2024 Bowman Baseball Blaster

2024 Bowman:  Freddie Freeman is flirting with hitting .300 again this season which he's done eight times in the previous 14 seasons.

Texas representing.  Alvarez and Altuve are having excellent seasons while Max Scherzer has been limited due to injuries.  I like the design this year.  The photos are cropped pretty tight on the players but the players blend into the borders which helps maximize photo quality.

Feeling old as I see more players like Homer Bush Jr.  I didn't realize it has been so long since his father was in the league - 2004.  The youngsters have a minor design difference to set them off from veterans.  The team logo, player position and Bowman logo are on opposite sides of the card.  I've always liked that.

1st Bowman cards including a Chrome offering.

The Top 100 inserts aren't bad but not a favorite of mine.

I really like the Rookie of the Year Favorites cards.  We also get a Green Pattern Parallel and Purple Pattern Parallel which is #/199.

I like the backs even if we don't get career stats.  The Resume, Skills, and Up Close write-ups work for me.

Luis Arraez and Christian Yelich are having good seasons again this year though Arraez is now a Padre.

RC cards as well. 

The Chrome cards are good takes on the base cards.  I'm not a Chrome guy but no complaints from me.  Pitchers were almost non-existent amongst prospects in this box.  Weird.

I really like both of these inserts - Bowman AI and Prospect Power Up.  Color serves Chrome well but the design is pretty cool as well.

Acuna hot box!  Yes, they are all brothers.

Fun box of cards.  I like the design and I thought I had a pretty good pull.  Don't ask me which prospects are the ones to look out for.  I'll just let them age and figure it out then.

BREAKDOWN:

72 – Total Cards

18 – Chrome

13 – RC

13 – 1st Bowman

2 – Bowman Top 100

2 – Green Pattern Parallel

1 – Bowman AI

1 – Prospect Power Up

1 – Rookie of the Year Favorites

1 – Purple Pattern Parallel #/199

Random Wax: 2021 Bowman

2021 Bowman: Let's do some baseball today.  Bowman is always hit and miss for me.  I'm not all about the prospects so these can be tough.  Gerrit Cole is a good place to start with this pack though.

Vilade only has six at bats at the major league level.  Royce Lewis only had 40 at bats in his first season but gave Twins fans hope as he batted .300 with two home runs.  These are Bowman Chrome inserts.

Tyler Stephenson is batting a really good .296 across three seasons with the Reds.

When I opened this pack two years ago I had no idea Jeremy Pena would be a World Series MVP in his first season for the Houston Astros.

Some more veterans as well as Corbin Carroll on a Bowman Scout's Top 100 insert.  He batted .260 in 104 at bats last season.  Fun when you can look back at these and find guys doing well.

BREAKDOWN:
19 – Total Cards
5 – Bowman Chrome
3 – RC
3 – 1st Bowman
1 – Bowman Top 100

 

Random Wax: 2021 Bowman Baseball

2021 Bowman:  I haven't posted one of these packs I picked up last May since, well last May.  We'll kick this pack off with St. Louis Cardinal All-Star starter Paul Goldschmidt who just picked up his 300th career homer last week and is having an outstanding year.  If he keeps it up he may be in line for the MVP.

Bowman stresses youth so plenty of those in these packs.  None of these three have done anything to speak of in the majors yet.

Riley Greene is having a decent rookie year while Adley Rutschman is still struggling in his first MLB season.

These three haven't made it to the majors yet.

Three more who haven't made their mark yet.  These packs aren't for looking at one year later so in a few years from now when I look back at this pack it may have an entirely different feel to it.  Xander Bogaerts is another All-Star and starter for the American League.

BREAKDOWN:
19 – Total Cards
5 – RC
5 – Chrome
1 – Futurist
1 – 1st Bowman
1 – Bowman Top 100

2021 Bowman

 2021 Bowman: A few of these were at my local Wally World yesterday so I grabbed three packs.  I have to say collation was bad amongst the three packs so I ended up with some duplicates which was disappointing.  Each pack comes with five Chrome and this Jo Adell was a nice Chrome pull and a great place to start.  The price point on these is $9.99.  I forget these are that expensive or I would have only pick up two packs.  I'll show off the other two packs throughout the year.

Almost every young player in these packs were players I'm not familiar with.  I did pull a Brave so hopefully in a few years I'll see Drew Waters in the majors.  I like the design this year.  It's a bit busy but I've found past designs on the boring side.

Some base Chrome.

Three Marlins highlight this Talent Pipeline Chrome insert.

