's really gonna be what.
SPEAKER_00 (21:34):
Who do you think's gonna have a better season?
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
You know, I had them both in fantasy, so I won them
both.
Uh um, I think I think RomanAnthony has a better chance to
have the better season.
I think he's gonna be given alonger leash too.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:48):
If Connor Griffin continues to struggle a bit,
like I wouldn't I wouldn't blamethem for sending him back down
because he's so young.
Like, it's like, all right, wejust brought him up a little too
soon.
Roman Anthony.
I just feel like he's they'reready to really like go and see
like what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_00 (22:05):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (22:05):
And Connor Griffin, they also gave that huge
contract too.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I think that I think the expectations are maybe a
little bit higher for Roman toobecause he is older and more
established, had a good rookieyear too.
So like if they put up the samenumbers from here until
September and they're both goodnumbers, maybe call it like
borderline all-star numbers.
I'd like Connor will be higherthan Roman.
SPEAKER_02 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, because he's a teenager.
Absolutely.
All right.
Next up, Julio Rodriguez, BurrisGoleman Refractor Auto.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
I know the purple autos are selling for right
around about eight right now.
Probably after his slow start,probably more like 750.
I'd say his refractor auto isprobably right there in the same
realm.
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go 699.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
You're off by$3.
$6.96.
That is a great, great guess.
SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
Let's go.
I feel good about that.
It would have been reallyembarrassing to be off on Julio.
SPEAKER_02 (22:59):
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to throw you a bonewith that one for sure.
And also I in a moment I want totalk about like how this
compares.
Like there's a reason why Ibrought these up and I picked
these cards, which you'reprobably noticing in the past.
Last up, Bobby Witt Jr.
first Bowman Auto base.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Wow.
I think Bobby's higher thanRoman.
950.
SPEAKER_02 (23:20):
840.
SPEAKER_00 (23:20):
Wow.
So Roman's higher.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (23:23):
Not a bad guess.
SPEAKER_00 (23:25):
That's crazy.
Roman's higher than Bobby.
That's nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (23:28):
That's why I want that's why I brought up these
cards and I looked these upspecifically.
Because the fact that ConorGriffin and Roman Anthony are
selling for at like pretty muchwe have 800, 875, 840.
Like it's and any sale, you cangive or take some money.
So they're pretty much allselling for the same.
He's established himself as asuperstar.
(23:49):
He would be the superstar in theleague if it wasn't for two
absolutely insane talents.
And then you have these otherguys that haven't shown anything
yet that are selling for just asmuch, sometimes more than him,
along with Julio, who I woulddefinitely put into star status,
definitely like a top 15 guy inthe league, I would say, who's
selling for less than theseguys.
These guys, yeah.
(24:10):
Like if you were a Pirates fan,and I was gonna say you would
sign up for him being Julio, butI don't know if you would with
uh all the time.
SPEAKER_00 (24:17):
It's crazy, man.
It's like in the world ofBowman, obviously, for every day
more experience you have, theless volatile your card market
becomes.
Now that Julio and Bobby are onyear two, three, four, five,
six, two, three, four, five,six.
Year five?
That's crazy.
Year five in the big leagues,and they're already like pretty
insulated from a lot of marketmovement.
(24:38):
I feel like those are like waysafer investments than something
like Connor and Roman, which aremore safe investments than a guy
like Kevin McGonagall, JJWeatherholt, which are more safe
investments than a guy likeJesus Made, which are more safe
investments than a guy like downthe spectrum, I don't know, Eli
Willitz.
So yeah, it's fascinating.
The whole Bowman economics, man.
(24:59):
It's really interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (25:00):
People always talk about it, how people go way too
crazy for these prospects androokies when there's these bet
cards that can be had for thesame or less.
And then they go even furtherback to vintage and say, well, I
could get this vintage rookiefor a third of the price.
Obviously, the card economicsare completely different from
that time, but it's just it's soinsane when you have the numbers
(25:23):
like laid out for you like that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:24):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of people a lot of peoplelike to compare it to asset
classes and finance, right?
Like, you know, vintage is yourmutual fund and Bowman prospects
are your penny stocks.
But I don't I I think that theargument that the Bowman
community makes and the argumentthat I would make is there
actually is an ability to havean edge in the Bowman market
that you don't have in the pennystocks market because it is so
(25:46):
much more established andregulated.
Um, and there's a lot moreinformation going around.
In Bowman, I think you actuallycan have an edge.
There's a way to prospect reallysmartly and actually make money.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
Especially if you use the tools that are available
to you, like Dahl or just likethe information that they have.
But yeah, if if you put, youknow, the wit, the Connor and
the Roman in front of me, I'mtaking the wit card.
Like it's it just it seems likea no-brainer to me, but people
love hype.
They just love hype.
And we've all fallen victim toit.
You know, I don't think there'sanyone in the hobby that can say
(26:16):
they never fell for the hype ofsomeone or got excited about a
player and his abilities andwhat he might be able to do one
day than what's sitting in frontof him.
