Featured Box Break

I picked up a box of 2007 Bowman Draft [$55 at a show] - this product may have jumped the shark already because people seem to equate Bowman Chrome as some sort of holy grail of first-year cards and it seems serious collectors/speculators buy this product by the case, perhaps ruining the charm [whatever that means] for the casual baseball card collector who chooses to only pick up one or two boxes.

You should still get one coveted on-card draft pick Chrome autograph per box [most of the time] that should hold its value [whether or not it is classified as a true rookie card] - as long as the player is on the fast track to Major League stardom and not projected to be a career reliever in AAA.

There are lots of cards [of first-year players] to flip through for the collector in you [even though the casual collector might wonder who all these guys are] - including Chromes of 2007 first-year players and MLB rookies for what seems to be a low-end price [I'd rather pick this up than some random Upper Deck product].

Compared to Donruss Elite Extra Edition, Topps isn't forced to make this product a multisport product - the first-year professional baseball players are pictured in Major League uniforms [whether or not Topps had to pull some strings and possibly had to Photoshop MLB uniforms into an image of No. 1 overall pick a David Price] and at the very least cards of first-year players are licensed by Major League Baseball.

Autograph
Jonathan Gilmore BDPP 127

X-Fractors [1:39]
Jay Bruce BDP 103 serial #'d 255/299; refractor line across upper part of the card

Blue bordered base parallel [1:29]
Drew Bowman BDPP 38 serial #'d 255/399

Refractors [1:11]
Franklin Morales BDPP 74
Joey Votto BDPP 98
Matt Tolbert BDPP 104

Notable Chrome - two per pack
Justin Upton BDP 3; off-center
Tim Lincecum BDP 11
Alex Gordon BDP 15; off-center
Mike Moustakas BDPP 53; print mark on right hand side of the card
David Price BDPP 55
Wendell Fairley BDPP 59

Notable base -
Justin Upton BDP 3
Joba Chamberlain BDP 18
Mark Reynolds BDP 54
Jarrod Parker BDPP 58
Wendell Fairley BDPP 59
Deolis Guerra BDPP 72

Comments - I was disappointed I didn't pull any first-year Chromes of 2007 draft stars like Matt LaPorta and Jason Heyward among others. Among the 'okay pulls' from the box, there are some imperfections. My autograph is of a position player, who may not be a future stud, but is now in the collection I guess.