Box Break: 2009 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects (Blaster)

So much for avoiding blasters in 2010. In my defense, I was feeling under the weather and there is no better panacea than a box of baseball cards. I'm not usually much of a prospector, but 2009 Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects seems to be providing pretty good value (the only real caveat being the overdone WBC cards) with two purple refractors in each box and a decent shot at an autograph. I opened the box and let each of my twin brothers take turns picking a pack for me to open. One of the brothers picked all four packs that had an insert, the other brother picked none (needless to say, I won't be to taking him to Vegas with me). It was a decent box, but the real fun was sharing it with my brothers. Here's what I got:

Drew Sutton Purple Refractor: The purple refractors are exclusive to retail packs and look great in person. They are a nice addition at 1 in 4 packs to a product that until this year had terrible odds for pulling anything other than base cards from packs.

Ryan Perry Blue Base Card #31/399: A sharp looking parallel to the base cards, these fall 1 in every 45 packs and feature a nice blue border (cerulean? sky blue? I think we need to consult resident crayon expert Night Owl). It helps that Perry is a known commodity.

Miguel Cabrera WBC Purple Refractor: At least this WBC card is of a good player. Earth to Topps, no one wants these cards. No one! Cabrera should drop about 50 pounds this offseason if he sticks to the strict guidelines of the Lendale White "no tequila" diet.

Bud Norris X-Fractor #180/199: I think I'll hold onto this card because Mr. Norris and I both share a fairly uncommon (at least since the 1950's) first name. He's a pretty good prospect for the Astros and I beat the odds on this card at 1 in 92 packs.

Seiichi Uchikawa Blue Refractor #84/99: Nevermind that this card was more difficult to pull from a pack (1:180) than a chrome auto, I was thrilled to add another Seiichi Uchikawa card to my collection. Who wouldn't want that completely non-creepy smile staring back at them from a binder of cards? D'oh!

Overall Impressions: Despite the overabundance of WBC cards and no autograph, this blaster was still fun to open and featured plenty of color to make things exciting. Other notable chrome cards included Aroldis Chapman, Derek Jeter WBC, Phillipe Aumont and a Chris Tillman RC. There's one blaster left at Target that I am planning to split with my lucky brother (while having the unlucky brother divide the packs between us for a no-holds barred "pack wars"). I'll make to update you on any big pulls. Have a great weekend!