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2018 Bowman Platinum Cubs Review

Bowman Platinum hit Wal-Mart stores this week. It's sold in three different packages: value boxes for $79.99, blaster boxes for $19.99, and packs for $5.99.

It seems as though demand is much lower for the product this year than in previous years. The 2017 product was hot because it was the first in-pack rookie card of Cody Bellinger. And of course Aaron Judge hysteria was at a fever pitch. 

This year we have Ohtani mania, but since he spent some time on the disabled list his cards have not been as hot. Plus, Topps and Panini have saturated each product with Ohtani cards, so they are readily available. Additionally, Wal-Mart is selling Platinum on their website meaning production is up.

At any rate I love Platinum and wanted to check out Wal-Mart on my lunch break Friday. There are three Wal-Marts in my area, with one just 10 minutes away (the other two are about 20-30 minutes). The nearest store the past couple years has been a desert for baseball cards. Typically, you can find Topps series 1 and that's about it. However, things have changed in 2018 and I've found Bowman and Heritage long after it dried up everywhere else. 

I went in thinking I'd find an empty shelf. Boy, was I wrong. The baseball card shelf was fully stocked. I loaded up with one value box, five blasters, and seven packs.

The wait was killing me, so I squeezed one box break in on my lunch break. I pulled a Javier Baez! As much as I love Baez cards I'm a bit disappointed with the Platinum. Javy is such a fun and flashy player, yet the photo used is really boring. 

The second Cub pulled was Jon Lester. More of an in-action shot and I love the Cubby bear logo on the hat. 

Through my breaks I pulled plenty of Kris Bryant. Three base cards and the Platinum Presence Insert.

One Cubs player in the prospect portion of the set is Thomas Hatch. Hatch was the Cubs first selection (3rd round) in the 2016 MLB Draft out of Oklahoma State.

And the top prospect by many publications is Adbert Alzolay. Unfortunately he's out the rest of the season with an injury. I pulled his base prospect card, the Parallel, and Prismatic Prodigies Insert. 

Overall, I'm not a fan of the 2018 Platinum design. I can get over the bland photos, but the design has me left wanting more. More on the images: there are several shots where team logos, etc are either blocked or hard to see making it look like a Panini unlicensed card. I may head to one other Wal-Mart today just to see if there are any more out there, but I won't be ordering any online feeling I had my fix. Now the decision is what I'm going to do about Allen & Ginter, one of my favorite products. It releases in a couple weeks and I have yet to order.


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