CARDBOARD REVIEW:2019 Bowman Draft Baseball

Prospecting can both be rewarding and frustrating. Many collectors enjoy doing the sport of prospecting by collecting all of one player, some do a few, they are banking their life savings on while other collectors remember the name Brien Taylor.

No matter where you sit on that fence, it's always fun to bust a box of Bowman at least no matter which version of it there is.

Bowman Draft is what the title says, a rookie heavy product that is driven towards the prospectors but it doesn't mean team collectors don't want to dive in as well.

For me, Just like to make sure I have one rookie or prospect of every player. It's nothing I bank on, as I have pointed out before I don't prospect much, but it's simply just something fun to have.

I haven't had much success in the past with Bowman Draft, let's see if my luck changes today.

In every HOBBY box of 2019 Bowman Draft there is 12 packs of 32 cards. There is a ton of cards per box. Each box comes with 3 autographs. Other versions come with more/less autographs per. Boxes are running hot at $225 each.

BASE

There is both paper and chrome base in the set with most of the top prospects/rookies. There is 200 cards in the base paper set

and also 200 in the chrome set as well.

PARALLELS
There is the following paper base parallels,
Sky Blue /499, Purple /250, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Purple

 Sky Blue

Chrome base has the following parallels,
Refractor, Sky Blue, Purple /250, Sparkles, Blue /150, Green /99, Gold /50, Orange /25, Red /5, SuperFractor 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

These I guess are regular refractors despite their blue tint compared to regular. But I believe Sky Blue is numbered.

Base refractors you will find at least two per pack.

 Sparkles....very sparkly.

And not one numbered chrome parallel. Odd, but oh well.

INSERTS:
Most inserts have the following parallells
Atomic /150, Orange /25, Red /5, and SuperFractor 1/1.

Franchise Futures has 10 cards to collect

 Draft Progression Trios has 14 cards to collect

 Draft PIck Breakdown has 10 cards to collect

Bowman 30th Anniversary has 10 cards to collect as well.

HITS
My hits weren't the best, but once again, these guys are young prospects so it's hard to tell now what they may be later on.

 Everyone knows I despise pulling pitchers, but his signature is solid.

 Another pitcher, this time a refractor parallel /499

And one hitter to "bank"on in Cameron Cannon. I like his signature as well.

OTHER HITS NOT FOUND IN MY BOX BUT COULD BE IN YOURS INCLUDES,

• 1989 Bowman 30th Anniversary Autographs
• Class of 2019 Autographs Set
• Draft Night Autographs
• Draft Pick Breakdown Autographs
• Franchise Futures Dual Autographs
• Under Armour Game Autograph

OVERALL THOUGHTS:
Well, this is a prospecting product. I can't tell at the moment other than a few eBay lookups how good these guys will be down the road. I can tell you though if you like Bowman and all that Bowman has to offer, then this is the product for you.

I think overall the product looks nice and of course I am always into shiny things so that helps as well.

Price Point right now is ridiculous as you hope and pray to find a top prospect hidden in your box in order to cover that. But, if you do, I mean the money will be there. Collectors love the autographs that come from this product and this is a big one to try to land top cards out of.

Best suggestion would be to jump in on a box break with your favorite team.

I suggest Midwest Box Breaks who also sends all color and BASE. Not many breakers do that anymore\!


SAVE 10% on your next break with Midwest!! Just use code SCCBLOG to do so. Don't miss out on those big hits any longer! Code ends at the end of the year!

Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Topps for providing this box for me to review. Also follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well   

REVIEW:2018 Topps Heritage Minors

The Part 3 of sorts of the Topps Heritage family line every year, Minors just hit the streets providing you prospects with a glance at that 1969 Topps design.

How did my break go? Let's check it out!

In every box of 2018 Topps Heritage Minors, there are 18 packs of 8 cards each. Boxes come with one on-card autograph and one memorabilia card per. Boxes run $65 per roughly. So not too shabby. You are also promised an autograph vs the major league edition which you don't find those very often. At least I don't.

Also in each box, are these all gloss parallel packs, the blue one.

Inside are three glossy parallels. Nice find here with Royce Lewis.

The base card set is done in the 1969 Topps design just like the major league Heritage. There are 200 cards in the prospect set with all of the big names.

In the base set as well are these two subsets. League Leaders and

The Topps News which looks great.

Just like the Heritage Major League edition, there are Sp's to find.

