Bowman Chrome X

Earlier this week, Topps stirred up some news by partnering with a company called StockX to bring a new product offer to baseball card collectors: Bowman Chrome X. In this post, I’ll try my best to break down what it is, how it worked, and I’ll also share my thoughts at the end.

The Product: Bowman Chrome X – What is it?

Box Chrome X is essentially a “hobby box” that contains one baseball card. All cards are:

• Green X-Fractor parallels.
• A rookie or prospect.
• Numbered to 31
• Pre-graded a 9 or a 10 by PSA.
• NON-Autos.
• Cases are also offered. Cases have five boxes, but also an added incentive – one of the five boxes will include a hit off a special checklist:

OK. Now we’ve got the product down. Now, how were they sold? This is where it gets interesting. Bowman Chrome X was offered through a website called StockX, who sold the product through an IPO (Initial Public Offering). This model is loosely based off the stock market when a company “goes public” - when a company goes from a privately held company to publicly-traded company. The IPO gives investors the chance to be the first to buy stock.

So how does this come into play with Bowman Chrome X? How does a StockX IPO Work?

• StockX IPOs are a blind auction.
• Customers place anonymous bids on items – they can bid whatever amount they’re comfortable spending.
• Once the auction has ended, the top bids that match the quantity in stock for that specific size will win the item.
• For example, if there are 100 boxes available, then the top 100 bids will win the boxes.
• However, all winners will be charged the same amount - this is what is called the 'Clearing Price'.
• The Clearing Price is the lowest winning bid of the 100 mentioned above. This means that even if you had the highest Bid at $1,000, if the Clearing Price is only $200, then you win the box for just $200.
• Think of it this way: Using the example above, the bids are ranked 1-100, highest to lowest, and the clearing price is whatever #100 bid.
• Bidders are notified within 24 hours if they won or not.

If you’re still confused on the process, I highly recommend checking out this 90-second YouTube video from StockX that explains it very well.

OK – Now we’ve got this down. So what happened?

• The IPO for Bowman Chrome X went live last week and closed on 10/30/19, 8:00 PM EST.
• The quantities offered in the IPO were 1,100 individual boxes, and 400 5-box cases.
• After bidding closed, the StockX website stated that over 2,100 bids were received for boxes. I did not see a bid number for cases.
• According to what I’ve found on Twitter – which I believe to be legit due to tweets from multiple winners – the clearing prices ended at $50/box, and $300/case, plus $12-15 shipping.

My thoughts?

1) I tried to get involved. I’ll admit it. I bit! This a brand new concept, and it was something I couldn’t help but get involved with. I like Chrome and shiny new things… so I thought I’d give it a spin. I put in a bid for one box and one case, hoping that I could throw in a low-ball offer on each and get involved at a decent price. For better or worse, my bids were under the clearing price. I didn’t miss the box price by a ton but I was way under on the case price. No Bowman Chrome X for me.

After seeing the clearing prices, I’m glad I’m not spending that kind of money on 1 or 5 baseball cards. And I guess that's the beauty of this - I wouldn't be comfortable paying $50/box plus shipping... and, I'm not paying that! I submitted my bid, and my bid wasn't high enough. 

2) I'm not sure I trust the results and the clearing price. It's interesting. If the clearing prices are truly $50 and $300, those seem to be strangely round numbers, no? If you have over 1,100 people bid on something, and the 1,100 highest bidder is the one that sets the price - don't you figure it would be some obscure number? Like $48.78? I have a hard time believing that they happened to land cleanly on $50 and $300. 

Furthermore, I've read rumors on Twitter that StockX has notified box winners that they can buy more boxes. But... If there were 1,100 boxes, and over 2,100 bids, how the heck are there more boxes for sale? 

To add another layer, now the StockX Bowman X webpage is still showing that there were 1,013 bids. So, wouldn't that mean that the clearing price should be at whatever #1,013 bid? And since that's the lowest bid, we know that bid is the guy who put in $.01. 

3) The IPO concept is definitely cool - if it's legit. As stated above, I certainly question the validity of this. But if it's actually a legit offering, it's really cool in the sense that it empowers consumers to set the market price.

4) I will be watching these cards closely when they hit the market. And you know that won't take long. There are already boxes and cases listed on eBay for ridiculous prices, and thankfully, none of them have sold yet. Eventually they will sell, but I'm hoping they don't sell too high above the clearing price. This would only encourage flippers. As for the boxes that are opened - you can bank on the Vlad Jr. and Bichette PSA 10s going for a good price. Beyond that, I'm interested to see what these cards sell for. 

If you've made it this far, I'm SUPER curious to hear your thoughts. Did you consider getting on the Bowman X action? Did you bid? How do you feel about this type of product offering?

2014 Topps Series 2 TRADE BAIT!

E-mail me at nsbell440@gmail.com with trade proposals! Let's make a deal!

He Was a Pirate? Part 1 - Doug Mientkiewicz

I’m excited to introduce a new segment to the blog!

The inspiration here is quite simple. As a Pirates fan growing up in New York it was rare that I would come across anyone who shared my love for the black and gold. The Pirates, like all MLB teams, experience a multitude of transactions throughout the year. Existing in a small market magnified this even more. The Pirates were constantly signing players to one year, minimum contract deals.

With that said, my Yankee-supporting counterparts were never aware of the frequent changes occurring a few hundred miles west. Oftentimes during friendly baseball-themed conversation, the question “He was a Pirate?” would arise. I’ve decided to honor this ever-occuring inquiry on my blog.

