2020 Bowman Mega Box – The Hits From a 20-Box Break

Bowman Mega Boxes have been extremely hot the past few years. I remember seeing them on the shelf in a Target store in 2017. I wasn’t fully immersed in the hobby as I am now, and I just thought it was another Bowman box. Can you imagine now? Finding Bowman Mega Boxes on a Target shelf HOURS after a vendor had stocked the store. Not going to happen today.

My area Target stores are typically stocked on Friday’s. In fact, I have run into the Excell vendor the past two weeks while looking for Bowman blasters. For my day job, I have two PTO days that need to be used up by the end of the quarter. Since June 6 falls on a Saturday and that’s my birthday…and Friday was supposed to be a beautiful day, I took it off. Oh yeah…Bowman Mega Boxes might be stocked.

So, I did some catching up on sending out eBay packages and a couple trade packages in the morning. Ran to the bank and post office and timed it to when I thought the card vendor would be arriving at one of the Target stores.

As I approached the card section there were two high school-aged kids waiting as well. They said they had been waiting there since 10 a.m. – nearly three hours before I arrived. We chatted for 30 minutes before the vendor did show up, and learned that the younger generation is getting into cards, and many of the sneaker flippers are crossing over into cards as well. Good or bad for the hobby? That’s a story for another day.

By the time the Excell vendor pulled up with a cart filled with the goods, we had a crowd of five people waiting. The vendor said this was the only store that didn’t receive a case of the Bowman Mega Boxes, and even he was surprised because that particular store moves the most volume. He had a couple blaster boxes of Panini Select, another 20 Bowman blasters, and one blaster of Mosaic basketball. I grabbed a box of Select and one blaster of Bowman for a fun afternoon rip. Some collectors have not been able to find any Bowman blasters. Three weeks into release and I have seen a lot of Bowman, and of the five guys waiting for the vendor on Friday, only three Bowman blasters were bought while 17 sat on the shelf.

Bummed without a chance at Bowman Mega Boxes, I headed home and broke open the Select and Bowman I picked up. Then, I waited until I thought the vendor would stock my nearest Target store that is less than five minutes from my house. A friend of mine was also planning to visit that store.

He messaged me around 3:15 and said the vendor was there and stated, “he was upset because the Bowman display was taken.” That was odd, I thought. Maybe a rogue employee ripped open the case and bought them for themselves? Since it’s a short drive, I decided to take a look for myself. I needed to grab some beer, and my wife requested bottled water.

First things first, I headed over to the card section. It was stocked with the new Panini Select, but no Bowman or anything else. The section also looked in disarray, which is odd because this particular vendor does a fantastic job at cleaning up the card section when he stocks. Was the vendor playing games with the guys waiting for him?

I grabbed a cart and headed over to the grocery section. Picked up some Spotted Cow and a case of bottled water. Then, I meandered over to the toy section just in case the Bowman Mega Boxes were there like we saw them placed in 2018 or 2019. Found some Topps Opening Day, and a bunch of Pokemon over there.

So, let’s make one more trip by the card section. Nope, still nothing. Damn, I’m gonna be shut out of Bowman Mega. Taking my “L,” I went over to the check out lane. Fortunately for me, it was a busy afternoon in Target and I was third or fourth in line. Head on a swivel, I was about to move closer to the register. And then…I spotted him. Yes, I can spot the Target baseball card vendor “in the wild.”

His head was also on a swivel…pushing a cart with a large unopened box. He made his way to the customer service desk, so I jumped out of line and waited nearby. Another guy showed up, so I made a move as soon as the vendor pushed that cart over to the cards.

The vendor looked at us, smiled and said: “Mega Boxes?” We both replied, “Yup!” And the vendor asked us if we were cool splitting the case of 40 boxes. Absolutely. The other guy said I can take the first 20 boxes, and he’ll grab the second batch. I couldn’t believe it. He played my buddy. Of course, I had to take a picture of my cart filled with Bowman Mega Boxes and message him right away. He was not amused.

Now, that you’ve read through my day here are my hits. My autograph pulls were far better than last year – 2 vs. 1. I can’t remember exactly how many 2019 Mega Boxes I bought last year, but it was between 20 and 30. I pulled one autograph – Joe Gray of the Milwaukee Brewers.

This year’s odds state an autograph in 1:16 packs. With my 40 packs, the averages would have me pull two or three autographs. Two was the magic number. I wonder if the other guy received three autographs in his batch of 20 boxes?

My first autograph pull was another Brewer – Aaron Ashby. Somebody on Twitter did comment about how much real state Ashby’s signature took up. It’s a nice sig.

The other autograph is Glenallen Hill Jr. Two things popped up when I pulled this. First, the image is completely different from his base refractor card. Second, while his base chrome has a 1st Bowman, the autograph does not.

There was also some “poor” collation, but it was a benefit in the boxes I opened. One of the highlights of the 20-box break was opening the first pack of a box and getting Jasson Dominguez…

And Bobby Witt Jr. back to back.

That, I thought, was going to be the highlight of the box. At current prices, those two cards could pay for about seven of the boxes alone.

Then I opened the second pack in that same box. I saw color. Wait, I see two colors. It was a double hit pack. First was….WHAT!?! Another Bobby Witt Jr. and it’s blue numbered /150.

And then, Jordan Balazovic of the Minnesota Twins purple numbered /250.

In the very next box, another double hit in one pack. First up was a Cristian Javier pink numbered /199.

The other hit was a Luis Robert pink /199 Spanning the Globe.

Another color pulled was a Drew Waters blue /150.

I also pulled a pink Jacob Amaya /199.

And a purple Alex Kiriloff /250.

The first sale I made occurred early on opening the boxes. It was sold before I had opened half of my stash. It was Miami Marlins prospect Jerar Encarnacion and an Orange refractor numbered /25. After pulling it, I posted a picture on Twitter and then listed on eBay for $75. Someone showed interest on Twitter, and it was sold for $65.

Another low numbered parallel was pulled. Gold! San Diego Padres prospect Xavier Edwards gold refractor numbered /50.

In my final box I pulled an image variation of Bobby Witt Jr. I’m not sure exactly what this is worth, though three others had them listed on eBay for $999 or best offer. I put mine up for $750 or best offer with no bites. We shall see how this plays out.

Oh, wait. There’s one other hit. It actually came pretty early in my break. It was pink….and it was JASSON DOMINGUEZ! WOW! I was so excited I ran up two flights of stairs to show my wife. One other was at auction with two days remaining and the bidding was at $405. I placed a $600 buy it now and put it on eBay for a couple hours. My plan was to field offers for a few hours and if nothing came I would put it at 24-hour auction to end before the others.

I had my fix, and that was fun. Hopefully all goes smoothly with the sales and I will make a profit (to buy Cubs baseball cards, of course), keep the Cubs, and use some of the cards in trades.