They end in CMP code 81

Other CMP codes to watch out for are,

• Base ends in 467
• Image Variations ends in 482
• Circle Color Variations ends in 483

Also new to this release are the actual words of what variation it is. Amazing!!! You can find it right here in the writing of the Topps logo including the Short Prints. Hope they continue this with all releases moving forward!

Along with the Glossy parallels, there are magenta backs. Yes, make sure you watch your "backs" that fall 1:40 packs.

and There are also Black border /50 that fall 1:40 packs.

Other parallels to find are, Team Color Change /25 and Red 1/1.

Inserts are Deckle Edge with 18 cards to chase,

 

1969 Collector Cards that have 20 cards in the set,

And making your Pro Debut chance with two of these cards falling per box,

Now onto my hits,

My first one was this 1969 Mint Nickel pull of Hunter Greene. Well, it was one my wife found. We work on these together and she was like why is there is coin in here? I explained it was a 1969 coin due to the design of the overall product. She thought it was a cool hit along with me.

My autograph find was a black border /50 of Sam Carlson.

Other hits I couldn't get but you could are,

• Base Image Variation Autographs
• Dual Autographs
• 1969 Deckle Edge Autograph (Black/White)
• 1969 Mint Coin Relic Autograph
• Bazooka Autographs
• Clubhouse Collection Relics

OVERALL: Not a bad overall price for a box with plenty of bigger hits to be chased down. My box was a little weak on the hits side besides the fairly nice minted coin hit. At least I did find two /50 cards.

I say if you are a prospector and with all of the big names in the product, there isn't really a huge gamble here for the price. Go give it a try.

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 a future promo.  Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well. 

REVIEW:2018 Bowman High Tek Baseball

Back for 2018 after it's decent success in 2017, Bowman High Tek comes loaded with all of that prospect heavy fun that collectors want. Not too mention, acetate. Seems like there are more and more releases the last couple of years that uses that technology.

I really liked the 2017 version so let's see how I feel about the 2018 one.

 

In every box of 2018 Bowman High Tek baseball, there is one pack per box with 10 cards per pack. There are 4 on-card autographs per box as well and boxes run $80.

The one problem I have with High Tek is telling the difference in patterns. There are 10 different to sort through but only 56 cards in the actual base set with ONLY rookies and prospects. The design is simple and the cards do look nice. Some designs are much snazzier looking than others.

This is Pattern 1 the most basic one.

Zig Zag is Pattern 3. One per pack on this one.

Stripes is Pattern 2. Very common as well.

 

There are 7 others to find after this and each level becomes a bit tougher to find. Check out this helpful Beckett article to define yours. 

https://www.beckett.com/news/2018-bowman-high-tek-baseball-pattern-variations/

There are lots of parallels to surprise in here as well. Here is the full list of them and check out my purple ones afterwards.

PATTERN 1 PARALLELS

Purple Rainbow /191, Green Rainbow /99, Ocean Blue Tidal /75, Gold Rainbow /50, Orange Magma Diffractor /25, Red Orbit Diffractor /10, Black Galactic Diffractor 1/1, Printing Proofs 1/1.

PATTERN 9

SpecTEKular Diffractor 1/1

PATTERN 10: Black Galactic Diffractor 1/1.

My purple find was this Mejia /199.

 

Now onto the autographs. All on-card and they are beautiful.

Jorge Guzman

 Jeren Kendall

 

Royce Lewis. Nice one here.

and a purple parallel of Pavin Smith.

Other parallels to find are,  Purple Diffractor /150, Green Rainbow /99, Ocean Blue Tidal /75, Gold Rainbow /50, Orange Magma Diffractor /25, Red Orbit Diffractor #/10, Black Galactic Diffractor 1/1, Printing Proofs 1/1.

Other hits I didn't find but you may include,

• 1st Bowman Tek
• 1st Bowman Tek Autograph
• PyroTEKnics 
• PyroTEKnics Autograph
• Tides of Youth
• Tides of Youth Autograph

OVERALL: Box price for prospects and 4 autographs isn't bad if you can land the right pull and they are in here. Most of the big name rookies and prospects are with my box containing Royce Lewis who is one of them. Still after my break I felt there was still a loss vs the cost but with prospects and rookies you just never know when one of these guys can step up and change my opinion.

As for design, looks great and the on card autographs really stand out on the patterned design.

I do wish there were more cards in here. Maybe another 10 base and parallel? I may feel a bit better with that. But, like with all products, they are gambles and sometimes they pay off and other times they don't. If you don't feel comfortable about buying a box, go pick up some singles or join a box break. I think it would be worth your time.

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 a future promo.  Follow Topps on all social media sites and visit their SITE, as well.