Because it is fun.
It's a really fun part of thehobby.
Who doesn't love to hit big on aguy that, you know, started at
nothing and then all of a suddenhe became the next guy?
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
Yeah, I will say, Juice, the gap between Julio and
Bobby is not that wide.
I thought it would have beenwider at this point in their
career based on the way thatthings were trending.
And Julio had the big secondhalf last year.
Bobby's been kind of slow at thegates.
Bobby seems to be Bobby seems tobe developing as more of a a
prototypical leadoff highaverage guy than I think a lot
of people in the hobby wereexpecting.
(26:54):
Um, at this point in his career,I think a lot of people thought
he'd be hitting more home runs,but he's just not, he's not
launching the ball.
He's he's making more linedrive, hard ground ball contact.
SPEAKER_02 (27:04):
Julio's also was a work factor auto.
I just want to put that outthere.
Um, he didn't have any recentbase comps, but I just feel like
Julio is is more fun to watchfor whatever reason.
I don't know what it is.
It's just people love Julio,they love J-Rod.
He has a more of an aura thanBobby Witt Jr.
for some reason.
SPEAKER_00 (27:21):
Um definitely a lot more volatile, right?
Like uh he has a lot more bad atbats.
Um, but looking at it, lookingat their careers, they started
at the same time.
And I think if you look at itfrom like an F4 perspective,
they're they're pretty close.
But still, from a I thinkBobby's such a hobby, darling.
You know, it's uh I'm surprisedthat they're as close as the as
they are.
SPEAKER_02 (27:41):
All right.
Well, I think that about does itfor today.
Uh, thank you, everyone.
That was it.
Yeah.
unknown (27:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (27:48):
All right.
Well, thank you so much,everyone, for listening.
Thank you, Bert, for joining me,of course.
SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
Thanks, Juice, for being an awesome host.
Hey, everyone, have a good day.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
Hello and welcome to Talking Cards with Grant Salami
and the Juice.
I am the Juice along here withBert.
How are you doing, Bert?
I'm doing good, Juice.
How are you?
Doing good today.
Um, I have a few things that Iwant to complain about, but
overall, I'm doing doing prettygood.
SPEAKER_00 (00:28):
Yeah, today's the first day of the TOPS industry
conference.
So social media has been floodedwith all kinds of fun
presentation snapshots and stufflike that.
Good, good content to talkabout.
SPEAKER_02 (00:37):
Yeah, I did see they're doing a fanatics credit
card, right?
SPEAKER_00 (00:41):
Fanatics credit card, yeah.
Something like spend$10,000 amonth for six months and you get
a free jersey.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Man, what a deal.
SPEAKER_02 (00:51):
Yeah, but a lot of people are hyped for that
because they're seeing umsomething about exclusive access
to drops and releases.
So maybe that's why they got ridof Montgomery Club, so that they
can find another way to get ourmoney plus interest now.
SPEAKER_00 (01:04):
That'll be interesting though.
If the if it actually is likesome type of a Monty Club uh
perk, that would be that wouldbe a reason to get a credit
card, that's for sure.
SPEAKER_02 (01:13):
It says like five percent off of collectibles,
things like that.
So we'll see how that actuallyworks.
And not something I'm tootempted to do.
Last thing I need is anothercredit card, especially one
that's specific for uh buyingcards.
Yeah.
Not not the best thing, I don'tthink.
It's it could definitely be goodfor the right people, but I
don't know.
Um okay.
(01:33):
Well, the first thing I want toget into, and I want to own it,
is last week we were talkingabout for the transcendent
release, how excited we were forlike breaks of this.
It's a premium product, verydifficult to get into.
Hey, don't throw me in thatbucket.
All right.
Well, we were discussing it asin you were at least a side of
the conversation, but I was veryexcited for it.
(01:54):
We were talking about how in thepast how much fun the breaks
would be, and then we went intoit without an actual checklist
and just off of some informationthat we were assuming was
accurate, and the informationwas not accurate.
Um, so first of all, we wereseeing everywhere one
superfractor guaranteed percase.
That is not the case.
(02:15):
Yeah, so that is the first thingthat should piss anyone off
entering into a break or buyinga case of you're spending$25,000
on a case of this, and you'reseeing guaranteed a
superfractor, you better begetting that superfractor.
And it is not even every othercase, from what I could tell.
I watch a lot of this up open.
It's fun to watch still, but andthen the other thing is no
invitation guaranteed, like itsaid, which makes sense because
(02:37):
now we're looking at it, and ifyou really break down the
numbers, the print run is Ithink someone said like 1100
cases.
SPEAKER_00 (02:44):
But yeah, I just topped just continues to to test
how far they can go and how muchthey can mess up before
regulation comes in.
Because when it's$25,000 a caseand you make claims like that,
you're just asking for some typeof class action lawsuit or
something like that.
It's uh it feels like it's feelslike it's only an a matter of
time with how muchmisinformation,
(03:06):
misadvertisement, misleading ofconsumers there is that's
happening from tops right now.
