Preview of 2013 Bowman Platinum Baseball W/ Pics

FIRST LOOK: 2013 BOWMAN PLATINUM BASEBALL CARDS

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor


Bowman Platinum is back — and Topps is promising that it’s “going platinum crazy” with this year’s release.

Set to arrive on July 31 packing two autographed prospect Refractors and one autographed Refractor Relic in each 20-pack hobby box, the prospect line will include new features arising from deals with Baseball America and the Arizona Fall League.

The base set will consist of 100 MLB veterans and rookies, while the prospect set will include 100 potential stars. The base set will include Gold, Blue Sapphire and Ruby parallels with Rubies falling one per box, Blues two per box and Golds four per.

Meanwhile, the prospects will get a Chrome treatment.

There will be standard Refractors along with Green (/399), Blue (/199), Gold (/50), Red (/25), Atomic (/5) and 1/1 Superfractors to be found. The two rarest types will only be found in hobby packs.

The autographed Prospect cards will all be signed on-card this year, much like in 2012, with Green, Blue, Gold, Red, Atomic, SuperFractor and 1/1 printing plate versions to be found. The serial-numbering will match the parallels of the basic cards. Found only in hobby packs will be Purely Platinum autos, which will be printed on “simulated metal” and be 1/1s.

Autographed Relics will showcase players from the AFL Rising Stars Game as well as other prospects and current big-leaguers. There will be Blue, Gold, Red, Atomic, Supers and printing plates of each and all but the Blues will include patch pieces. There also will be jumbo Relics to be found with the same volume of numbering as well as the same shades.

For those wanting ink but not memorabilia, there will be four autographed insert sets to chase with dual autos showcasing a pair of prospects (each limited to 25), triple autos showcasing prospects, vets and rookies (limited to 10), Hexagraph booklets (limited to five) and a selection of 25 more Bowman Black autos. That will not be the only continuity set in this one as another selection of Blue Sapphire Refractors — and signed versions — will be found in this along with every other Bowman brand this year. The autos will be limited to just five copies.

New this year will be Baseball America Diamonds in the Rough cards that will be the publication’s top picks for prospects with promise. There will be Diamond Cut cards limited to just 25 along with autographed versions of the cards limited to just five copies. Those won’t be the only diecut cards as there will be Cutting Edge Stars with Relic versions limited to 50 and autos limited to 25.

For the memorabilia collectors, there will be three options this time around, two of which will be hobby-only inclusions.

First up are jumbo patch cards limited to just five copies. Then there will be 1/1 Prospect Bat Plate cards with the nameplate from game-used bats showing on the cards. Then there are Rising Stars Game redemptions good for complete game-used items from the event that include signed balls, game-used caps, bases and more.

The AFL also will have promo cards inside the packs good for chances to attend the 2013 Rising Stars Game.

More Pics:

And last but not least:

The profar card looks nice, otherwise it is nothing special

What type of card is the Profar? Looks like base 2013 Topps.

Prospect autos are on card. I like that somewhat. (That Rendon is pretty sick though)

Every prospect product released, the more I lose interest. Just more of the same.

Ty Hope said:

Every prospect product released, the more I lose interest. Just more of the same.

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I agree. Nothing really pops out with this product at all. Think it's just best to stick with Bowman Chrome products.

Its frustrating that all the releases just look so bland. Some of the inserts look great though, but base wise, its just bland. They're not bad or anything, but bland. I know I've said it three times now lol, but its just more of the same thing. Set design is something that topps should look into. I'm a topps fanboy, but I just have to be honest. The last few years, all the bowman products blend together.

If you lined up Platinum cards from the last 3 or 4 years I could NOT tell you what set they are from

Will Myers in a Rays uniform...I want to cry. Shields and Davis better be worth it!

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Freedom Card Board mobile app

Got a box of 2012 for my son and I to break together while he was home sick from school one day this past fall. Loved the look of the cards but holy crappy edges on the back. That and a few very bad miscuts. Hopefully those issues are gone for 2013 because I've always liked the look of Platinum.

How is this any different from Sterling?

Zambrano38 said:

How is this any different from Sterling?

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if zunino is a sticker, I assume he will be in bowman retail & maybe debut.

Guess we have our answer as to whether Inception would replace this product.

That's 6 Bowman products coming out this year, for those keeping score.

Jaypers- where is checklist( I apologize if I missed it)- curious if Roache will have another auto. Along with any other duplicate Brewers like Haniger,Taylor or if any new ones?

Sticker autos from prospects. Not a fan. Sticking with chrome.

Exposfan said:

Jaypers- where is checklist( I apologize if I missed it)- curious if Roache will have another auto. Along with any other duplicate Brewers like Haniger,Taylor or if any new ones?

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Haven't seen one yet.

Any guesses on prices?

Sent from my DROID RAZR HD MAXX

I'm all for value, I just don't see how continually over-flooding the prospect market is going to do any good for this hobby....seriously keep the "prospects" to one or two cards a year....concentrate on improving the veteran products.