The 2021 Bowman baseball card set was released on June 9th, 2021 and contains hundreds of prospects, rookie cards, parallels, autographs and more. The Bowman brand is renowned in the baseball card industry as the premier issuer of rookie cards and top prospects each year. Some of the biggest stars and Hall of Famers ever have had their first official baseball cards in Bowman sets. The 2021 release looked to continue this tradition by showcasing the future stars of MLB.
The base set contains 300 cards with players from rookie level all the way to the majors. Notable rookies in the set include top prospects like Wander Franco, Julio Rodriguez, Bobby Witt Jr. and more. The paper stock for the base cards went back to a thicker stock this year which was welcomed by collectors after some thinner stock in 2020 Topps products. Parallels in the base set include Gold Foil, Refractor, Negative Refractor, Pink Refractor and Purple Refractor extending the rainbow parallel collecting aspects of the set.
Along with the base set, Bowman is known for its autograph and memorabilia card inserts. The 2021 releases these inserts in both traditional paper packs as well as high-end hobby boxes. The big three memorabilia inserts included Fabrics of the Game Jersey Cards, Stadium Club Dugout Collection relict cards and Threads of Legacy Patch cards. All three insert sets feature top prospects and contain low serial numbering and on-card autographs to max out the chase aspect.
Another popular insert chase in 2021 Bowman was the Chrome Prospects Autograph set. Running 115 cards deep, this insert contained the crème de la crème of the rookie class signed to chrome cards. Hits like Wander Franco, Julio Rodriguez and Bobby Witt Jr. #/d to 2021 were huge pulls that could net collectors thousands of dollars. The popular Black and White parallel versions of this insert spaced the rarity factor similar to in years past.
Bowman has long been the leader when it comes to showcasing ultra-high end hobby exclusive box toppers. The 2021 releases delivered with box toppers like Wander Franco Prismatic Paper /5, Julio Rodriguez Auto Patch /5 and Bobby Witt Jr. Gold Auto /5. Hits like these three examples could be prize possessions for lifelong collectors netting values in the tens of thousands of dollars. Very few boxes relative to demand may yield one of these toppers adding to their rarity status long-term.
Continuing Bowman’s long-running tradition of exciting prospects with each new year, the 2021 crop headlined by Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays continued generating exuberant collector demand. Franco had broken out in 2019/2020 after years of development in Bowman minors sets, and getting an official Topps Flagship rookie in 2021 Update was icing on the cake. But collectors and lifelong Bowman fans still look primarily to the yearly releases to chase his first base cards which debuted in the 2020 set.
While Franco took the prospect world by storm in 2021, other big names in the 2021 Bowman draft class also created card collecting buzz. Shortstop Marcelo Mayer, the 4th overall selection by the Boston Red Sox generated a frenzy with his first cards in the set. Washington Nationals outfielder Brady House brought intrigue with his elite power/speed combo and affordable cards relative to the set’s bigger names.
International signings like Daniel Espino from the Cleveland Indians also started to gain collector recognition in the 2021 release. The massive 6’4″ righty tossed 100mph in his debut stateside season creating buzz that his Bowman cards could grow in demand as he develops. As each new year’s prospects debut and some break out while others take longer to blossom, the 2021 Bowman release offered a chance for collectors to get their first cards of these future stars and hold throughout their careers.
As Hall of Famers like Chipper Jones, Ken Griffey Jr. and Mariano Rivera have shown, having your first major brand baseball cards in Bowman as a prospect can create lifelong collector demand. The 2021 release aimed to continue discovering and documenting the next generation of MLB superstars before they reached the highest levels. For today’s collectors chasing the top prospects like in years past, Bowman 2021 proved another opportunity to get in early on the next wave of baseball legends.
