2009 Bowman Baseball Retail Rack Packs (20)

So I had a bit of spare money to blow on some packs this weekend.  That made me head down to Meijer to look for some decent deals on packs/blasters of sets I'd actually want to collect.  I almost grabbed some cheap blasters of 2008 UD Masterpieces football, but then these caught my eye.  If there had been a more random number available, like 17, I probably wouldn't have grabbed all of them, but 20 was hard to resist.  And anyway I've been interested in this set as much as anything Bowman recently.  Check out how I did:

Purchased from/price:  Meijer, $3 each (x20)
Packs/cards:  20 packs / 20 cards (generally 11 base, 4 Prospects/WBC, 3 Chrome Prospects/WBC, 2 WasteACard Gold Parallels)
Set size:  220 base cards, 90 Prospects, 20 WBC Prospects (ditto on the Chrome versions of Prospects and WBC)
Key features:  Lots of rookies/first year cards; autographs; Chrome!
Key cards:  Aroldis Chapman WBC, plus lots of other base RCs (none of which is worth a ton at the moment, but it's only been a year)

Fronts:  base, base RC, Prospect, WBC Prospect, Chrome Prospect, Chrome WBC Prospect

Backs (same order)

Set completion:

• Base:  147/220 (67%)
• Prospects:  52/90 (58%)
• WBC Prospects:  10/20 (50%) 
• Chrome Prospects:  38/90 (42%)
• Chrome WBC Prospects:  11/20 (55%) 

Extras:

• Base:  57 doubles, 13 triples 3 quadruples(!)
• Prospects:  10 doubles, 3 triples, 2 quadruples(!)
• WBC:  2 doubles, 1 triple(!)
• Chrome Prospects:  5
• Chrome WBC Prospects:  1 

3 XFractors, 2 Refractors, 1 stupid Gold...

...AND A STUPID SCOUT AUTOGRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAPH!

Inserts:

• Gold Parallel that is a total waste of one or more cards: 40 total, 39 different (two of Pujols), 4 Prospects and 1 WBC (2:1, 40 expected, but certainly not wanted)
• Refractor (#d to 599):  Luis Jimenez Prospects, Jarred Bogany Prospects (1:8, 2-3 expected)
• XFractor (#d to 299):  Kyeong Kang Prospects, Jon Mark Owings Prospects, Nino Leyja Prospects (1:15, 1-2 expected)

Autographs:  Scout Autographs Pat Daugherty (1:26, 0-1 expected) WTF!?!?
Relics:  None (none expected)
Best pack:  #12 included the Aroldis Chapman WBC card (see next item) and Nino Leyja Xfractor (see above).  By Beckett value alone this pack is great (and worth $20+) but more importantly, those are two sweet cards


Best card:  (In an effort to be more positive in these reviews (other than the actual review part below), I'm getting rid of "worst pack" and replacing it with this category):

Yeah, I'm going with the Chapman WBC card.  He's hot right now and anyway, this is a great looking card


Quality control:  5/10  I ended up with a LOT of dinged cards.  As always (and this is no surprise, Topps), black cards are more prone to chipping, so maybe we shouldn't use it so much, guys?
Collation:  6/10  I'm sorry, this is WAAAAAAAY too many triples and quads, even for a random assortment of packs.  It's even harder to believe I pulled so many extras of the Chromes and WBCs since there are fewer.  I bumped this up because I beat the odds on all my inserts (three XFractors!)  and even that "autograph"
Value:  5/10  Compared to what they used to cost, these packs were at a pretty decent price (especially considering you're getting twice as many cards as you usually do for your $3).  Still, these aren't worth a lot yet since most of the guys are unproven or unknown.  I didn't pull many big-ticket cards besides the Chapman and inserts, and if I haven't mentioned it yet, that autograph is a piece of crap.  Jeez, at least get Matt Holliday's John Hancock on the thing to make it an interesting insert
Set design and player selection:  7/10  baseline of 5;  +1 for good photography, +1 for Chrome, +1 for Refractors, +1 for XFractors, +1 for generally good player selection, +1 for lots of rookies, +1 for WBC; -1 for chipping-prone black, -1 for illegible font on numbers, -1 for numbering cards with letters in front (ie BCP-11) which also makes them hard to read, -1 for only one year of stats plus career totals, -1 for 800 combinations of sets and parallels
Inserts and extras:  4/10  If not for the WBC cards, Refractors and XFractors (and the low but conceivable possibility of actual player autographs) I'd give this a 1.  God damn is that scout autograph stupid.  No offense, Pat Daugherty, but not even somebody in your family would give me a buck for your signature on a sticker

Overall score:  27/50
Ok, let's review my reaction to pulling that "autograph" from the last pack (compounded by the numerous triples and quads) internet meme and YouTube video style:

 



Yeah, that's a start anyway.  What's even more ridiculous is that Mojo had the very same thing happen to him recently!  I don't just mean he pulled one of the same autograph set, but the very same card!  Think I'm going overboard?  IT'S A GODDAM SCOUT AUTOGRAPH!  It's not a player, it's some schlub that was involved in drafting him.  Not the guy that actually drafted him of course, just a guy that watched him play and thought, "Gee, that Matt Holliday seems to be pretty good."  No offense to scouts, it's a tough job, but I bet even they wouldn't want each others' autographs.  Also, really, a sticker?  The guy couldn't be bothered to sign an actual card?  FAIL, Topps, FAIL.

Anyway, aside from the horrendously bad autograph, I'll be combining what I pulled with whatever I already had (as soon as I can figure out where I stashed those piles) and putting together wantlists, so keep an eye out for those soon.  In the meantime, don't bother picking up more than a couple of these rack packs (which I normally ordinarily enjoy), you'll be disappointed