Plenty of young players in these packs.  I was happy with the photos for most part as well.  

Veterans are also part of the set but it seemed like I had anywhere from two to six veterans in each pack.  These four were all duplicated in another pack.  Other than the duplicates I like these cards.  I won't look for more except maybe some singles.  

  

BREAKDOWN:
19 – Total Cards
5 – Chrome
2 – RC
1 – Talent Pipeline
1 – Rookie of the Year Favorites

Random Wax: 2020 Bowman

2020 Bowman:  Have to say this pack probably felt quite a bit different when I opened it two years ago.  Boehm wasn't quite the player being chased in the hobby like he is today.  He's started off slow this year but had a great year last year with the Phils making expectations high for this guy.  This is a 1990 Bowman insert.

This set has a pretty good design that I like.  That Beck is a purple parallel #/250.  Some of these guys are still finding their way whereas players like Hoerner is already working on carving out his niche in the majors.

No matter how the players are doing it's fun to look at these with fresh eyes wondering if these guys have made an impression yet.

The set does include vets like Baez and Miggy.  Fun pack to look at now and have some hope that Boehm will become the player many think he will be.  

BREAKDOWN:
19 – Total Cards
5 – Chrome
2 – RC
2 – 1st Bowman
1 – 1990 Bowman
1 – Purple Parallel #/250

Random Wax: 2020 Bowman Baseball

2020 Bowman Baseball:  This is another of the packs I picked up last summer.  Nice design on this set though not spectacular  I know Jose Altuve struggled mightily last year but I'm a fan and hoping he'll bounce back this year.  He did have excellent ALDS and ALCS series after going 0'fer in the Wild Card Series. 

Young players of course dominate the Bowman brand.  Sean Murphy has the most experience here and could yet be a nice player if he can get his average up as he does have some pop in his bat.

Nola is the only one of these to see the field but still hasn't distinguished himself.  Not a pack that will wow anyone but they are always fun to look at down the road.  

BREAKDOWN:
19 – Total Cards
5 – Chrome
4 – RC
4 – 1st Bowman
1 – Yellow Parallel #/75

Random Wax: 2020 Bowman Baseball

 2020 Bowman Baseball: Had this pack since June but haven't posted any baseball for a while.  End of the season is this weekend and then we have the new playoff system.  Should be interesting all around.  I'm just happy we got the season in.  This pack was pretty strong with the young Blue Jays stars headlining it.  Bichette has had a good year but has had to battle through injuries. 

Bowman is of course focuses on the prospects most of which I haven't heard of nor will I know for some time.  That said I have heard of Bobby Witt Jr.  But don't ask me any questions about him.  

And more young players.  Hopefully in a few years we know about all these guys.  

This is one of six chrome cards in the pack.  A favorite of many collectors the hope is to get the key players on these. 

Veteran players also have a presence here but they aren't why most folks are picking up Bowman packs.  Good pull in this pack and we'll wait and see how the careers of these guys play out.  Bowman posts are fun to look back at in three years.  Speaking of, I also pulled a Bowman Vlad Jr. back in 2017.

BREAKDOWN:

29 – Total Cards

6 – Chrome

5 – 1st Bowman

5 – Camo Parallel

4 – RC

1 – Rookie Favorites

1 – Bowman Top Prospects

2020 Bowman Baseball

2020 Bowman Baseball:  These finally hit our neck of the woods so I picked up two value packs as well as some standard packs with this being a value pack.  Bowman again offers up a clean design with plenty of prospects which make up 150 of the 250 player checklist.  I didn't pull the big name in this year's set, Jasson Dominguez, nor any of the other big names but it was still a decent pull.

 The youngsters dominate this set and you'll find them with base cards, RC, and 1st Bowman cards.  That Wander Franco is a Camo Parallel exclusive to these value packs.

There are of course vets in the set as well.  The trio of Harper, Yelich and Springer are a good pull in my book.

Five chrome parallels are also a part of your pullsand I know many are hoping for these of hot young players.

The backs of these are fairly bland though I like the color logo.  Nothing wrong with the write-up either.  

One more chrome to round things out.  This set is all about stashing these young guys and seeing who shines in years to come.  Not a bad looking set design wise.  I'm not a bit Bowman guy so I probably won't pick up anymore but I never say never.  Those Dominquez cards are so hot right now.  

BREAKDOWN:

29 – Total Cards
5 – Chrome
5 – Camo Parallel
4 – 1st Bowman
3 – RC
1 – Talent Pipeline
1 – Spanning the Globe