’23 Bowman’s Best to feature Randy Johnson’s photography

2023 Bowman’s Best pre-order hit Topps’ website Monday and already sold out, but that’s not what caught my eye.

The page is still live, and if you flip through the example cards, you’ll see a Druw Jones auto with a pretty recognizable signature, if you’re a baseball collector, in the top left corner of the card.

It’s none other than “The Big Unit” Randy Johnson. Those unfamiliar with Johnson outside his baseball career may be surprised to hear that Johnson is a longtime photographer.

Topps invited Johnson to the Topps Spot before the 2023 MLB season, and in a video on Topps’ Instagram, you can see him taking photos of players who came through.

“The Big Unit” took to his IG page (@rj51photos) to comment on the opportunity. “Great time last night creating my own line of baseball cards w/ some of my photography for the legendary card company @topps featuring some of the brightest young superstars in baseball today. Stay tuned.”

It’s still too early to tell which of his photos besides the Jones got used, if these inserts will have parallels and base versions, what Topps will call these, or what the checklist will look like.

Something else I noticed within this Randy Johnson photography card is the design resembles the 1992 Bowman Cards, specifically the “lifestyle,” as I call them, cards of Mariano Rivera, Cliff Floyd, and Manny Ramirez.

Bowman’s Best is due to feature four autographs per master box, meaning two per mini box, as well as new Family Tree Dual and Triple Autograph cards.

Topps says collectors can also look for insert sets such as Shellacked and Him.

Check back soon for pre-orders on dacardworld.com!