The posts, which will be titled just as this one is, will be sequentially numbered- each post featuring one former Pirate whom-in my opinion- had an “under the radar” stint in the Steel City. Some will be stars, some will be Joe-Schmo’s, and so on. I will, of course, have at least one card from my PC to represent each player.

In a perfect world I would post weekly, but my schedule simply doesn’t allow for such consistency.  I’ve got a ton of guys/cards in mind, so keep an eye out for them!

This week’s “He was a Pirate?"

 2009 Topps Series 1 #328

Doug Mientkiewicz! Come on, you remember Doug! Yes, the guy that finished 14^th in MVP voting in 2001! Yeah, him!

Number of seasons with the Pirates: 1

Career stats with the Pirates:

His legacy: I'll always remember Doug as a contact hitting first baseman with a slick glove. I always enjoyed watching him get some playing time, which was limited behind the legendary Adam LaRoache (foreshadowing?). Even as a back-up, Doug managed to find himself well over 200 at bats. He did well as a back up- a role in which he had become familiar in the twilight of his career. 

Unlike the prototypical first baseman, Mientkiewicz was by no means a power hitter. His career high in homers was a meager 15, and he only made it to double digit homers four times. Even with absent power, he was able to make an impact by driving in runs and slapping singles. I remember him best as the first basemen for the Twins in the early 2000's, but also as a defensive replacement with other clubs- most notably the Boston Red Sox in 2004. That's when he received the final put out of the World Series and broke the Curse of the Bambino. The moment was captured in a series of images such as the one below.

The moments after this became incredibly controversial, when Mientkiewicz ended up hanging onto the game ball. The saga of the ball is catalogued nicely in this ESPN article.

In summary, I remember Doug Mientkiewicz just like everyone else: As a member of every team but the Pirates.

Four 2014 Bowman Baseball Hobby Packs, With a Hit!

After seeing some blog posts about 2014 Bowman, I definitely needed to get my hands on some packs. I considered a blaster, but opted to hit my LCS. For $17 and change, I was able to secure myself 40 cards with a reasonable chance some at parallels or a hit. That's a way better deal than a blaster, plus I'm supporting my LCS. Hell yeah.

 The design is pretty sharp. I'm a big fan. I like the design much more than Topps Series 1- I'll never get over that weird border thingy hanging around on the right hand side of those cards.

Here are the highlights:

I'll start with two base cards that stood out to me, for different reasons. The Rendon card hit struck me immediately because I've seen that picture a thousand freaking times. I'm pretty sure it's the only picture of him that Topps owns. As for the Morales card, I found it funny because he's currently unemployed. It's not often that you open a brand new product and find a guy in an outdated jersey.

I was lucky enough hit a Tanaka rookie, one of the more sought after cards thus far in 2014. I was thinking about selling it, but I was able to get some good return from a different card (read on for more), so I think I'm going to hang onto this bad boy. The Lambo card is the only Pirate that I pulled. I've already been showered in Lambo RC's from Topps flagship, but I like this one better. Hopefully this guy can prove to be an effective major leaguer some day soon.

My two parallels, both from the "hometown flags" parallel line. The Castellanos RC was a nice little hit. From what I understand this guy is projected to have a solid career.

Lastly, I beat the odds and hit the one auto in the box. It's actually the first time I've ever hit an auto from an LCS hobby pack. This is a actually a bit of surprise considering how many dozens of packs I've bought- so it was nice to finally get a big hit!

I had never heard of Jesse Winker, so I did some quick research. He's a very young prospect in the Reds system, projected by most prospecting sites as the 4th or 5th best prospect in the Reds' system. This guy won't see be seeing the bigs for several years, if he pans out- the story of every prospect. Chances are, like 95% of prospects, this guy will never make a name for himself. 

Based on that, this card went straight to eBay and served as a perfect refund for my original purchase. It rarely works out like this, so I'm feeling pretty fortunate. If this guy ever hits it huge and becomes the next Mike Trout, please feel to come back to this post a berate me. I deserve it. 

Thanks for reading!

PC Additions

Today's post will be a quick one, highlighting three cards that I'm excited to add to my personal collections:

This card is from 2013 Update, one of the retail only chrome refractors. Back in November, I posted about how much I love black Pirates parallels. Frankie didn't have a card in the 2013 Chrome set, so it's great to be able to add this chrome parallel, #'ed out of 99.  I'm still looking for the same card of Pedro Alvarez. The only one on eBay is a bit too pricey.

This beauty was sent to me by the wonderful Judson Meeks over at My Cardboard Habit. Judson has been sending me some awesome Pirates cards for a few months now, and gets more generous by the day. This card is also from Chrome Update, retail only. The gold border looks great, and so does the /250 stamp on the flipside.

 Thanks, Judson!

My final addition is terribly random. I'm not necessarily a superfan of Drew Brees, and I don't have a Drew Brees PC. But several Sundays ago, I was watching Brees shred Carolina's defense for over 300 yds and 4 TD's. As the broadcasters were raving about the future hall-of-famer, I thought, "It would be great to own a tangible piece of this guy's career." So I did what any compulsive collector would do... hopped on eBay and grabbed a jersey card! It's numbered to 249, so it carries a bit of rarity which I always appreciate. Less than $5 shipped- can't beat!

I recently created a Twitter account to coincide this blog, as well as my collecting in general. Give me a follow - @big44cards

Thanks for reading!