Sunday, May 7, 2017

REVIEW:2017 Bowman Baseball (NICE AUTO PULL)

Bowman baseball is celebrating 70 years! Can't believe it's 70 already!

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!

I know I wanna find some Aaron Judge cards. Not only for my Yanks PC, but in general. That guy can hit and his cards are hotter than


In every box of 2017 Bowman baseball, you will emerge yourself in 24 packs of 10 cards each. Hobby boxes come with 1 autograph per and boxes are red hot right now selling for just under $110. There is a solid rookie and prospect class this year so many are searching.

The base card design is simple. It's player focused and basically borderless. I actually like it compared to the past few years. There are 100 cards in the base set consisting of rookies and veterans.

 
JUDGE!!!! There are rookies, prospects and 1st Year cards everywhere! Paper Prospects have a deeper checklist which is typical for Bowman knowing it's home of the rookies with 150 cards in it.
 
Key Rookies to find that you see plentiful amounts of are Andrew Benintendi, Yoan Moncada, Manny Margot, Aaron Judge, Dansby Swanson, Alex Bregman, Hunter Renfroe, Carson Fulmer, Reynaldo Lopez, Jharel Cotton, Yulieski Gurriel, and Ryon Healy.
 
Key Prospects to find are Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Eloy Jimenez, Cody Bellinger, Nick Senzel, Lucas Erceg, Victor Robles, Clint Frazier, Blake Rutherford, Mickey Moniak, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Tyler O'Neill, Lazarito Armenteros, Kyle Tucker, Dane Dunning, Chance Sisco, Anderson Espinoza, Brent Honeywell, Tetsuto Yamada, Tomoyuki Sugano, Yoshitomo Tsutsugo, Takahiro Norimoto, Rafael Devers, Franklin Barreto, Michael Kopech, and A.J. Puk.
 
Parallels this year in Bowman are not easy peasy to find. I like that. It helps value them more.
 
Here are my only pulls of paper parallels. This one is a hard to spot silver that falls 1:47 packs and are numbered to 499.

 
And purple that falls 1:94 packs.


There is also,
  • Blue Border
  • Gold Border
  • Orange Border numbered to 25
  • Red Border numbered to 5.
  • Black Border numbered 1/1.
Just like the paper prospects, the chrome versions are also 150 cards deep.

Both versions also have some World Baseball Classic players included.
 
Just like with the paper parallels, basic parallels for chrome are not easy either. I found a purple 1:94 packs and a Orange Shimmer /25 that falls 1:203. Love the look of these.
 
 
You can also find a ton of other refractor parallels such as,
  • Refractor /499
  • Blue /150
  • Green /99
  • Green Shimmer /99
  • 70th Bowman (not sure about numbering on these)
  • Gold /50
  • Gold Shimmer /50
  • Orange /25
  • Orange Shimmer /25
  • Red /5
  • Red Shimmer/5
  • SuperFractor 1/1
  • Printing Plates 1/1
Now onto the inserts. Some tremendous looking ones.

ROY Favorites features top rookies of the 2017 MLB season.These fall 1:8 packs.
 
One way to celebrate Bowman's 50th anniversary, is to chrome/refractor it up with classic old designs with players of today, yesterday and tomorrow. I really dig these. Designs include 1948 Bowman, 1951 Bowman, and 1992 Bowman. These fall at varying rates.

 
Bowman Scouts' Top 100 makes another return. This years design is superb and features the top 100 prospects of 2017 as ranked by our Bowman Scouts. These fall 1:8 packs.

 
Another shiny insert to find is Talent Pipeline. These highlight the top players at each level of the Minor League system. These fall 1:12 packs.

 
All above inserts come with parallels of Orange /25 and Supers 1/1.

And as with all Topps products this year, they have included buybacks. I like the 70 Bowman stamp design. These seem to fall a couple per box. Nothing too strong here.

 
Now onto the pull which was by far my best out of Bowman ever. A 2017 Rookie Of The Year orange autograph /25 that falls 1:2979 odds and is playing well, Yoan Moncada. It's a bit disappointing however that he wasn't featured in an updated uni.
 
Other hits that were not found in my box include, All-America Game Autographs, Bowman Ascent Autographs, Chrome Prospect Autographs, Chrome Rookie Autographs, Bowman Scouts' Top 100 autographs, and autograph variations of the 1948 and 1992 Bowman insert. Of course all of the parallels as well.
 
OVERALL, obviously this was an awesome break with a top notch auto pull and some decent parallels. I have bought plenty of Bowman to know how well I did in this break vs previous experiences. The price is a bit steep to take a risk on that one autograph, on the other hand, this is a good class to buy. It may be worth the gamble or you may want to wait til prices drop some. But, on the other hand, you also don't want them to rise either. 
 
As always, the Bowman Chrome rookie autographs are always the most sought after and most valuable autograph cards on the baseball market.
 
There is tons of fun finds in this years product. I looked forward to busting every pack with the great inserts, the throwbacks, the parallel searching and rookies I was hoping to find.
 
Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review and to be able to add cards to the MLB Pick Em promotion. Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their site, as well.

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