Back to Bowman Base

I think this is the final card in the run of Tony's base cards from Bowman to feature on this blog.

Card number 984: Bowman, 1997; #274

Black borders make this a sharp looking card, 25 years after it was printed. Stylistically, the way Tony's head breaks the border is nicely done.

Throughout Tony's career, Bowman was a subsidiary brand of Topps. However, Bowman cards tended to do their stats boxes differently to cards found in Topps sets. On this card, there is a "Team Breakdown" to show how Tony fared against different opponents in 1996. The statistical anomalies are against two teams he faced a handful of times each, the Rockies and the Marlins, racking up ridiculously high batting averages against both teams. 

The team with the best pitching record against Tony in 1996 was the Dodgers. Their pitching staff managed to keep Tony's average more than .100 lower than his season average. Considering Tony won the batting title that season, that was excellent work by the Dodgers.

Total: 984 cards

I am taking a break for a week and will be back blogging the week after next. See you then!