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   

TMNT Episode 1: Prospecting And Established Players

Deep in the sewers of NYC, lived the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Most have forgotten about them living there. Some remember and shrug it off. Others still recognize them as heroes that saved their city from the foot-clan.

What have the turtles been doing all of these years in hiding.....

Sorting sports cards.

Does it truly ever end?

Nobody knew of the turtles and their collecting sports cards except for Casey Jones who would bring the turtles packs to open and card supplies to store their items.

Once in awhile the turtles run into a card-related problem that could use some help solving before it got messy.

Today Donatello and Leonardo were looking at baseball rookies when an argument broke out.

Leo: Man, so glad I collect established players rookie cards. You just never know when a prospects values can drop.

Donnie: Well, I like the upside of having prospects. They could the next future superstars and drive the hobby market! Here, I will trade you this Moncada for your Larkin just to give you a shot of money down the road. Moncada could be the next big thing while Larkin is still stuck where he is.

Leo: NO WAY! Larkin is a Hall Of Famer! Moncada could be done in a year! You even said could be. Could is not definite.

Donnie: Prospecting is awesome! Take my Moncada, you will thank me later. If my calculations are correct, he is due for a big breakout year for the White Sox this year!

Leo: The White Sox hahaha. Larkin will do more than Moncada will ever think of doing. He is here to stay! He will always hold his value and place in my collection. Those prospects are mostly flops!

Donnie: How dare you!

*insert weapon drawn noise*

Usually not the one to talk common sense, Michelangelo decides to step into the conversation to stop the two from the argument.

Mikey: Guys, guys. Slow down. Each their own. Collect what you like dude. If Leo doesn't want to collect prospects, then he doesn't have to. If he likes collecting established players, let him. If you like collecting prospects go ahead Donnie. Both are worth what they are worth in your eyes guys.

First both stopped in shock from the conventional wisdom stowed upon them by Mikey who was usually known for eating the bubble gum out of 80's baseball packs. So the both of them agreed to stick with what they like and not try to force the other to agree with them and shook on it.

 

So for now, Donnie and Leo continued on with the way they have always collected their baseball rookies. And all was happy in the turtles lair til the next cardtrovercy....

So what do you guys do when it comes to baseball rookies? You take the risk and ride with a prospect? Do you focus on already established players and Hall Of Famers? And when you trade, how often do you RISK trading a prospect with a high upside for someone who has already retired but is a Hall Of Famer? Let me know in comments.

I promise I won't let the turtles see your answers. I wouldn't want to stir them up again.

REVIEW:2016 Bowman Inception Baseball (Autograph Giveaway!)

You know how some products you question the look of in the distance? Well, I did that with this product.

One thing I learned was, you can't judge a card design from a distance.

READ ON!

In every box of 2016 Bowman Inception baseball is one pack with 5 cards per pack. There are also 5 autographs per box and boxes run a little less than $85.

What you see when you first open the box...

Inside that box you will hope to find key rookie autographs of Corey Seager, Kenta Maeda, Stephen Piscotty, Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber, Michael Conforto, and Miguel Sano.

Or you can pull some future stars that may not have the name just yet like I did.

Here we go!

The base card design looks so much better in person. The rookies appear on an "space" type design probably a symbol for them reaching for the stars.The card thickness is premium and my only concern with this design is chipping. Hopefully when you buy a box it will be shipped safely and correctly.

My first hits are Prospect Autographs which is 56 cards deep.

Parallels include:

• Blue
• Green
• Gold – /25
• Orange – /5
• Red – 1/1

Rookie Autograph is my next pull. These feature the Top 15 MLB rookies of the 2016 season.

Rookie Autographs will feature the following parallels:

• Blue Parallel: Sequentially numbered.
• Green Parallel: Sequentially numbered.
• Gold Parallel: Sequentially numbered to 25.
• Orange Parallel: Sequentially numbered to 5.
• Red Parallel: Numbered 1/1.

The design is same as the prospects except these have the rookie logos and it's presented landscape design. Still leads to a cool. look.

 

My final pull of the box is a an autographed relic card that falls one-per-box. These feature game-used jersey swatches of the game's top prospects and MLB rookies.

