The 1990 Bowman baseball card set was the 51st annual release from Topps’ Bowman brand. It marked a return to prominence for Bowman after several down years in the mid-1980s. The 1990 set showed signs that Bowman was regaining its status as a premier brand in the baseball card world.
Some key facts and details about the 1990 Bowman set:
Size: 660 cards total. This was up from just 528 cards in the 1989 Bowman set, reflecting Bowman’s renewed focus on being a complete flagship product.
Design: The design featured a mostly white border around each player photo. At the bottom was a colored banner with the player’s name, team, and position. This basic design would remain largely unchanged for Bowman sets through the early 1990s.
Rookies: Notable rookie cards included Sandy Alomar Jr., Gregg Jefferies, Bobby Witt, and Alex Fernandez. These players would go on to have solid MLB careers. Todd Van Poppel also had a rookie card in 1990 Bowman but did not live up to the hype as one of the top pitching prospects of his era.
Stars: Ken Griffey Jr. was one of the biggest stars in baseball in 1990 and his card is one of the most sought after from the set. Other star cards included Rickey Henderson, Nolan Ryan, Cal Ripken Jr., and Wade Boggs. This set marked the beginning of Griffey’s rise to being one of the most popular players in the game.
Parallels: For the first time, Bowman offered parallel or “special” versions of selected cards. These included ‘Gold Medallion’ parallels (1:24 packs) and ‘Hologram’ parallels (1:36 packs). This was an early sign that parallel and insert cards would become a bigger part of Bowman’s offerings going forward.
Design variations: A small number of cards had minor design variations from the base design. For example, some players had their last name above their first name in a different font size. Others had a colored bar behind their name instead of in front of it. These variations added some fun collecting challenges for completionists.
Inserts: The 1990 Bowman set featured the first flagship baseball card inserts. ‘Diamond Kings’ were acetate parallels featuring star players. ‘Diamond Anniversary’ cards celebrated Bowman’s 50th anniversary. Early inserts like these helped reinvigorate interest in the Bowman brand.
Production: The 1990 Bowman set was produced by Fleer. This was the beginning of a long run with Fleer producing Bowman sets through much of the 1990s before Topps took the brand’s production in-house again. Fleer helped Bowman regain its footing as a premier brand.
In terms of the 1990 Bowman rookie class itself, several players had strong MLB careers:
Sandy Alomar Jr. (Indians) had a career .273 average with 152 home runs playing from 1988-2004. He was a six-time All-Star and won a Gold Glove.
Gregg Jefferies (Mets) hit .285 in his career from 1987-2001 with 108 home runs playing for several teams. He made the National League All-Star team in 1992.
Bobby Witt (Rangers) was one of the top pitching prospects in 1990 and had a solid career going 129-116 with a 4.15 ERA from 1989-1998 mostly with Texas. He was an All-Star in 1990.
Alex Fernandez (Blue Jays) had a career record of 117-99 with a 4.00 ERA from 1990-2002 for Toronto, Chicago, and Florida. He was an All-Star in 1993.
Not all 1990 Bowman rookies panned out. Todd Van Poppel struggled to live up to expectations after being a top draft pick. He went 35-52 with a 5.58 ERA from 1990-1999 for Oakland, Boston, and Baltimore.
The 1990 Bowman set marked a return to prominence for the brand after some lean years. Strong rookie cards, the inclusion of inserts and parallels, and production help from Fleer all contributed to Bowman re-establishing itself in the late 1980s/early 1990s. For collectors and fans, it’s a set that remains popular today and was an important part of the evolution of the modern baseball card industry.
