2014 Bowman Chrome Baseball Box Break Recap And Review

Change is difficult for some people, but a little bit of change can go a long way. Not much has changed with Bowman Baseball for some time now and collectors have been good with that. 2014 Bowman Chrome comes with some change. Change that collectors should like.

Initially Bowman Chrome seems very much the same. Same Retail price as last year. Same Bowman look and feel. Leaving this working formula alone should put change averse collectors at ease. But then you start to notice the first change, more hits per box. iNow there are 2 autographs per hobby box versus last year’s one per box, 5 autographs per jumbo versus last year’s 3 per box.

Second change can be seen with the card backs. Instead of simply carrying over the backs from the regular Bowman Baseball product, these backs add more scouting information about the players.

Last change is with the variety of inserts. Minis, 1989 Bowman is Back, standard die cuts and the Dali -esque die cuts.  

All of these changes elevate Bowman Chrome to a set of cards worthy of collecting on their own merit and not just a compliment to collecting Bowman Baseball.

2014 Bowman Chrome Baseball fits into our Trading Cards category.  The Hobby box we broke includes 18 packs with 4 cards per pack and 2 chrome autographs per box.

Here are some of the cards we pulled from our box.

Base Set

 Gregory Polanco, front and back 

Clayton Kershaw, Billy Hamilton, Yordano Ventura 

Prospects 

Trevor Gretzky, front and back  

Tim Berry, Andy Burns, Daniel Winkler 

 Refractors

 Carlos Beltran #/500, Matt Cain #/500

 Hisashi Iwakuma Purple Refractor #/150

Inserts

 Stephan Strasburg Mini, front and back

 Mariano Rivera 1989 Bowman is Back, front and back

 Austin Hedges Fire Die Cut, front and back

 Henry Owens & Gaby Sanchez Dual-ing Die Cuts, front and back

The Hits

 Gabriel Ynoa Chrome Autograph

Kris Bryant Chrome Autograph

Overall Look

As mentioned above these cards do not stray too far from the Bowman feel collectors expect. The backs elevate the look, adding a new dimension. 1989 Bowman is Back and Fire Die Cuts are standouts when it comes to looks.

Quality and Variety of Players

This is exactly what you would expect from a prospecting product. 220 Base cards and a slew of prospects.

Do the hits hold up?

We certainly hit an immediate jackpot but there are still others, perhaps unproven at this time, that could show the promise of prospecting. There are also enough big name current stars to keep things interesting.

Will you want to collect them all?

Base set collectors show feel good about collecting them all. Rainbow collectors will appreciate the color refractors and prospectors will enjoy the early career autographs. Something to motivate everyone.

Rating

5 out of 5

2014 Bowman Chrome Baseball give a little more than other years which elevates it as a standalone product worthy of attention.

Review box provided by Topps