2022 Bowman Baseball Retail Box
Packs: 24
Cards per pack: 12
Total cards in box: 288
Total cost: $160.48 from Walmart.com ($149.98+$10.50 tax)
Cost per card: $0.557
I ordered a 2022 Bowman Hobby Box from topps.com a few days ago, but when I checked the order status the next day I realized it wasn’t going to ship for another 2-3 weeks! That’s when I checked walmart.com and saw they had 24-pack Retail boxes for $150. I ordered one and it arrived a few days later. (If you buy from walmart.com, make sure it’s Walmart that’s selling them, not one of their vendors. The vendors jack up the price.) I’ve always been unsure where the value point is in Hobby vs Retail, so I decided to do a breakdown of the Retail box now and compare it to the Hobby box when it arrives.
If you want to see everything that was in the Retail box, I’ve listed all 288 cards in a spreadsheet. Click the link for the Detailed Retail Box Breakdown. Otherwise, here’s a summary of what came out of the Retail box:
| Type | Cards | Notes |
| Base Set | 149 | Full set + 49 dups | Total Rookie Cards: 51 |
| Paper Prospects | 71 | 1st Bowman Prospects – 40 |
| Chrome Prospects | 46 | 1st Bowman Chrome Prospects – 29 |
| Numbered (Non-Auto) | 4 | /99 /150 /499 /499 |
| Auto | 1 | 1st Bowman Chrome Prospect Autograph Green Shimmer Refractor /99 |
| Inserts | 17 | B3D (1), VV (3), HIFI (4), ROYF (3), BTP (6) |
Base Set (Rookies and Veterans)
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149 of the 288 cards in the box were base paper (52%). There were either 1 or 2 of each of the 100 cards that make up the base set, so I have one complete set and 49 cards towards a second set. Of the 49 duplicate cards, 19 were rookies.
Notable rookie cards found: Wander Franco (2x), Josiah Gray, Andy Ashby (2x), Juan Yepez (2x), Josh Lowe, Seth Beer, Spencer Strider, Reid Detmers, Cal Raleigh, Oneil Cruz, Joe Ryan, Matt Manning (2x), Gavin Sheets (2x), Lars Nootbar (2x), Vidal Brujan (2x), Luis Gil (2x), Edward Cabrera (2x), Brandon Marsh, Jurran Duran (2x), Bryan De La Cruz (2x), Shane Baz (2x)
Paper Prospects (BP-xxx)
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There were 71 paper Prospect cards in the box (25%) which represents 47% of the full set of 150. 40 of the 71 paper Prospect cards were 1st Bowmans (47% of the 86 1st Bowman paper Prospect cards in the set). There were no duplicates.
Notable 1st Bowman paper Prospect cards found: Jhonkensy Noel, Roberto Campos, Elly De La Cruz, Eddys Leonard, Jackson Chourio, Max Muncy, Dustin Harris, Trey Sweeney
Chrome Prospects (BCP-xxx)
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There were 46 Chrome Prospect cards in the box (16%) which represents 31% of the full set of 150. 29 of the Chrome Prospect cards were 1st Bowmans (34% of the 86 non-auto 1st Bowman Chrome Prospect cards in the set). There were no duplicates.
Notable 1st Bowman Chrome Prospect cards found: Curtis Mead, Elly De La Cruz, Jackson Chourio, Ian Lewis
Numbered and Autograph Cards
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| Card | Player | Parallel | #’d |
| BCP-106 | Izaac Pacheco | Chrome Prospects Refractor | /499 |
| BP-100 | Norge Vera | Prospects Blue (1st Bowman) | /499 |
| BCP-55 | Luis Matos | Chrome Prospects Blue Shimmer Refractor | /150 |
| 35 | Jose Altuve | Base Green | /99 |
| CPA-EC | Elijah Cabell | Chrome Prospects Autograph Green Shimmer Refractor (1st Bowman) | /99 |
There were five numbered and/or autographed cards in the box, including two green Retail box exclusives. I like that there is at least one numbered card from each set – base, paper prospect, and chrome prospect. Going in, I knew I was unlikely to find any autograph cards, so to hit a 1st Bowman Chrome Prospect auto numbered to /99 seems very lucky. I only wish I had heard of Elijah Cabell. But, as of now, I’m rooting for him to have a Hall of Fame career. 🙂
Inserts
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| Insert | Cards | Players |
| Bowman in 3D | 1 | Austin Martin |
| Bowman Invicta | 0 | Hobby only |
| Bowman Scouts’ Top 100 | 6 | Quinn Priester, Oneil Cruz, Jackson Jobe, Jordan Walker, Pedro Leon, Pedro Pineda |
| Hi-Fi Futures | 4 | Marcelo Mayer, Adley Rutschman, Austin Martin, Liover Piguero |
| Rookie of the Year Favorites | 3 | Wander Franco, Brandon Marsh, Gavin Sheets |
| Virtuosic Vibrations | 3 | Marco Luciano, Austin Hendrick, Wilman Diaz |
Inserts
I’m really not sure what to make of the inserts. Between the numbered cards and the inserts you’re averaging just about one per pack, which seems fine. Invicta inserts are Hobby-only, so the quantity and spread of the inserts seems reasonable. Any Wander Franco card is a good find, but none of the others really jump out at me.
Final Thoughts
There is no guarantee of finding an autograph card in a 2022 Bowman Retail box, so scoring a 1st Bowman Chrome Auto numbered to /99 makes this seem like a big win (even if the player, Elijah Cabell, does not appear, at this time, to be a top prospect). I don’t know how many numbered cards can be expected in a Retail box, but one base, one paper prospect, and two chrome prospects (three, with the auto) seems reasonable.
I am happy with the number and quality of rookie cards (two Wander Franco’s!) and like that one retail box yielded a complete base set.
As for the prospect side of things, it seems a little light to me. I think most people are looking for 1st Bowman Chrome Prospects and obviously hope to hit one of the top prospects with a numbered card or auto. While I did hit with a numbered auto, there were no paper or chrome cards for top prospects Kahlil Watson, James Wood, or George Valera. Even as I’m typing this I know it sounds petty. If the box had every card it would be called a Complete Set not a Retail Box. I can admit to being happy with the Elly De La Cruz and Curtis Mead 1st Bowman Chrome cards, so there’s that. There were a total of 29 1st Bowman Chrome cards in the box and, given that we won’t know for a few years which prospects will succeed, I have no doubt several of them will become sought after someday. A few years from now some hot rookie will hit The Show and I’ll realize, “Hey, I’ve got that guy’s 1st Bowman Chrome!” And isn’t that really why we buy prospect cards?
Tentative Grade: Solid B