2016 Bowman Inception Baseball Cards – Product Review & Box Hit Gallery Added

Product Review

2016 Bowman Inception Baseball Product Review

Reviewed by Trey Treutel

Good: Distinct design, on-card signatures, good batch of top prospects.

Bad: All autographed relics feature sticker signatures, missing a few of the key 2016 rookies, still a little pricey for what you get, no specific base autograph print runs.

The Bottom Line: With a strong crop of young talent and a noticeable design tweak, 2016 Bowman Inception Baseball once again establishes itself as a formidable product that sits on the edge of premium collecting. While the all-autograph format comes with considerable risk and the youth-based checklist has a higher chance of duds, largely moderate box prices and big-hit potential make for an intriguing option among prospect and rookie collectors.

Card Design: 3.8/5.0

Depending on what you look for in a card design, 2016 Bowman Inception Baseball could easily be seen as busy or distracting. I personally find it quite nice and a vast improvement over the baseball seam design of 2015. Reminiscent of outer space, the same basic background is applied for the main autographs and many of the autographed relics. Not as great in my mind, it is perhaps too dark of a design and I find myself wishing the signatures popped a little more. I know it is not a huge thing and has been the case for years, but I like that the orientation is switched for the prospects and rookies.

For most collectors, on-card autographs are the preference, and nearly every signed card (without a relic) goes this route. The end result is a striking card with hearty stock and hard-signed content for many young stars.

Again, not a new thing, but the sticker autographs applied to the relic inserts are disappointing. This is especially true as these are some of the biggest hits in the set.

While not everyone likes the reprinted aspect of the Inceptionized autographs, and I personally think Topps relies on this in too many of their sets already, they still are a cool addition in my mind, especially for some of the older players. Although very rare, the veteran content takes that a step further given that many are signed on-card.

Checklist: 3.5/5.0

Whereas previous years of Inception seemingly rehashed the same prospect names, 2016 Bowman Inception Baseball gives collectors notable brand debuts for many key prospects. That’s not to say there aren't repeats, but checklist does feel more fresh. In my mind, the biggest issue is the Rookie Autograph checklist that omits several of the top 2016 rookies like Diaz, Story, Mazara and Kepler. I get that much of this is locked in far in advance but a set geared around prospects and rookies should have some wiggle room.

Like many Topps sets, the biggest checklist question is how many autographs there are for each of the base rookies and prospects. This can be the most frustrating aspect since they are not numbered and most of the key players seem to show up less often.

While heavily centered around rookies and prospects, the release does give something else via the limited Inceptionized veteran content. They are not common pulls but do offer another facet to the set.

Value: 3.0/5.0

Five autographs for about $80 is just enough to make you take pause but still not so expensive that most collectors are priced out. All-autograph products can be huge gambles and that is even more true for sets based mostly around prospects. While not quite the same as the other Bowman sets that feature a traditional box format, Bowman Inception is still more along the lines of a hurry-up-and-wait product. Because of this, and the larger list of prospect names, the value, or lack thereof, may not be fully realized for an extended period.

The Fun Factor: 3.75/5.0

To me, 2016 Bowman Inception Baseball gets back on track after a down 2015. I’d like to have seen a little more design variety but that is tough to do when maintaining the feel of brand that only has five cards per box. Obviously, the sticker autograph for Snell was a bummer but snagging three numbered cards was still a nice surprise. The appealing design and clear card quality was another plus in the fun department for me.

2016 Bowman Inception Baseball Box Hit Gallery

The box used for this review was provided by Topps.

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2016 Bowman Inception Alex Bregman Autograph Rookie PA-ABR AUTO GOLD /150 PSA 8

$117.29

Lucas Giolito 2016 Bowman Inception Gold Auto Autograph #IAR-LG /50 Nationals

$40.00

2016 Bowman Inception Corey Seager /50 Auto Autograph Relic Jersey Texas Rangers

$115.00

Matt Olson Autograph /25 2016 Bowman Inception Auto Jersey Relic

$100.00

2016 Bowman Inception Alex Bregman Autograph Factory Rookie AUTO RC GREEN 27/50!

$179.99

2016 Bowman Inception Alex Bregman Autograph Factory Rookie AUTO RC GOLD 17/25!

$299.99

2016 Bowman Inception Ozzie Albies Blue Parallel Auto Autograph #PA-OAL Card /99

$99.99

2016 Bowman Inception auto autograph Aaron Judge New York Yankees

$1,500.00

2016 Bowman Inception Gleyber Torres Auto SGC 8.5/10 Prospect Autograph PA-GT

$45.00

2016 Bowman Inception Origins Alex Bregman AUTO RARE Autograph 17/25 BGS 9/10!

$349.99

COREY SEAGER 2016 Bowman Inception Autograph Relic RC Rookie Card #IAR-CS - Rare

$68.50

2016 Bowman Inception Origins Auto Dansby Swanson 05/25

$74.99

2016 Bowman Inception Gleyber Torres Blue Auto Autograph #PA-GT Card NYY #d /99

$179.99

Dansby Swanson 2016 Bowman Inception Auto Prospect Gold Refractor PA-DS #10/25

$199.00

2016 Bowman Inception Ke'Bryan Hayes PA-KH Prospect AUTO

$49.99

Tyler O'Neill RC Auto 2016 Bowman Inception Inceptionized Prospect #IBPATO /25

$200.00

Sonny Gray - 2016 Bowman Inception Veteran Autograph 35/63 - PSA 9 MINT

$74.95

2016 BOWMAN INCEPTION TYLER STEPHENSON PA-TS RC AUTOGRAPH 44927 CINCINNATI REDS

$240.00

2016 Aaron Nola Bowman Inception Auto RC #d/50! BEAUTIFUL!

$100.00

2016 Bowman Inception #PA-KH Ke’Bryan Hayes RC Autograph PSA 8 - NM-MT - Pirates

$82.79