Tuesday, February 10, 2015

2014 Bowman Sterling Baseball Cards Box Break Recap and Review

Last year the design of Bowman Sterling Baseball was straightforward, a player and his autograph. This year the backgrounds are exploding with whirlwind design. But something remains the same, it’s knowing exactly what you are getting with each box, consistency within prospect collecting, and the whole point of Sterling, 18 autographs in a hobby box. All of this makes 2014 Bowman Sterling Baseball a solid, reliable product for hit seeking Bowman prospectors.

Bowman Sterling Baseball comes in at the high end of our premium cards category.  Each hobby box contains 6 packs with 4 cards per pack.  Each pack contains 3 Autograph Cards. There are also Box Toppers to be found, but not in every box.

Here are all of the cards we pulled.


Base Set
Francisco Lindor, front and back
Marcus Stroman, front and back

Parallels
Aaron Sanchez #199, Colin Moran #/25

Inserts
Joey Gallo 1989 Bowman is Back

The Hits - Autographs
Jacob Gatewood #/75, Alex Blandino, Michael Foltynewicz
Chase Vallot #/50, Kyle Crick, Jimmy Nelson #/99
Albert Almora, Raul Alcantara #/75, Sean Coyle
Justus Shefield, Carlos Correa, Gareth Morgan Redemption
Derek Fisher Redemption, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Gordon
Gregory Polanco, Javier Baez, Austin Meadows

Printing Plate
Gregory Polanco Cyan 1/1

Overall Look
The is background explosion when it comes to design. That’s fine. It’s the mixture of tiny fonts in different colors & some horizontal line at the top of the card that detracts from the appeal. But the sticker integration with the occasional on-card auto works from a design level very well.

Quality and Variety of Players
This is a tight base set at 50 rookie and 50 prospect cards, which is a good thing.  The Autograph checklist is just as good.

Do the Hits satisfy?
The massive amount of hits found per pack is the equivalent, and in some cases more than you will find in most other boxes.  It might have been just our box, but there seems to be a move to more sticker auto use, but again, at 18 autos a box, its difficult to find fault.  Box Topper Autos are tough pulls as are 1989 Bowman is Back autos, Bowman Black autos, Dual, Die Cut and  Sterling Silver autos, but finding one of them will definitely satisfy collectors.

Will you keep coming back for more?
This is a “High Risk, High Reward” product but the risk is greatly decreased by the volume of autographs contained in a full hobby box.  This is definitely a multiple box purchase if you can swing it.

Rating
4 out of 5


2014 Bowman Sterling Baseball is a great option for pulling hits of current rising stars.

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