2012 Bowman Jumbo Box Break

A couple weeks back I picked up a Jumbo Box of 2012 Bowman.  I had planned on doing this post right after buying the box but never got around to it. Since I opened the box I have gotten a couple retail 3-packs with Purple border inserts and I found a seller on Facebook willing to sell me all the cards I needed to finish the 3 sets at a reasonable price.  So I figure this post can be a mix of a box break and an overview of the set.

The Jumbo box guarantees 3 auto cards amongst its 12 packs of 32 cards per pack.  There are 6 Chrome cards in each pack, 16 base cards, 8 prospects, 1 base gold parallel and 1 Bowman's Best insert.  There are other colored parallels, printing plates and a redemption for a Bryce Harper rookie mixed in as well.

Here is a look at this year's base cards. I like the white borders this year, I think it is a sharp look and a very simple design.  The team color is used to frame the card in a thin line.  There is a curved border at the bottom framing the players name in silver foil with the position below the name.  I like the addition of the team logo at the bottom center, large enough to be recognizable yet doesn't take away much from the picture.  Most of the photos are action photos and most are zoomed in I picked 4 that stood out to me as I thumbed through my set.  I like the throwback uni on the Uggla card, there are actually a few throwbacks through the set. Granderson is one of my favorite non-Giants and in this photo he is just about to drive a pitch.  The Melky card shows Cabrera in a practice uniform, again this is fairly common in this set. I like the effort to show players in their new unis.  Finally the obligatory Jose Valverde celebration photo - is there a card produced of this guy in the last couple years without him celebrating?

One of my favorite features of the Bowman cards are the backs.  In addition to the normal bio stuff, we learn when they were drafted and by who.  There are two line blurbs sharing the resume, skills and up close.  I chose Rollins' card in part because it gives a shout out to his mom who apparently was a standout fast-pitch softball player.  We finish with one year of stats with an asterisk designating the players team. The biggest drawback to the card back is the 5 lines of legal junk.   There are 220 cards in the Bowman base set which I believe is normal over the past few years.

 Next up are the Prospect cards.  The front design is close to the base design, with the main difference being the name block. Instead of the curve from in the name block, the prospect cards have a box.  Players who are appearing on their first card get the 1st Bowman Card silver logo at the top of the card, while those who have appeared before just have the Bowman name.  I picked the last 2 number 1 overall picks in this group to show.  I also like the catcher's gear on the Giants minor league catcher.   The Indian's pitcher has just released the ball, check out the torque on his arm, it is totally misshapen.  Also, he is wearing a necklace that is swinging around to hit him in the chin.  The card backs are almost the same with the main difference being the back border.  There are 110 cards in this set all proceeded by the letters BP.

 The final set of cards in the Bowman release are the Bowman Chrome Prospects.  They are parallels of the Prospects on a chrome card stock.  Here are a few of the Chrome cards.

 There is one gold parallel to the base set in standard Bowman fashion.  Nothing too exciting here.

 There are also parallels in various other colors.  The blue borders are numbered to 500 while the Orange are numbered to 250.  The blue chrome refractor is numbered to 250. Nothing super exciting here.

 I mentioned that I bought a few retail packs and those come with purple parallels to the Prospect cards. Here are the ones that I have.

There are also International parallels with the flag of the country or origin in the background.  The base cards have black borders and the prospects come with white borders.

New this year are the Silver Ice and Red Ice parallels.  I wasn't lucky enough to pull a Red Ice card (although I have picked up a Giants prospect on eBay) and they are numbered to 25. However I did pick up the Jeter in my box break and the Helton in a retail pack.  The other cards is a refractor numbered to 500.

Each back in the Jumbo box had a Bowman's Best parallel.  This first grouping are the regular Bowman's Best cards while the second group are the Bowman's Best Propsects.  The designs on these don't excite me, I don't see them as awful but I was hoping for better.

 This year's Bowman had a wrapper redemption program with limited quantities.  I quickly sent my wrappers in and was rewarded with these 5 cards.  They don't scan too well but actually look pretty nice.

 Finally the hits.  I was lucky enough to score two autos in my retail packs.  The Thompson is a blue parallel numbered to 500.  Same basic design as the Prospect cards with a sticker auto on the front.

 My box yielded the expected 3 autos, I didn't get any huge players but was lucky enough to color up on one gold auto numbered to 50.  You know Mr. Davis' parents had to be baseball fans naming their son Rookie and he goes well in a Bowman product.  These autographs are on card which is nice.

Overall I like this product this year but don't love it.  The design of the cards works for me.  I like the on card chrome autos in the hobby boxes.  The price point to me is too high based on the value you get out of the box.  I am not one of those people who expect to flip my cards and make my money back but the insertion of 100 Bryce Harper autos into a product that is fairly mass produced probably drove up the price 30-50%.  I guess that is the business but for a team and set collector it takes some of the fun away.  After sorting through my box, I was able to find someone to sell me all my set needs for $25.

All the inserts/parallels/hits are for trade.  I do have some duplicates from the 3 sets if you are looking for particular teams or cards to complete a set.  My Giants list has a lot of holes so take a look at my 2012 Giants Want list if you have some for trade.