Parallels include:

• Blue Parallel: Sequentially numbered.
• Green Parallel: Sequentially numbered.
• Gold Parallel: Sequentially numbered to 25.
• Orange Parallel: Sequentially numbered to 5.
• Red Parallel: Numbered 1/1.

Mine was a pinstripe pull of Mets Dominic Smith.

 

Other finds I didn't pull are...

• Inceptionized Bowman Veteran Autographs: These recreate each MLB veteran's 1st Bowman card featuring the Inception effect and and on-card auto
• Inceptionized Bowman Prospect Autographs: 1 Per Case and showcases each subject's 2016 Bowman Baseball card with the Inception groove to it
• Origins Autographs Top prospects, MLB rookies and veterans on a special card design featuring on-card autographs.
• Autograph Jumbo Patch Cards: Featuring a JUMBO game-used jersey patch of the game's top prospects and rookies.
• Autograph Logo Patch Cards: Features an MLB Silhouetted Batter logo patch from a game-used jersey. Numbered 1/1.
• Future Stars Autograph Relics: Showcases unique relic pieces from the 2015 SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game jersey. Numbered 1/1 and comes with a Laundry Tag Parallel : Numbered 1/1.
• Veteran Autograph Relics: Features top young MLB stars with a game-used memorabilia piece.
• Autograph Letter Book Cards: full-sized letter patch relic from a game-used jersey paired with an autograph. Really sharp looking!

Overall, not a bad price point for 5 autographs as many products would top $100. This product has a lot to offer with top rookies in the game and would make for some good looking prospecting. Not every box will provide a boom, but looking at the checklist and looking at the offerings there is plenty here to try and chase.

Also keep in mind what you paid for a box of Bowman for that one hit, this has 5. I know there are less cards but looking at the overall picture....

My only concern with these like I stated above is chipping.

Now time for the giveaway!

To win this card above, read these rules! 

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 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 ONE PRO AND ONE CON OF THE PRODUCT.
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 or you WILL LOSE OUT an extra entry!
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 August 16th 2016. Winner will be announced in a separate post on August 17th 2016
9. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :)

Good luck to all that enter and thanks for reading!

Review: Upper Deck USA Football 2013

Coming off from a very successful 2012 campaign with its inclusion of Jameis Winston's first time on cardboard, Upper Deck brings back USA Football for a sophomore season!

BOX BREAK DOWN: 

• Two to Three Regular Autograph Cards
• Two to Three Memorabilia Cards
• One Autographed Memorabilia Card #'d to 49 or less
• 24 Packs Per Box, 5 Cards Per Pack

PRICE: Boxes are around $70

WITHIN THE BOX:

Base Cards:
The set consists of 100 cards,  featuring 50 top NCAA D-1 recruits from the United States and Canada

Inserts:
N/A

Memorabilia (non-autographed):
Shane Cockerille
Weslee Richmond
Harley Kirsch

Autographs/Autograph Memorabilia
Mason Ewing Base Auto
Amari Barret Base Auto
Jevante Stanley/Jordan Grimes/Nate Delaney Team Canada Triple Auto
Delando Johnson Patch/Auto #d 20/49

DESIGN:
The design is similiar to another Upper Deck football brand a few years back. But, I think it works here well with the color schemes chosen. I like the fact they chose two color schemes in the base, autograph and memorabilia cards for both USA and Canada.

I also like the fact they used landscape design on the memorabilia cards.

COOL NOTES:
New to this year is autographs, and memorabilia featuring not only the USA under-19 team, but also the under-18 and under-16 teams too. Also new to this years is your chance to collect cards and autographs from Team Canada's under-18 and under-16 team. Great additions.

THOUGHTS:  At first glance you look at this product and say, "who in the cardboard are these guys?" And yes, I had the same reaction. But, that's what you expect with guys 19 and under. I look at this product as future value. These are the first cardboard of potential stars and what I consider Upper Deck's version of Topps Bowman with the prospecting it features.

For $70 or a little under, you get at least 6 hits and this box had 7. A ton of cards and possibly a ton of future value here if these guys pan out. The one thing I wished Upper Deck did do was add some inserts or parallels. Because if your pack didn't produce a hit, you got base cards. I think there needs to be an added  insert of some-sort. Other than that, an interesting product to keep an eye on in the future.  You just never know when one of these guys could turn big.