I wish that they would invest inthe quality control and the, you
know, the proofread editing thatneeds to happen to make sure
that those things are releasedto the customers without
misleading them, because I don'tthink regulation would be a good
thing for anybody, collectorsincluded.
So I don't know.
(03:27):
It's very, very frustrating tome.
SPEAKER_02 (03:29):
I feel like like it's not exaggerating to say
it's lately been a coin flip ofwhether or not the information
we get before a release isactually all correct.
SPEAKER_00 (03:36):
Yeah, total coin flip.
SPEAKER_02 (03:37):
Yeah.
It's been released afterrelease.
SPEAKER_00 (03:40):
We get the information at all, and like
especially when it's just pipiecemeal, we get it, you know,
like we get the oftentimes thefirst things that we'll see,
like with 2026 Bowman, isthey'll sneak preview a specific
card and do a first look at itor something like that and get
people's hopes up that the thatthat subset checklist is going
to be loaded, but you know, itmight not be.
Or they'll have information putout at the presale without a
(04:02):
checklist.
They'll start selling itpre-sale without a checklist and
definitely without pack odds,and they'll make all kinds of
mistakes in the bullets thatthey put out for product
information, right?
Things that change, things thatend up when they when they do
post the checklist and the packodds are objectively false.
It's extremely frustratingbecause you have to, with very
limited information, you have toat least use the information
(04:24):
that you're given to formulatesome type of evaluation in your
head about whether or not it'sgonna be a good product to rip,
to break, whatever it might be.
SPEAKER_02 (04:31):
And if they're doing this, a lot of people are
thinking, well, this doesn'taffect me.
This is a$25,000, like, and it'snothing I'm ever gonna have to
worry about.
But if they're doing these kindsof things with a$25,000 box,
what are they doing with thecheaper boxes that don't really
require the same quality controlfor what they might call a
lesser clientele?
And these are the things that wecan prove and tangibly see.
(04:53):
Imagine the odds, because evenbreaking a hundred cases, I
don't know the math on it wherelike you can really start to
extrapolate the data, but you'renot really understanding the
odds fully.
I'm sure there's just a lot moreout there that we just don't
know about and we can't see thattopps is just plain wrong on the
odds for.
Sometimes it works in our favor.
Sometimes you get that chancemonopoly card, a bank error in
(05:15):
your favor, and they say twoguaranteed autos, and then you
end up seeing like two to threea box, which is nice.
But for the most part, Tops hasreally just been messing up
lately.
SPEAKER_00 (05:25):
I don't know if it's because uh it could be a million
reasons, but with theTranscendent, there was actually
a thousand cases or so printed,and there was only a hundred
invites and ten of the VIPinvites.
SPEAKER_02 (05:37):
And the superfractors, like I can't
imagine buying a case for$25,000.
SPEAKER_00 (05:42):
Especially with the boom on superfractors right now,
too, dude.
Like superfractors are sellingof anybody of any product are
selling kind of higher from a uma parallel multiplier
perspective than I can rememberright now.
SPEAKER_02 (05:55):
So I haven't really looked at that because there's
not too many.
All right, but that's that'sgood to know.
All right.
So yeah, I just like to makesure that we're holding tops
accountable because I do likethem more than Panini and the
other, any of the other cardmakers.
They obviously have all thelicenses, but just uh it it's
(06:15):
just a shame.
I'm truly I don't know what'sgonna happen because the hobby
keeps growing and that theredoesn't have to be any
accountability as of now, butwe'll see what what happens if
like they keep having thesemissteps and mistakes.
So the next thing I want to talkabout is we got some Bowman
info.
We love our Bowman.
We do.
Every time there's a Bowmanproduct, we're going nuts for
(06:35):
it.
We don't have a checklist yet,of course.
That's a little bit of a waysaway, most likely.
But we did get a preview of whatthe cars are gonna look like,
the design this year, along withthe inserts and a couple of new
product designs.
New insert designs, I shouldsay.
New insert designs, I shouldsay.
(06:56):
So first we will start with justthe overall design of just the
Bowman base cards.
What do you think about thisyear?
SPEAKER_00 (07:03):
Bowman Prism Baseball.
I mean, that's I can't I can'ttell you how many people have
had that reaction.
The design looks very much solike a Panini Prism design.
I think it's it's the fullborder, the thickness of the
border, and the fact that theborder is not uniform in width
around.
It's got that very prism look toit.
And it's the first time that Ican remember Bowman having a
border like that.
SPEAKER_02 (07:24):
I like it.
Um, yes, I am here in the BowmanPrism elsewhere as well.
But I like it.
It's a very clean look, it's nottoo busy.
I'm not a big fan of the teamlogo being located where it's
at.
I get that they're going forsymmetry.
It's in like the bottom middleand it kind of sticks up a bit,
kind of intrudes on the rest ofthe card and the player design
(07:46):
to it takes away a little bit.
I'd rather that kind of tuckinto the corner, but I get the
symmetry they were looking for.
