Bowman Chrome is one of the most highly anticipated baseball card releases each year from Topps. The 2022 edition did not disappoint, featuring prospects and young stars across Major League Baseball. Bowman Chrome is known for its flashy refractors and parallels that draw serious collector interest.
The 2022 Bowman Chrome set base cards featured 300 prospects in the standard release. Additional parallels and short prints added to the excitement of the product. As with every year, the biggest draws are the autograph and memorabilia cards that can be incredibly valuable, especially for the top prospects. Some of the most sought-after rookies in the 2022 Bowman Chrome release included Julio Rodriguez, Bobby Witt Jr., CJ Abrams, and Jack Leiter. Hitting a 1/1 parallel autographed card of any of those players would result in a six-figure card.
In terms of design, the 2022 Bowman Chrome base cards continued the clean and simple look the set is known for. A solid color background with the team logo and Bowman logo at the top, along with the player photo and stats on the front. The back provides a headshot, bio, and career stats. The design allows the focus to remain on the player image and refractors. For parallels, Topps added different color borders and textures like orange, purple, green, and black that really make the cards pop.
The refractors remain the most popular parallel category in Bowman Chrome each year. The standard refractor has a lighter silver color and is one in every four packs on average. Then there are the more rare and desirable color refractors like gold (1 in 80 packs), orange (1 in 320 packs), and purple (1 in 480 packs). The rarest parallel is the elusive 1/1 black refractor, which is almost impossible to pull in a pack and commands huge prices if they surface on the resale market. Some of the biggest names to be pulled as black refractors over the years include Mike Trout, Bryce Harper, Ronald Acuña Jr., and Juan Soto.
While the base prospect cards are exciting for collectors to hunt, the autograph and memorabilia cards are where the true chase is at in Bowman Chrome. Topps loaded the 2022 release with several different on-card and memorabilia autographed parallel categories. The standard on-card autographed parallels range from /99 all the way down to the ultra-rare /5 and 1/1 variations. Top prospects like Jackson Holliday, Druw Jones, and Termarr Johnson were some of the biggest names pulled as low-numbered autographs.
In addition to on-card autographs, Topps also included several different memorabilia parallels. The most common is a dual-patch card containing a swatch of game-used fabric from two different players. Higher-ends patches and autographs featuring single players became extremely valuable hits. Some examples included dual-patch autos /10, triple-patch autos /5, and quadruple-patch 1/1 monsters. Topps even upped the ante with rare triple-relic autographs featuring a patch, bat, and autographed sticker.
While the base rookie cards, refractors, and lower-numbered parallels can be found on the secondary market, the true high-end hits remained incredibly difficult to pull from packs. Case breaks and group breaks became a popular way for collectors to try and land one of the massive memorabilia autographs without buying a full expensive hobby box. Prices of the top 2022 Bowman Chrome rookies like Druw Jones, Termarr Johnson, and Jackson Holliday skyrocketed after their initial releases as hype and prospect status increased.
As one of the premier baseball card brands, Topps continues to deliver with Bowman Chrome each year. The 2022 release was no exception, providing a fun chase for the top prospects while also serving as an investment opportunity. Colors, parallels, and autograph/relic cards beyond the base rookie cards make Bowman Chrome a unique and exciting release that garners attention from both casual collectors and serious investors. The brand power of Topps and prospect hype will likely keep Bowman Chrome as one of the most sought-after modern baseball card products for many years to come.
