It should be clear that 2014 Bowman is all about prospects. Although many of the top players in the set have yet to crack the big leagues, the cards usually sell for crazy money. Its not all normal cardboard in Bomwan, however. There are lots of quirky additions that I find EXTREMELY interesting.

Russell Wilson Texas Rangers “RC”

Back in 2010, Wilson was actually on a normal Bowman prospect card, but his baseball career never materialized (obviously). During 2014 Spring Training, he wanted to go back and reclaim some of those glory days, and Topps went and memorialized him on his own SSP RC for this year. They are going for insane amounts of cash, which is not surprising.

2014 Bowman Russell Wilson Texas Rangers SSP

2014 Bowman Russell Wilson Texas Rangers SSP #2

2014 Bowman Russell Wilson Texas Rangers SSP #3

Bowman Contract

For each of the last few years, Topps has offered a 1 day contract to a fan to be on their very own prospect card. The contract is one of 10 and even if you dont win the eventual card, you will get some nice prizes. They have offered it in football too, but this is about as good as it gets. Even though the contract winner cards are extremely SSP, they still are cool to see.

2014 Bowman Contract Redemption – 1 of 10

2014 Bowman Contract Winner RC SSP

Oversized Box Toppers

This is the first time I have ever seen this program in Bowman, with a few different variations of oversized box toppers. Some have autos and others are just rare serially numbered versions of the prospect cards. I pulled one in my box of Bowman this year, and I think they turned out pretty cool.

2014 Bowman Jose Abreu Oversized Box Topper Silver Ice /99

2014 Bowman Mark Appel Oversized Box Topper Auto /25

I am a huge fan of Bowman each year, and I am loving all this stuff that Topps is using to keep things interesting. Although the prospect class is a beast in this set, its nice that they arent letting the foot off the gas.

Without question, my favorite cards of the year are the Five Star inscription autographs. Because autograph content is all but assumed in every single product, its special when there is more than just a signature in a certain set. Add in that these inscriptions are all hard signed, and its clear why these are so amazing.

Year after year, these cards are absolutely stunning examples of how incredible autograph content can be, and I am so glad that Topps has made a commitment to them in this set. Back in the beginning of the year, Topps also found out that these types of cards can be effective in other sets like Inception. Those results were similarly as impressive.

Here are some of my favorites from Five Star so far:

2014 Topps FIve Star Peyton Manning Auto Inscription

2014 Topps FIve Star EJ Manuel Auto Inscription

2014 Topps FIve Star Eddie Lacy Auto Inscription

2014 Topps FIve Star Eli Manning Auto Inscription

2014 Topps FIve Star Mike Glennon Auto Inscription

2014 Topps FIve Star Geno Smith Auto Inscription

I have said on a number of occasions that we need to support Five Star more than we do, but the inscription cards are the one part of the product that never needs any help. Player collectors go nuts over trying to collect the different inscriptions, which all focus on the nicknames, team slogans, or other phrases they choose.

Back in 2010, Adrian Peterson had an inscription in Five Star, and it is my favorite card in my personal collection by a mile. Kind of shocking considering I own 3 NFL logo auto 1/1s. I like the inscription more because it is just that much nicer than any other Adrian Peterson card out there. That says a lot about these cards and how well done they are.

Even though the 2013 rookie class is terrible this year, these inscription cards still command some serious value. I am on the chase for Patterson, but because so little of this product is being opened, it may be quite a while. That’s okay though, im patient.

I mentioned yesterday that the Jose Abreu Superfractor auto had been pulled, as well as a few other big pulls for the product. Now that a few days have passed, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the card is up for sale already. As if that wasn’t interesting enough, you should take a look at the price!

2014 Bowman Chrome Jose Abreu Auto Superfractor 1/1

Its clear this is the hottest card in the product, and its even more likely that it will sell for somewhere north of the price of a small car. What I wasn’t truly aware of until yesterday was that Abreu isn’t exactly on the same level as Yasiel Puig was last year. Abreu is all of 27 years old, which puts him WELL ahead of the curve when it comes to rookies coming into the league (Puig is 23). For a GM making a splash, that isn’t too big a deal, but for a card collector, that could be a big deterrent.

NOTE: The seller reportedly posted that the card has sold for 15K+, which means the price should be around 10K in real terms. Still amazing.

Obviously, that hasn’t stopped people from going nuts over his stuff:

2014 Bowman Chrome Jose Abreu Auto Blue Refractor /150

2014 Bowman Chrome Jose Abreu Auto Black Refractor /99

2014 Bowman Chrome Jose Abreu Auto Refractor /500

I think there is something to be said about comparative value in just about every facet of this hobby, and I have seen multiple articles on it even over the last few days. Even if Abreu goes on to win 3 MVPs, does that make his card worth THAT kind of money? Probably not. I remember when Strasburg made national headlines thanks to his Superfractor sale, and that one wasn’t even autographed. Where are we now, after Surgery and a few seasons up with the big league team? Not close to 22K.