Overall, though, I'm a fan.
It's gonna be very easy to tellcentering on these two, which is
nice for if you're someone thatwants to submit to grade.
So I always I always like thatwhen when they make that easy on
us.
SPEAKER_00 (08:04):
I don't think we've seen a uh, you know, this thick
of a full border in Bowman since2020.
And 2020 was one of the all-timebest designs, very simple,
personally liked by collectors,I would say.
SPEAKER_01 (08:15):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (08:15):
For sure.
One thing that I'm worried aboutthough is quality control.
Because anytime you have thisthick of a border on the
refractors, generally whereveryou see surface marks the most,
the most easily is on theborder.
So with that much border to workwith, I'm just worried about
things like dimples.
I'm worried about things aboutthings like staple marks, I'm
worried about things like littlescratches that will show up
(08:37):
really clearly.
And given the quality control asof late from Bowman, I don't
have a whole lot of confidencethat they're gonna be able to do
it right.
So yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (08:45):
We will see.
Time will tell.
But here's here's hoping.
But again, Topps has not reallyearned my trust lately.
So we'll see.
Let's talk about some of the newinserts and the new designs that
they have.
So, first thing I want to talkabout is the stained glass.
I like it this year.
I think uh this design lendsitself well.
SPEAKER_00 (09:04):
Why because it looks like Panini?
unknown (09:07):
Maybe.
SPEAKER_00 (09:08):
You know, I'm not really a big fan of glass, not
stained glass, juice.
It's etched in glass.
Oh, okay.
Yeah, we can't use the we can'tuse the panini jargon if we're
saying it doesn't look likePanini.
But then of course, Toppsannounced that NBA Hoops is
coming out today, so they'rejust straight stealing the
brands from Panini, it soundslike.
SPEAKER_02 (09:26):
So I was gonna make a gold vinyl joke, but we'll
move past that.
SPEAKER_01 (09:30):
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (09:32):
Apparently, I didn't know this.
A lot of people didn't knowthis, but the hoops brand is
owned by the NBA.
That's how Topps is able to useit, because it just I guess with
a license.
SPEAKER_00 (09:41):
That's I figured, I'm sure, yeah, it wasn't it
wasn't anything outside of whatthey were able to do.
SPEAKER_02 (09:46):
But I'm I'm glad to I'm glad to see that hoops is is
still gonna be around becausehoops was awesome.
But yeah, this Eschin glass, II'm looking at it, I like the
design overall.
It looks clean, no complaintsabout it on my end.
Um I can't put my finger on it,but it does look nicer than
previous years.
I'll be excited to see thatactual card physically, not just
(10:08):
a mock-up design, but yeah, itlooks nice.
SPEAKER_00 (10:10):
I agree.
Yeah.
I like the way the crystallizedlooks a lot, especially this
year.
I know they they put out somesneak previews of the
crystallized, notably ShoheiOtani is gonna have a
crystallized.
So that no doubt is going to bea huge chase.
Crystallized first came out in2025, Bowman, just a year ago,
and immediately came out thegates a lot hotter than the
other case hit short prints thatyou see in Bowman.
(10:32):
Uh, mostly the the spotlight.
I'd say even they they came outthe gates even hotter than the
than the animes.
SPEAKER_02 (10:38):
But I like the crystallized, but I like the
other ones better.
Yeah.
But I I'm a sucker for uh shortprints, super short prints.
Uh, they're bringing back goldetch, which we saw on Bowman
Draft.
Um, everyone was a big fan of,but in person, that ink, I would
say like 75% of the time the inkjust did not translate well, the
gold ink.
SPEAKER_00 (10:56):
Ah, the gold inks, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (10:58):
But it's such a nice looking card.
You know, no one's gonna beupset about calling them.
SPEAKER_00 (11:02):
Yeah, hopefully they fix the pen issue this time
around.
Who knows?
SPEAKER_02 (11:05):
Obviously, nothing revolutionary with it, but they
did release a preview image ofthe Nolan McLean where he's
pointing to the sky.
SPEAKER_00 (11:12):
You're gonna have to get that one.
SPEAKER_02 (11:14):
I need that card.
SPEAKER_00 (11:15):
Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (11:16):
I need that card.
That is such an awesome card.
SPEAKER_01 (11:20):
Very cool.
SPEAKER_02 (11:21):
And there is a new parallel that they announced.
It is the Chrome Prospect PackFractor Variation, number to 89.
And um, yeah, this is this is anawesome looking card, I think.
It's got the 89 Bowman pack asthe background.
It still has like the frame upthere, but it goes to the edge
(11:41):
of the card, which is, I justthink it's a really cool card.
And what are your thoughts onthat one?
SPEAKER_00 (11:45):
Well, first and foremost, this the sneak preview
they gave is Kevin McGonagall,and I'm super happy that
McGonagall's in the ChromeProspect Auto checklist.
I think such an important partof Bowman baseball is having
those guys that where it's nottheir first Bowman auto that are
coming back for their second orthird Chrome Prospect Auto that
are indeed the top prospects.
