What you need to know about Aaron Sabato’s first Bowman card.
For all UNC baseball fans and baseball card collecting enthusiasts, if there was ever a time to start looking on eBay or a local card store, the time has come. The new Bowman 2021 First edition includes former first-baseman and 27th overall pick in the 2020 MLB Draft, Aaron Sabato, in his very first Bowman card.
With the online release of Bowman 2021 first edition, a previous online exclusive, the product quickly sold out when it first hit the public market March 22.
The set released exclusively to Topps MVP Hobby members three days prior before being made available to the public, and has sold out on Topps.com, but appears on many secondary markets.
With 10 cards per pack at $15, the set does not offer a hobby box of 24 packs per box or any configuration collectors are used to seeing. If someone wanted the hobby box feel, 24 packs would need to be purchased at the hefty price of almost $400, and this does not guarantee an auto or relic.
Pandemic caused card market surge and inflated prices:
Since the pandemic hit and forced people to be indoors longer than before, sports card collecting boomed. Card collecting served as a means of nostalgia; a way to pass time and a way to make extra money. As a result, products flew off the shelves faster than they can be restocked. If cards were restocked on the Target shelves, people soon snatched them up. If you know the hobby, then you know all too well that feeling, and the dreaded sign limiting product purchases to customers.
Not only are products gone quicker, but they’re more expensive as well. An average box of Topps Series One for a given year at the local Walmart or Target ran an average of $23-$25 with tax. Now, the products are bought to be resold at an average of $25-$40 without tax on eBay and other card stores.
Alternatives in the secondary card market are eBay box breaks, pack breaks and single cards available. They’re all either bidding on a team in the off chance a card worth getting belongs to the team, or the single card is almost worth the pack itself.
Anyone who collects baseball cards recognizes how significant a first Bowman card is. Look at the price of all the young stars’ first Bowman chrome card before the COVID-19 pandemic, and imagine how hard it is to get those same cards.
The breakdown of 2021 Bowman:
With Bowman a cornerstone baseball product and the first to feature players in major league uniforms or spring training cards, the latest prospects’ cards hit triple-digit value before a draft pick even plays in a professional game. The set features Sabato heavily with a regular, chrome, autograph and serial numbered card of each parallel color.
With a checklist of 150 players including Bobby Witt Jr, Riley Greene, Jasson Dominguez and other highly ranked prospects and draft picks, it may be worth picking up a few packs. The biggest player people have chased however is Austin Martin, the No. 2 ranked prospect for the Toronto Blue Jays, as it is his first Bowman as well.
But Sabato’s first Bowman sold for anywhere between $18-$30 with one small exception of one going for around $6 with shipping. The lowest one as of Thursday morning listed at $15 with shipping. This would be the equivalent to a pack, but with secondary markets inflating the price the costs are almost double of their original sale price.
Overall consensus:
Overall, while card collecting is fun and there is nothing like the feeling of opening packs and pulling the coveted card, it is not worth it to gamble on. The chances are slim to pull a Sabato card, whether it be regular or chrome. The cost to buy a pack versus the card outright is not close. As mentioned earlier, there are a ton of names worth chasing and collecting, but for a true UNC baseball fan, it is better to just buy the single card and save the money.