Probably been discussed 1,000,000x's...

[Cmount76]

Originally Posted by swarmee

Basics:

Bowman Chrome (and BC Prospects and BC Draft) are the gold standard in prospect cards, because they've been constantly produced since about 2000. Since they're released three times a year, they normally have the first produced prospect and prospect auto cards of players in their draft team's major league uniform (although they're all airbrushed on). Consistency, MLB uniform, player selection, on card autos are all the main reasons this has been the King for decades.

Bowman Sterling is not consistently released, so it has less interest because very few players have Sterling cards or autos, and many of those autos are stickers that the player signed sheets of and the company stuck them on once they were mailed back. So the player almost never handled those cards, only filled out the stickers.

Panini Prizm (+Team USA, Donruss, etc): Panini does not have an MLB license, so they were a distant second to the Topps licensed products above. Some people like their Team USA cards since they have autos and patches of players before they get drafted if they play for any of the 3 Team USA teams (under 14?, under 19?, and Collegiate). Most people still ignore them because if those players are any good, they'll end up getting Bowman cards. Because of the popularity of Prizm basketball during the coronavirus situation, Prizm has inexplicably been on fire this year by NEW TO THE HOBBY kids who are being told to invest in them by Youtube "gurus."

Leaf is third string. They also don't have the MLB license and have to list teams like "Los Angeles NL" and also have to airbrush out MLB team logos or use pictures that don't show them. Leaf's owner had a very close relationship with BGS and used to get a lot of their cards graded to insert in boxes before they were released. Some people hate that, because they don't believe BGS is awarding those grades fairly (search "Eagle Eye Joe" on blowout).

Upper Deck sometimes has baseball players and prospects in their Goodwin Champions release, which is an oddball multisport and nonsports issue very similar to Topps' Allen & Ginter.

Wow - that is a very clear and concise intro. It really hit on everything that I was wondering. Thanks so much!!!!