They did a great job last year.
(12:05):
Guys like um, guys like ConnorGriffin, Jack Caglione, Travis
Bazanna, the guys from theprevious draft year.
And it's very encouraging thatthey're actually bringing back a
guy like McGonagall, who had hisfirst in Bowman the previous
year.
So it'll be very interesting tosee what that what that
checklist looks like.
I love the design.
The McGonagal looks great.
Clearly, I think they're gonnahave to do a good job with their
(12:26):
Photoshop to make a card lookgood.
I think some of them might lookkind of funky.
The McGonagal works, but veryinterested to see what these 80
89 Bowman wax packs look like inperson.
There's gonna be non-auto andauto versions, it looks like,
which is great.
SPEAKER_02 (12:41):
They're bringing back the Bowman Red Rookie
Redemption program, which isnice.
Um, don't want to spend too muchtime on that.
Same thing as last year.
If one of their guys, the redguy rookie of the year, he'll be
eligible for future fan cashrewards too in the future, where
you can turn into fanatics.
What I really like this year isthe update on the anime design.
SPEAKER_00 (13:00):
Yeah, why?
SPEAKER_02 (13:01):
It used to be it had like the brown borders like a
TV.
Now it is like the chromerefractor border, which I think
gives it a much sharper, moremodern look.
And then with those parallelstoo, it just looks really sharp
to me.
And it's just always such a fundesign.
I'd never hit one.
Maybe this is the year, alone myMcLean spotlight.
Maybe I could hit an anime.
SPEAKER_00 (13:21):
We'll see.
So they they were they releaseda sneak preview of the Aaron
Judge in the Team USA uniformand also Shohei Otani in a Team
Japan uniform with the kanjinameplate.
I'm curious to see if there'sgonna be a different subset for
the WBC animes than from thestandard ones, because they also
released Connor Griffin, andobviously that he didn't play in
the WBC, but he's just in the inthe pirates get up.
(13:43):
So I'm curious if they kind ofpartition those or if they're
just gonna be jumbled into thesame checklist.
Like I wonder if Aaron Judgecould also have a Yankees anime
in addition to the WBC.
Same with Otani if he has thethe Dodgers one in addition to
the Team Japan.
SPEAKER_02 (13:56):
I mean, if there's a way for them to put more Otani
in there, they're usually gonnado it.
Yeah.
I guess we'll find out.
Hopefully you find out soon.
But overall, I'm liking whatthey what I've seen from Bowman
so far.
Obviously, with Bowman, italways comes down to the
checklist because it's just run.
Hopefully, it's not just, youknow, three base autos, a jumbo,
(14:18):
and just hoping like that yourtwo boxes has at least one
color.
Hopefully your odds are a littlebetter this year.
But having hold my breath onthat, it's all about those, the
base and the parallels of that.
The inserts are always nice, butBowman, you always got to go
back to that for.
SPEAKER_00 (14:33):
Yep.
And it's usually about theprospects and not the rookies.
We know the rookie class isstrong, but we know that it's
gonna be a lot harder to hit arookie auto than a prospect
auto.
Unless, of course, they go theroute of Bowman basketball,
which I highly doubt.
I'm sure they'll just stick withthe same blueprint that's been
working for years and years andyears in Bowman baseball.
SPEAKER_02 (14:48):
Yeah, basketball is just so different because they
they just split that betweenuniversity and current players.
So I I get why they did it.
I actually really like that theydid it that way.
SPEAKER_01 (14:57):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (14:57):
To know that I'm gonna get a current player in
every box, and if I'm a fan ofuniversity, which I'm not, but
yeah, to be able to get that, Ithink that's cool.
But that's a conversation foranother day.
SPEAKER_00 (15:06):
Yeah.
And we could talk about theplayers uh that we anticipate
seeing in 2026 Bowman a littlebit later, too.
Of course, there's some hugenames out there, some of which
have been verified, EthanHoliday being one of them, but I
know a lot of people are hopingfor Eduard Florentino.
And uh yeah, we can we can getinto a deep dive, I think, uh uh
in future episodes.
Looking forward to that.
SPEAKER_02 (15:24):
Yeah, we are looking to do a very deep dive.
We're gonna be splitting up ourBowman breakdown, I believe,
into six episodes.
So everyone be prepared forthat.
You need six episodes, we'regonna do one episode per
division.
There's just so much to discuss,and it's just so much unknown
with players.
Right now, if I whenever we saykind of griffin, you know who he
is.
But outside of you know the topthree players, I'm not gonna
(15:44):
lie, I don't know much about anyof these players in Bowman.
SPEAKER_01 (15:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (15:48):
It'll be a lot of fun.
Uh, we're gonna try to bringsome experts in.
So that is something to lookforward to as well.
And we will see how that goes.
SPEAKER_01 (15:55):
All right.
SPEAKER_02 (15:55):
Our last thing that we're gonna do today, it's gonna
be a new segment.
I am going to test Bird out alittle bit.