Lets be perfectly honest here – all players come with an element of risk, and many of the people who can afford these cards are not necessarily risking house and home to buy them. Im just wondering how we come to reach this level of crazy.

If you haven’t heard anything about 2014 Bowman over the last few days, consider yourself to be out of the loop. Aside from being one of the best looking Bowman products in years, this set is quite the beast with some of the top prospects out there. When I start opening baseball boxes, it’s a big deal.

If you pull a Kris Bryant or Jose Abreu auto, you are easily in the black and then some. Check out what these cards are up for:

2014 Bowman Jose Abreu Auto Refractor RC /500

2014 Bowman Jose Abreu Auto Black Refractor RC /99

2014 Bowman Kris Bryant Auto Black Wave Refractor RC /50

2014 Bowman Kris Bryant Auto Gold Refractor RC /50

Over the last 2 days, there have been some incredible pulls already from the product, which may not actually be a good thing. There have already been 2 Mark Appel Superfractor autos (regular and mini) pulled, and now we are just getting word that the biggest card in the product has also been pulled. When you hit as many home runs in your first month as Abreu has hit, the Superfractor auto might be approaching the level we saw with Puig and Harper back during 2011. Not quite there, but close. Byron Buxton had his fair share of interest too, we might be well past that hype.

Abreu has been on a tear, and that’s just putting it lightly. Its not that it was going to be unexpected, as Abreu was a huge signing for the White Sox. However, we also knew that because of Yasiel Puig, he was going to be even bigger than if he had come to MLB any other year. He has definitely lived up to expectations in the early part of the season, but there is still a long way to go.

It doesn’t really matter anyhow, as collectors all over the nation are scrambling to get their copies of his first licensed autograph.

Kris Bryant is similarly hot, as another Chicago product, which is kind of cool considering that Abreu is his AL counterpart. Although his autos are redemptions, they are not shying anyone away from buying them in huge auction prices. When you think that to start the year, everyone was talking about Tanaka, he seems to be an afterthought now that he has basically said he does not want to sign autographs.

Topps seems to have lucked out lately with Bowman as there have been so many players that make the box price skyrocket. To think that this is going to be another huge year is just crazy.

Five Star is here and I could not be more excited. Not only does the product look incredible as always, but the signatures we have all been craving are starting to look better than ever. Topps had to have known this was going to be difficult with the rookie class lagging behind, but so far, we are seeing things in Five Star that make the wait worthwhile.

2014 Topps Five Star LeSean McCoy Auto Patch

2014 Topps Five Star Marshall Faulk Auto Logo Patch

2014 Topps Five Star Drew Brees Auto Logo Patch

2014 Topps Five Star Eli Manning Auto Triple Book 1/1

2014 Topps Five Star Geno Smith / EJ Manuel Dual Auto

My favorite cards in the product are easily the inscription cards, and though only a few have popped up, the design is really cool. As we have seen in previous years, Topps’ main goal is to provide a huge area for the signature and inscription, while not forcing their design team to put out a blank card. They did a great job this year.

The veteran and rookie auto patch cards look absolutely awesome, especially with the swooping lines and foil embellished elements on the card. Although I think the vet autos have a larger appeal because the player isn’t covered up by the signature area, both are the best looking of the sort for the whole season.

Topps really deserves a ton of credit, as I have seen 5-7 examples already of live autographs where Panini was forced to use redemptions. Its one thing to get HOF and Retired to sign your cards, as the schedule during the year isn’t as intense for them. To come through with guys like Brees, Peterson, AJ Green and Others is a big deal these days, no doubt about it. It really makes you wonder why Panini instituted their program the way they did, as its clear that Topps has their shit together when it comes to Five Star. Treasures, not as much.

Here is the bottom line, and I say it every freaking time. As collectors, we need to support this product like nothing else. Having on card autographs for an entire product is done once a year, and as much as people complain, we don’t show why this is something we care about when it does happen. Go put some bids on the cards, buy into some breaks, do anything you can to make Five Star your favorite product this year. We need more hard signed cards, and this is the best there is. Topps needs to hear your call to action, and they need to hear it loud and clear – CONTENT DELIVERED IN FIVE STAR NEEDS A PLACE IN MORE PRODUCTS.

If we take an apathetic approach, we lose the right to complain as loudly as we could. Its easy to dismiss the complaints when we don’t support the successes that are presented to the community. Five Star is a success, and it is up to everyone to display why we feel it needs to be done more often.

As an autograph collector, this is my biggest day of the year. I cannot even tell you how sad I am that I have to wait until April 30th for that to happen. Standards have been lowered, but Five Star is still the pinnacle. Not only does it look about as High End as it gets, but it exemplifies everything we want. Treasures may have elements of that, but it is FAR from what we get each year from Topps. Stickers do not belong in a hobby like this, and that’s a fact. Lets show them how loud we can be.