Blaster Buster: 2011 Bowman Platinum!

Note:  I wrote this post right after Christmas but ended up putting it off because of the group break.  However, I figured I shouldn't wait much longer because most people already probably don't care about Bowman Platinum from last year...  I will return with more group break posts tomorrow!

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Why open any Bowman blaster when you could open a Bowman Platinum blaster?  Isn't Platinum always better?

For me, it better be as I have virtually no interest in the modern Bowman line.  However, I got this blaster for Christmas (and I was happy to get it because you can't go wrong busting free cards)!

Let's see what the blaster holds.

Contents:
7 packs with 4 cards per pack
Plus
An extra pack (also with 4 cards)

And so we've got 8 packs (for a grand total of 32 cards - or about 62.5 cents per card.  That's some pretty hefty coin...but it's called Platinum for a reason, right?

Pack 1:
42.  Ubaldo Jimenez
100.  Ichiro
BPP14.  Ronnie Welty

75.  Gold Parallel:  Josh Hamilton

One pack into the blaster and you can already see why I (usually) don't care for Bowman - it's too confusing.  What's the BPP## set?  The Welty card has a refractor like sheen to it but it's serially numbered in any way.  The Gold parallels are seeded 1:5 packs (and there are plenty of other parallels including Emeralds and Rubys).  It's like a freakin' Wizard of Oz set!

Pack 2:
72.  Tim Lincecum

76.  Yonder Alonso

91.  Troy Tulowitzki
BPP70.  Brad Brach

A second pack yields another question - why are the card numbers in a red bubble on all the base cards I've opened so far except for the Yondor Alonso card (which happens to be in a green bubble)?  My guess is that the green bubbles are reserved for the cards marked as rookie cards...but we'll have see as I open up more packs, right?  I think I figured out the BPP cards at least - they must be the Chrome Prospects - and so far I don't think either has been any type of parallel.

Pack 3:
7.  Hank Conger
62.  David Wright
70.  Zack Greinke
BPP68.  X-Fractor:  Allen Webster

Retail Checklist 2 of 2

The X-fractor parallels are seeded 1:4 packs and are full of shininess.  The Hank Conger card provided proof that my card number hypothesis from pack #2 was correct - the rookie cards in the base set have their card numbers in green bubbles while the non-rookies are in red bubbles.  Along that line, I must say that I kind of like the Bowman Platinum set so far - at least the base set!  I don't care for the all the confusing parallels and the BPP cards are sort of lame because I haven't heard of any of the guys (and I'm no prospector) but the base set is nice.  So nice, in fact, that I may end up trying to complete the base set - so save your duplicates!  

Pack 4:
1.  Ryan Howard
44.  Jeremy Jeffress
BPP6.  Zach Lee
10.  Emerald parallel:  Austin Jackson

The emerald parallels are seeded 1:10 packs making this slightly rarer than one-per-blaster.  I think the green background is actually kind of cool - much nicer looking than the gold background parallel cards!  I wonder if anyone is trying to complete the entire base set in any of the various parallel versions?

Pack 5:
25.  Brandon Beachy
74.  Starlin Castro
BPP99.  Chris Archer
81.  Gold Parallel:  Carlos Pena  

The second gold parallel of the blaster which means I beat the odds there (slightly).  Actually, since the gold parallels are seeded 1:10 packs and you get 8 in a blaster, I suppose you would expect that you would end up with two gold parallels given any arbitrary blaster.

Pack 6:
38.  Manny Ramirez
48.  Mark Teixeira
52.  Brandon Belt
BPA-HS.  Autograph Prospect Green Refractor Parallel:  Hayden Simpson #211/399

First, why does Manny keep getting baseball cards (especially in a product that came out as late as Platinum did)?   Second, how about that autograph?!  The Green Refractors are parallels seeded 1:190 packs which means that I obliterated the odds on that one!  According to the card back, Simpson is a #1 pick of the Cubs from the 2010 draft.  However, after looking at some of Simpson's minor league statistics, I'm not so sure the Cubs made a wise pick.  Even so, I don't care - you've gotta love pulling an auto out of a blaster and it's even better when it is a really nice looking refractor parallel (and on card to boot)!

Pack 7:
26.  Robinson Cano
29.  Brent Morel
95.  Kyle Drabek
BPP36.  Aderlin Rodriguez  

The back of Aderlin's card says he compares to Adrian Beltre - not a shabby person to be compared to if you are an upcoming baseball player!

Pack 8:
37.  Josh Johnson
63.  Prince Fielder
80.  Billy Butler
BPP60.  X-Fractor:  Drew Vettleson

Retail Checklist 1 of 2

It's nice to end the blaster with another X-fractor card - I know how many of you love those!  

Overall Impressions:

I must say, this was a really fun blaster to open.  Each pack has a chrome prospect card (sometimes of the parallel variety) plus a few base cards.  The different parallels add just enough variety to keep things interesting - and of course on card autos in a retail product are always a nice bonus.

For me, I don't see myself caring nearly enough to complete the chrome prospects set so those cards are definitely for trade.  I wouldn't mind completing the regular base set but I'm guessing I could grab a set or two of those of eBay for less than the cost of another couple of blasters...I'll have to contemplate whether or not to add those cards to my want list...

Note:  I did add the set to my want list - but only the base set!

Bottom Line:
If you are looking for a fun, varied blaster to break with the potential for hits, Bowman Platinum fits the bill.  However, even though the base set is only 100 cards, my blaster only provided 21 different base cards.  With that type of output, it would take five blasters (or $100) with perfect collation in order to acquire the entire base set...  Because of that, I give the set a 6/10 overall despite the fun I had with this particular blaster.