We're gonna play a game calledGuess That Comp.
I am going to give him somecards, and for each card, he's
gonna guess what the most recentcomp would be on that.
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
Wow.
SPEAKER_02 (16:12):
And yeah, I try to find cards where it's not like
the most recent comp doesn'tmake any sense with everything,
where it could be a reasonableexpectation based off of current
performance and pastperformance.
SPEAKER_00 (16:23):
Does that make some sense?
Okay, so what is this likeaverage the last five or
something like that?
SPEAKER_02 (16:27):
No, I I mostly I went off of the last comp.
If it if it would seem like atotal outlier, I just try to
pick a different card in player.
SPEAKER_00 (16:35):
Are you gonna give me the date of the comp?
SPEAKER_02 (16:37):
No, because it it was in the last couple weeks, if
any.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
Last couple weeks.
Okay, got it.
All right.
SPEAKER_02 (16:41):
So first I'm gonna do maybe the most famous common
card out there.
We are going to do Mike Trout,Mike Trout, tops update rookie,
PSA 10.
Just the base, just the base.
What do you think that's goingfor right now?
SPEAKER_00 (16:57):
Just the base, I'm gonna say uh 750.
1,075.
Okay, wow.
So he's bounced back a littlebit, I think, from the bottom.
SPEAKER_02 (17:05):
Once you start seeing a player play, yeah, that
can definitely help too.
SPEAKER_00 (17:09):
Yeah, he's had a somewhat decent start until the
Mariners, of course, pegged himin the hand.
I couldn't believe when thathappened.
Casey Legomino of all guys topeg him in the hand.
Brutal.
He's back though, right?
He's back in the lineup, Ithink.
unknown (17:20):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (17:20):
You think I would know because I have him in my
fantasy, but it's been a busy,busy couple days.
SPEAKER_00 (17:24):
Wow.
So, wow.
I mean, that card has alwaysbeen like, I wonder what the
peak is for that card.
It would have been COVID era,COVID peak.
SPEAKER_02 (17:31):
That that card was probably I think a little a
little post-COVID, I would 2021.
SPEAKER_00 (17:38):
I'm sure that card was over like 2,500 bucks at one
point.
SPEAKER_02 (17:41):
Yeah.
All right.
So you were off by about 25%.
I'm gonna give you a miss onthat one.
Okay.
All right.
This next one, it might be alittle tougher.
This is maybe the most infamouscard of the past few years.
The Shohei Otani through theyears insert.
The one where it's the facsimileauto of like his from 21 dynasty
(18:03):
patch auto.
SPEAKER_01 (18:04):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (18:04):
I think that's what they card it.
That that's what the card was onthere.
So this is the fake auto.
It's infamous because people putthis on eBay and they don't put
that it's a reprint orsomething, or they put RP or
well, that was the thing foryears and years and years, and
now it's just actually thatvaluable.
SPEAKER_00 (18:20):
People have figured it out and still are willing,
willing to pay as much as theyare.
SPEAKER_02 (18:23):
So this is the rest of these are all doc rated.
These are all raw cards, by theway.
SPEAKER_00 (18:28):
These are raw?
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (18:29):
Yeah.
So this one, the past threesales have all been right about
the same number, and thenrecent.
What do you think?
SPEAKER_00 (18:35):
I think like right around$200.
One okay.
Yeah.
$150.
SPEAKER_02 (18:39):
$200 is not a terrible guess, though.
Uh I know based off the otherone we said you're about 25%
off.
I guess the same here, but Ithink that$200 is a reasonable
guess.
Yeah.
$150.
SPEAKER_00 (18:50):
I wonder what the last 10 to sell for was.
They're all over the place.
SPEAKER_02 (18:54):
Yeah, people are all over the place for those.
SPEAKER_00 (18:56):
Weird.
Such a weird phenomenon, thatone.
SPEAKER_02 (18:58):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (18:59):
I mean, such a good example of how the Otani economy
is so unique.
This is something that we'venever seen before.
SPEAKER_02 (19:04):
Yeah, I have a card show next week, and I'm just
going through all my boxes ofbase and just looking for any
Otani cards right now.
SPEAKER_00 (19:10):
I'm trying to figure out what the next all Aces is
going to be.
You know, this 2023 Series 1 AllAces has obviously gone off over
$300 for a base insert.
Raw.
SPEAKER_02 (19:19):
I'm I'm searching for that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:21):
This series one for the years, that's a perfect
example of another one.
Another one that's interestingis out of 2019 Topps update.
He has, I believe it's 1980, Ithink it's 84.
It's the 84 insert, you know,the typical flagship insert that
you see.
That's a throwback.
Is that right?
Maybe it's 86.
Anyways, it's 2019, but it hasit has the rookie card logo on
(19:45):
there.
It's an error card.
And they're very common.
Those are also like over$100raw, I think.
SPEAKER_02 (19:50):
Very common does not matter for him.
All right.
SPEAKER_00 (19:53):
Crazy.
