1992 Bowman is an important set in the evolution of baseball cards. There were many young players and key rookie cards (Mariano Rivera, Mike Piazza, Trevor Hoffman, and more) plus move from traditional Topps card stock to white gloss card stock. The set was a major leap forward for Bowman which seemed like an off brand version of Topps (although now owned by Topps). The few with FOIL borders were a special visual treat.

The backs follow the Bowman trend of stats vs other teams and follow 1988 Score w/head shot photo on back with personal info...a big departure form plain bubble gum card backs.

On the downside the volume of young players included many cards of players that never made it to The Show, and worse (in my view) their pictures are in street clothes and look like they are from their senior pictures proof set. While it may be amusing to see Chipper Jones looking GQ in shorts and a long sleeve shirt I don't the no-names in street clothes padding my team set and worse I don't like the key RC of the greatest reliever of all time (Mariano Rivera) not being in a sports uniform.

In aggregate 1992 Bowman is the set to own for 1992 and my favorite of the modern Bowmans.

Historical significance: 9
Rookies: 8
Eye appeal: 9
Backs: 8
Score other factors (inserts, over production, size, etc.): N/A
SCORE: 8.5

I'm getting back into the cards that were coming out when I was a kid and I have to admit that 1992 Bowman still looks very sharp to me even all these years later. Yes, the design is far from entrancing but it's very clean and uncluttered. Still, I think the things that are drawing me to this set are twofold: I feel the photography of the players on the front is great (the photos on the foils seem kind of lackluster IMO) and the fact that we're so far removed from the release that the cards aren't nearly as valuable as they once were. I remember seeing the entire set listed with values between $200~$300 in price guides when I was a preteen and realizing that I'd never be able to afford any of these cards. I know people never want anything to devalue per say, but it's nice that you don't have to break the bank to own the majority of these cards nowadays.

The front of these cards are not all that exciting or dynamic, but I love the back side of the cards. Specifically, love the stats against each team for the prior year.