Overview
- 1997 Bowman is a significant release in the bowman brand history as it contains many of the innovations that the product carries with it to this day. It was the first year that separated veterans (red) from prospects (blue) by adding a different color along the border for each designation. It also includes the first usage of the “1st Bowman” logo as well as the first time Bowman contained autographs.
- This year was separated into two series (Series One #1-221, Series Two #222-441). S1 contains two errors on the checklist as cards #155 and #158 do not exist. Instead there are two different players who share the same card number - #156 (Calvin Reese & George Arias) and #159 (Chris Carpenter & Eric Milton). Derek Jeter also has autographs exclusive to both series with the Blue Ink version only available in S1 and the Green Ink version only in S2. Black and Gold Ink versions of the Jeter were inserted at the same odds as all other players in both S1 & S2 boxes.