SPEAKER_02 (19:53):
So let's talk about one of the new guys to the
league, Connor Griffin.
How do you think his firstBowman auto is going for right
now?
SPEAKER_00 (20:01):
Raw.
Raw base.
Well, I think his PSA 10 baseautos are like right around
2,000 or 2,000 to 2,500.
So I'd say probably raw firstBowman auto, probably like 900.
SPEAKER_02 (20:12):
Excellent guess.
$100.
SPEAKER_00 (20:14):
$800.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (20:15):
But yeah,$900 is probably what we're going to do.
SPEAKER_00 (20:17):
A little bit of a slow start.
He hit that double in the firstat bat, and I was watching.
I haven't seen any of his atbats since, but I I know he's
been kind of struggling.
SPEAKER_01 (20:24):
I'll get there.
SPEAKER_00 (20:25):
We know how um we know how flippant collectors can
be.
You know, it's uh it doesn'ttake much of a sample size to
make it to pass a judgment.
SPEAKER_02 (20:33):
If you see those prices dip, it could be the time
to buy, but we'll see.
Yeah, we'll see.
I'm not a buyer we need$100, andwe'll talk about that in a
little bit.
SPEAKER_00 (20:40):
Um Julio did his rookie year, where he ends up
making the home run derby andthen he gets a home run derby
spike, something like that.
I could see it.
SPEAKER_02 (20:50):
Next up, Roman Anthony first Bowman Auto base.
SPEAKER_00 (20:53):
Okay.
Lower than Connor, but not bymuch.
700.
Higher than Connor.
Surprised me, yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (20:59):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (20:59):
Okay.
Yeah, the Roman market isinsane.
I don't know if it's Austinmarket that helps.
He's got one of the weakestnoodle arms I've ever seen.
SPEAKER_02 (21:11):
That's terrible.
SPEAKER_00 (21:12):
He looks like Johnny Damon out there.
SPEAKER_02 (21:14):
Yeah, that that was that was bad, but people don't
collect him for that arm.
SPEAKER_00 (21:18):
No, no.
SPEAKER_02 (21:18):
So that's that's a good thing.
SPEAKER_00 (21:20):
That's crazy.
So Roman's higher than Connor.
I thought Connor had surpassedhim, but right around the same.
I wonder who I was surprised aswell.
SPEAKER_02 (21:28):
I mean, it's gonna be whoever has a better season,
I think.
SPEAKER_00 (21:30):
Yeah, it will be.
SPEAKER_02 (21:31):
That's really then they're close enough where that
that's really gonna be what.
SPEAKER_00 (21:34):
Who do you think's gonna have a better season?
SPEAKER_02 (21:35):
You know, I had them both in fantasy, so I won them
both.
Uh um, I think I think RomanAnthony has a better chance to
have the better season.
I think he's gonna be given alonger leash too.
SPEAKER_01 (21:47):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_02 (21:48):
If Connor Griffin continues to struggle a bit,
like I wouldn't I wouldn't blamethem for sending him back down
because he's so young.
Like, it's like, all right, wejust brought him up a little too
soon.
Roman Anthony.
I just feel like he's they'reready to really like go and see
like what he's gonna do.
SPEAKER_00 (22:05):
Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02 (22:05):
And Connor Griffin, they also gave that huge
contract too.
SPEAKER_00 (22:08):
I think that I think the expectations are maybe a
little bit higher for Roman toobecause he is older and more
established, had a good rookieyear too.
So like if they put up the samenumbers from here until
September and they're both goodnumbers, maybe call it like
borderline all-star numbers.
I'd like Connor will be higherthan Roman.
SPEAKER_02 (22:24):
Yeah, yeah, because he's a teenager.
Absolutely.
All right.
Next up, Julio Rodriguez, BurrisGoleman Refractor Auto.
SPEAKER_00 (22:33):
I know the purple autos are selling for right
around about eight right now.
Probably after his slow start,probably more like 750.
I'd say his refractor auto isprobably right there in the same
realm.
I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go 699.
SPEAKER_02 (22:47):
You're off by$3.
$6.96.
That is a great, great guess.
SPEAKER_00 (22:55):
Let's go.
I feel good about that.
It would have been reallyembarrassing to be off on Julio.
SPEAKER_02 (22:59):
Yeah, yeah.
I wanted to throw you a bonewith that one for sure.
And also I in a moment I want totalk about like how this
compares.
Like there's a reason why Ibrought these up and I picked
these cards, which you'reprobably noticing in the past.
Last up, Bobby Witt Jr.
first Bowman Auto base.
SPEAKER_00 (23:17):
Wow.
I think Bobby's higher thanRoman.
950.
SPEAKER_02 (23:20):
840.
SPEAKER_00 (23:20):
Wow.
So Roman's higher.
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (23:23):
Not a bad guess.
SPEAKER_00 (23:25):
That's crazy.
Roman's higher than Bobby.
That's nuts.
SPEAKER_02 (23:28):
That's why I want that's why I brought up these
cards and I looked these upspecifically.
