REVIEW:2016 Bowman Baseball+GIVEAWAY!

One of my yearly buys, Bowman baseball released with some new and classic favorites within the box. The one thing that never changes about Bowman and the biggest reason I buy is the prospect hunt. So let's go on one!

Here is how a 2016 Bowman baseball card box should break:

• 24 packs, 10 cards per pack
• One Autograph Card Per Box
• $90 per box

I like this years base card design with the faded border around the edges leaving more of a full picture reveal. I also like how the layout. The name of the player up the left side of the card with colorful team logo below and the small touch of player position in the right hand corner. Looks snazzy.

There are 150 base cards in the set with rookies and veterans such as Kris Bryant, Mike Trout, Miguel Sano and Corey Seager.

Bowman also has the big offseason moves with players on their new teams such as Zack Greinke and David Price. No photo shopping and I like it!

Rookie cards, yes, I call these the true rookies (I know many don't like that label but I call it as I see it), these are the ones with the RC logo within the base set. They have the same design except the added RC logo at the top. I pulled most of the key ones in this box including Corey Seager.

Now begins, PROSPECT MANIA!!! With players having both "paper" and chromed versions of their prospect cards there is plenty to chase. Most packs are also made up of the combo of the two as well.

There are also Bowman 1st year cards of key up-comers such as Yoan Moncada. The design on these stays pretty much the same on the Prospect/1st year cards except the player name gets moved to the bottom. I still think it looks nice.

 I also wanted to note that I think the chrome used on these is much thicker I feel than past issues. I like it better that way as it may decrease the odds of it bending later on down the road.

Overall there are 150 prospect cards to find of each paper and of Chrome.

There are a lot of parallels to find all over the base/prospect sets.

Parallels for the "paper" Veteran & Rookie Base Cards &Prospects will include:

• Silver Border
• Purple Border: sequentially numbered.
• Blue Border: sequentially numbered.
• Gold Border: sequentially numbered.
• Orange Border: sequentially numbered to 25.
• Red Border: sequentially numbered to 5.
• Metallic Border: numbered 1/1.

Here are two paper parallels I found in my box:

Here is a silver Prospect Parallel of Daniel Robertson. These fall, 1:43. They are a tad bit hard to spot, but in comparison to the other prospect cards you will figure it out pretty fast. These seem to be unnumbered.

 

And here is a really nice pull in a orange base rookie card parallel of Michael Conforto numbered to 25. These fall, 1:165 packs.

New to this years Chrome rookie parallels are these Shimmer Variation Refractors. Find the following of these:

• Green Shimmer Variation Refractor
• Orange Shimmer Variation Refractor
• Red Shimmer Variation Refractor

Other Chrome parallels are:

• Refractor
• Purple Refractor: sequentially numbered.
• Blue Refractor: sequentially numbered.
• Gold Refractor: sequentially numbered.
• Orange Refractor: sequentially numbered to 25
• Red Refractor: sequentially numbered to 5.
• SuperFractor: numbered 1/1.
• Printing Plates: numbered 1/1

I found these two parallels in my box:

Regular refractor, these fall, 1:33 packs

A blue parallel. These fall, 1:110 packs

Other inserts in Bowman are Sophomore Standouts (1:8 packs), International Ink  (1:12 packs) and Family Tree (1:24 packs) I like the concept of the Family Tree with the showcasing father-son player combinations. The designs are pretty bland compared to the rest of the inserts in the product but they serve a spot none-the-less. They also have parallels to them as well.

Parallels for these insert sets will include:

• Blue Parallel: sequentially numbered
• Orange Parallel: sequentially numbered to 25
• Red Parallel: sequentially numbered to 5.
• Metallic Parallel: numbered 1/1.

One of my favorite inserts in this product is the Turn Two. Nice looking double-sided chrome refractor cards featuring two prospects. There is also autograph and parallel versions to this too.

• Gold Parallel: sequentially numbered.
• SuperFractor Parallel: numbered 1/1.

Other fun shiny inserts to find in this years Bowman, Bowman Scouts' Top 100 Prospects that fall 1:8 packs, here are their parallels:

• Gold Parallel: sequentially numbered. NEW!
• Orange Parallel: sequentially numbered to 25
• SuperFractor Parallel: numbered 1/1. NEW!

And Rookie Recollections featuring this years design with former players celebrating the 25th anniversary of the 1991 Bowman Rookie Class. I pulled Chipper who I consider the best of the group!

These have parallels as well:

• Gold Parallel: sequentially numbered
• Orange Parallel: sequentially numbered to 25
• Red Parallel: sequentially numbered to 5
• SuperFractor: numbered 1/1

Now onto the one hit per box you can find. I have never had a lot of success in pulling the "big guys" and this box stayed in that direction. However, Bowman isn't always about pulling the big boys. There are a lot of low to mid-tier prospects that come out of nowhere in 2-4 years and turn out to be superstars. Hence, Trevor Story. So pulling a rookie auto of a not-big-namer may not always be a bad thing.

 

Like the rest of the product, the chrome rookie autographs also have parallels:

• Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered.
• Purple Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered.
• Blue Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered.
• Gold Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered
• Orange Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered to 25
• Red Refractor Parallel: sequentially numbered to 5
• SuperFractor Parallel: numbered 1/1
• Printing Plates: numbered 1/1

Other autographed cards find are Sophomore Standouts, Ultimate Autograph Book Card, All-America Game Autographs. There are also "paper" autographs you can find only in retail.

Overall, I think the price point is scary at first with it being $90 for one-hit, but, there is a lot of offerings in a box of Bowman and this is one of the very few products I probably would take a chance on with only that one hit for that price. As always, it's a risk with any product, but this one is packed with prospects from top to bottom so you are bound to hit on someone somewhere. This rookie class is also looking pretty solid so far as well.

 

Now onto the contest part of this review, this time I thought two maybe three winners.

1st place (with a couple bonus cards):  

 

2nd Place and 3rd place: Your favorite team related cards 3-5 of them containing base/inserts/prospects. We must get to 25 entries to unlock three winners BUT will be two at least. If we can reach 50 entries, I will randomly insert that autograph from this box into one of those Top 3 prizes.

Now onto the small print.

1. Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to host this/these nice giveaways with. Follow them on all social media sites and visit their site, HERE, as well.
2. ***VERY IMPORTANT***MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT to enter or have a shipping address in the U.S. Shipping costs have gone haywire and I can't afford to ship everywhere.This is always hard to do as I appreciate all readers but I hope you all understand non-U.S. readers.
3. Random winner(s) will be chosen after 7 randoms
4. Card may be shipped PWE. I like to forewarn on this.
5. LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW telling me your thoughts on this product and what team/prospect you will be chasing cards of in here
6. EARN AN EXTRA ENTRY FOR SHARING THIS CONTEST ON YOUR BLOG AND/OR ON TWITTER. Make sure to leave your link in comments too so I can count it. If not, I won't be able to give you the credit. Commenting with it is very important!!
7. Sport Card Collectors or it's owner (person who runs the blog), WILL NOT be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. Sorry had to add this in since someone tried to scam me once about this.
8. Contest starts today, ends on Saturday, MAY 14TH 2016. Winner will be announced in a separate post on Sunday MAY 15th 2016. 
9. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :) 
10. PLEASE TAKE A MOMENT OUT TO TWEET THIS, FACEBOOK OR BLOG POST THIS OUT WHEN YOU GET IT!! 

 And of course, good luck to all that enter! And remember to spread the word!