2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball

this set just keeps on giving … Love it!

Why would the reviewer want Topps to drop the regular cards and only focus on the chrome? If Chrome is the preferred card type for the review, their are plenty of product available to quench his appetite. (Topps Chrome/Bowman Chrome). Personally I’m glad they have the regular cards, it keeps the price reasonable. If you don’t believe me…look at all the Topps Chrome overstock at your local Target/Walmart. There is a reason that their are so many $8.99 rack packs on the shelves. They just don’t have the same bang for the buck that Prospects and Draftpicks have. I love this product. Don’t change a thing about it!!!!
I hope they keep the “Future Game” relics for the 2012 set.

By far my favorite set out of the 2011 class. The hits where plenty and with serious quality. This is the only product I know that when I get a Manny Machado reliic i feel disappointed.

I hope topps DOESN’T CHANGE A THING, when making the 2012 set

The Base Rookie Cards features nice shots of the players in action. My personal favorites are the pitcher cards because some of the photography catches them in their throwing motion. The back of each card gives their stats from last season as well as a “Bowman Briefing” which features a few comments under the headings of Resume, Skills, and Up Close. There are 110 cards in the Base Rookie Set.

Also included in this product are 90 Draft Picks cards that are exclusive to this product and 20 Team USA cards. Those 90 cards are stamped with the 1st Bowman Card logo. The majority of these cards feature action shots of the players, but there are some that are staged photos. Some of the cards feature facsimile autographs on them. Those players are the only players in the set to have real autograph cards in the set. I’ll say this about them, some look so real that I thought I had gotten a couple extra hits in the box. The back of these cards features the same information as the Rookie Base Set. The Team USA cards all feature the facsimile autographs and the USA Baseball logo. The back of these cards feature no stats, but rather a longer Scouting Report on the player.

In every pack of 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball, you will find 2 Bowman Chrome cards, 1 from each of the 2 different base sets. You’ll also find refractor versions of the cards at a rate of 1 for every 4 packs. The Chrome cards as always look sharp and clean. The players just pop off the front of these cards.

The set also features several different parallel sets, most of which are numbered. The certified autograph card is signed with a sharpie directly on the card.

Here are my final thoughts on 2011 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects Baseball. This product is a very sharp and clean looking set. The Chrome cards as always look amazing and I love that all the autographs are signed on-card this year. I am not a big fan or collector of prospect card sets. I am not that informed on who the good prospects are and who are the career minor leaguers. That being said, if I am not going to recognize most of the names on the cards, I would have liked to seen a larger selection of parallels per box. We got a total of 7 refractors and 1 parallel card in this box. Anyone who reads my reviews know that one of my biggest pet peeves is a ton of duplicates. That is my #1 irritant. And in that respect, this box was stellar. No base duplicates or Chrome duplicates out of this box. Kudos to Topps for continuing to make card collecting…collectible in that sense. Most products will randomly insert their checklists in packs. Sometimes you have no clue what player goes to the card number you are missing. In this case, we got all 3 checklists. Jake Hager is a 1st Round Pick of the Tampa Bay Rays so I was happy to pull a card of him. These boxes can be found online for about $60, so the value is definitely there for this product.

Bowman Draft is a very clean, Crisp design. Although the only issue I can see here is the black border’s chipping at time’s (putting into penny/top-loader). In my box there was no issue with warping or the bend’s which is important in my eye’s, and overall the chrome cards where clean with minor to no scratching. Although my autograph did have a very minor scratch, a soft glasses type cloth and “polishing” it seemed to make it almost completely go away. I do think the white auto box is great showing the auto off nicely without taking away from the actual card. I was lucky enough to pull a orange refractor # to 25 which was flawless, as well as 5 other refractors that where very clean. The auto check list is pretty deep this time around but can be hit or miss as with any product. But getting a box is a fun rip I would think for anyone, and at least it guarantee’s a auto as well as a nice mix of refractor’s. The refractor’s are very brilliant with color really popping off the card. I would recommend this product to anyone that want’s to have a fun rip or a prospect/rookie collector. The rookie class and prospect class seems strong in this one as it has been in the last few years. Also the chance for a jersey card,patch, or AFLAC autograph as a bonus, gives it some added value as well. And since box price is still cheap on this one, Id say go pick a few up while it’s still around and affordable!

I’m actually more stoked about this year’s BDPP than last year’s!