Because the fact that ConorGriffin and Roman Anthony are
selling for at like pretty muchwe have 800, 875, 840.
Like it's and any sale, you cangive or take some money.
So they're pretty much allselling for the same.
He's established himself as asuperstar.
(23:49):
He would be the superstar in theleague if it wasn't for two
absolutely insane talents.
And then you have these otherguys that haven't shown anything
yet that are selling for just asmuch, sometimes more than him,
along with Julio, who I woulddefinitely put into star status,
definitely like a top 15 guy inthe league, I would say, who's
selling for less than theseguys.
These guys, yeah.
(24:10):
Like if you were a Pirates fan,and I was gonna say you would
sign up for him being Julio, butI don't know if you would with
uh all the time.
SPEAKER_00 (24:17):
It's crazy, man.
It's like in the world ofBowman, obviously, for every day
more experience you have, theless volatile your card market
becomes.
Now that Julio and Bobby are onyear two, three, four, five,
six, two, three, four, five,six.
Year five?
That's crazy.
Year five in the big leagues,and they're already like pretty
insulated from a lot of marketmovement.
(24:38):
I feel like those are like waysafer investments than something
like Connor and Roman, which aremore safe investments than a guy
like Kevin McGonagall, JJWeatherholt, which are more safe
investments than a guy likeJesus Made, which are more safe
investments than a guy like downthe spectrum, I don't know, Eli
Willitz.
So yeah, it's fascinating.
The whole Bowman economics, man.
(24:59):
It's really interesting.
SPEAKER_02 (25:00):
People always talk about it, how people go way too
crazy for these prospects androokies when there's these bet
cards that can be had for thesame or less.
And then they go even furtherback to vintage and say, well, I
could get this vintage rookiefor a third of the price.
Obviously, the card economicsare completely different from
that time, but it's just it's soinsane when you have the numbers
(25:23):
like laid out for you like that.
SPEAKER_00 (25:24):
Mm-hmm.
A lot of people a lot of peoplelike to compare it to asset
classes and finance, right?
Like, you know, vintage is yourmutual fund and Bowman prospects
are your penny stocks.
But I don't I I think that theargument that the Bowman
community makes and the argumentthat I would make is there
actually is an ability to havean edge in the Bowman market
that you don't have in the pennystocks market because it is so
(25:46):
much more established andregulated.
Um, and there's a lot moreinformation going around.
In Bowman, I think you actuallycan have an edge.
There's a way to prospect reallysmartly and actually make money.
SPEAKER_02 (25:55):
Especially if you use the tools that are available
to you, like Dahl or just likethe information that they have.
But yeah, if if you put, youknow, the wit, the Connor and
the Roman in front of me, I'mtaking the wit card.
Like it's it just it seems likea no-brainer to me, but people
love hype.
They just love hype.
And we've all fallen victim toit.
You know, I don't think there'sanyone in the hobby that can say
(26:16):
they never fell for the hype ofsomeone or got excited about a
player and his abilities andwhat he might be able to do one
day than what's sitting in frontof him.
Because it is fun.
It's a really fun part of thehobby.
Who doesn't love to hit big on aguy that, you know, started at
nothing and then all of a suddenhe became the next guy?
SPEAKER_00 (26:33):
Yeah, I will say, Juice, the gap between Julio and
Bobby is not that wide.
I thought it would have beenwider at this point in their
career based on the way thatthings were trending.
And Julio had the big secondhalf last year.
Bobby's been kind of slow at thegates.
Bobby seems to be Bobby seems tobe developing as more of a a
prototypical leadoff highaverage guy than I think a lot
of people in the hobby wereexpecting.
(26:54):
Um, at this point in his career,I think a lot of people thought
he'd be hitting more home runs,but he's just not, he's not
launching the ball.
He's he's making more linedrive, hard ground ball contact.
SPEAKER_02 (27:04):
Julio's also was a work factor auto.
I just want to put that outthere.
Um, he didn't have any recentbase comps, but I just feel like
Julio is is more fun to watchfor whatever reason.
I don't know what it is.
It's just people love Julio,they love J-Rod.
He has a more of an aura thanBobby Witt Jr.
for some reason.
SPEAKER_00 (27:21):
Um definitely a lot more volatile, right?
Like uh he has a lot more bad atbats.
Um, but looking at it, lookingat their careers, they started
at the same time.
And I think if you look at itfrom like an F4 perspective,
they're they're pretty close.
But still, from a I thinkBobby's such a hobby, darling.
You know, it's uh I'm surprisedthat they're as close as the as
they are.
SPEAKER_02 (27:41):
All right.
Well, I think that about does itfor today.
Uh, thank you, everyone.
That was it.
Yeah.
unknown (27:46):
Okay.
SPEAKER_02 (27:48):
All right.
Well, thank you so much,everyone, for listening.
Thank you, Bert, for joining me,of course.
SPEAKER_00 (27:52):
Thanks, Juice, for being an awesome host.
Hey, everyone, have a good day.
Thank you.
Thanks, everybody.
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