The 52 Topps set was their first set in the model that would become the standard of how we understand cards. The 51 Bowman set was not the first, nor the model of cards to come. But bigger than that, Bowman flamed out a few years later. I wasn’t there at the time, so I can’t say how popular that card was at the time, or how it’s popularity compared to the Bowman cards at the time, but with its link to the present quickly dissolving with Bowman’s demise, it just doesn’t have that same living-link that Topps has. If Bowman still existed today as Topps’ 70 years strong competitor, I bet the Bowman rookie would be more popular than the 52 Topps (and neither would be as popular as the actual 52 Topps).
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