Toronto Blue Jays: A personal guide to collecting players in Bowman 2020

The coveted autographed cards

Autographed Cards

Now to the autographs!

In terms of the prospect checklist, the Toronto Blue Jays unfortunately only have one player in the base set and one player in the chrome set.

For the base autograph set, there is internationally signed infielder Orelvis Martinez. Martinez currently sits 6th on the Blue Jays top prospect list and was signed by the Blue Jays in 2018.

This is not Martinez’s first card with Topps (his 1st Bowman was in last year’s product), so the card is currently not in super high demand. Recently sold listings on eBay have the card sitting anywhere from $25 CDN to $40 CDN, which is not a bad price considering his 1st Bowman autos are going for over $100 at auction.

For the chrome autograph set, there is catching prospect Philip Clarke, who the organization drafted last year in the 8th round, 267 overall.

As of right now, the base chrome autographed card is currently selling anywhere from $36 CDN to $70 CDN, so acquiring his autograph right now might involve opening the purse strings (the keyword is right now, considering the product is very recent and prices could easily rise/drop in the upcoming weeks/months).

Rounding out the rest of the Blue Jays autographs, there is Bo Bichette (Chrome Rookie, 1990 throwback and Book set) and Jordan Groshans (Bowman Scouts Top 100). These two players have had autographs from Topps before so they won’t be 1st Bowman cards.

What else could I get?

Insert Cards

For those of you who don’t collect baseball cards, an insert is a card that has a different design when compared to the base cards and is found a different rate and frequency (and typically a higher rarity) than most cards in the box.

This year, Bowman 2020 is doing a throwback to the 1990 Bowman set, where players from today will be featured on cards that are designed like they were back in 1990 when this set was released.

All of these cards come in refractors (more info here on refractors), and the Blue Jays have two players in this set: #90B-BB Bo Bichette and #90B-NP Nate Pearson.

Next, we have the Bowman Scouts Top 100, which features the top prospects from across the league with each player’s corresponding card number relating to their position within the top 100 rankings. The Blue Jays have Nate Pearson (#BTP-10) and Jordan Groshans (#BTP-47) in this set.

Three active roster MLB Blue Jays players also found themselves in the Hidden Finds set, featuring catcher Danny Jansen (#HF-DJ), 1st baseman Rowdy Tellez (#HF-RT), and starting pitcher Ryan Borucki (#HF-RB).

A new insert to the Bowman 2020 product is “Spanning the Globe”. These are cards that feature a player that grew up or was born in various countries around the world (outside of the USA) and highlights their country of origin on the front of the card.

The Toronto Blue Jays have two players in this set, Canadian born Dasan Brown (#STG-DB) and Brazilian Eric Pardinho (#STG-EP). These cards are similar to the Bowman 1990 in that they are also only refractors.

Rounding out the Blue Jays insert checklist, there is Bo Bichette in the Rookie of the Year Favorites set and the Talent Pipeline, which highlights a player from each of the tiers of the MILB in A, AA, and AAA. In 2020, the Blue Jays will feature Eric Pardinho (A), Kevin Smith (AA), and Nate Pearson (AAA) on this insert.

Getting Some Blue Jays Cards

Finding Bowman 2020

Bowman is always a highly in-demand product, and because of that, the price for acquiring a box of cards is not going to be cheap nor will it be easy.

The COVID-19 pandemic has also set back the production and distribution of the Bowman 2020 cards, meaning hobby shops and sellers were not able to get their full orders creating greater demand.

This led Topps to release Bowman 2020 in two sections: a 1st edition that was an extremely limited run earlier in the year and then the regular Bowman 2020 release which occurred on Friday, May 22 in the United States (Canada is May 27).

The 1st edition cards were a way of getting collectors some form of product because Topps knew they would not be able to deliver the regular Bowman on time, and collectors and sportscard flippers/investors were chomping at the bit for something prospect wise. These were very hard to find and quite expensive given how many packs were produced. There were also issues with the autographed cards coming out streaky and with defects, making the product less or more desirable depending on who you talk to.

How do I get some Bowman 2020 cards?

There are a few simple ways to acquire Bowman 2020 cards (there are other ways that I will not mention, given they can be complicated and that’s not the true intent of this article).

The first option is to buy the boxes, as the cards come in a few forms of boxes and packs at different price points for every type of collector and every type of budget.

The value packs and blaster boxes can be found at stores like Walmart or Target, and retail for $16.92 and $31.92 respectively. You get 2 packs of cards in the value pack and 6 packs in the blaster boxes.

These types of card/box forms are called “retail” as there is no guarantee that you will hit an autographed card within your purchase (high risk, high reward if you will). Look for these to be released possibly this Tuesday in a Walmart near you (Canada usually receives these packs/boxes a week or two later than the American counterparts, which could be further delayed due to COVID and the border restrictions).

Then there are the hobby and jumbo boxes.

These two types of boxes are more expensive, but you are guaranteed one autographed card in the hobby box and three autographed cards in the jumbo. The hobby box contains 24 packs (10 cards per pack) while the jumbo has 12 packs (32 cards per pack).

Most local card stores within Canada are mentioning the boxes will start being sold on May 27 (so they are only available for pre-order right now).

The hobby and jumbo boxes are typically what you will find at your local card stores, where you can either buy a box an entire box of cards, or buy the individual packs from a hobby/jumbo box (some LCS do this, and some do not. Contact your LCS to find out).

If you are looking to pick up some boxes, I highly encourage you to contact various local card stores in your area to find the best price. Different stores will have different prices, so it is best to do some comparison shopping. You might have to wait a week or two as many places have pre-sell orders already sold out but you will avoid paying outrageous shipping fees and possibly any border fees (think duty/tax/import) if you buy from the United States.

You can also try eBay and other sites online for the various types of boxes mentioned above, but the prices will also fluctuate given the demand for the product and the release being so recent. If you want some Bowman 2020 boxes sooner rather than later, you will most likely be overpaying.

Your next option is to find particular cards of interest on the internet, as sellers will most likely be popping up various Blue Jays cards over the next week (as people are still awaiting their shipment of cards). The market will determine how expensive the card will get, so you might find some super great deals if you’re lucky.

This option works great for those who are looking to collect certain players and doesn’t care about opening packs of cards.

I hope you found this guide somewhat informative. I am not a sports card guru by any means, I just enjoy collecting cards and memorabilia of the Toronto Blue Jays and various players across the league.

Whether you are an avid collector, possibly looking to collect again, or don’t care about cardboard, baseball cards are a fun gateway to connect with other fans of the game or to bring back some personal nostalgia of your favorite teams. Happy collecting, and I hope you pull something big.