Topps Releases Final 2021 Products on New Year’s Eve

We’re almost two weeks into the new year and a little over a month away from the release of the year’s first product, the 330 card 2022 Topps Series One. As we prepared to close the book in 2021, three new products were released by Topps on December 31st: 2021 Bowman Draft, 2021 Bowman Heritage, and 2021 Bowman’s Best.

While Bowman Draft offers multiple parallel sets and an opportunity to pull the first card for players drafted in the 2021 Draft, a trio of top prospects, and a pair of autographs, the Mets were shut out from any of the insert sets.

Bowman Heritage lacks multiple parallel sets by only including Chrome Prospects and does not have any inserts. It does, however, include, a second card of a Mets top prospect that was included in the earlier released Bowman Chrome Prospects set.

Rounding out the year’s final releases, Bowman’s Best, much like Bowman Draft, includes multiple parallel sets, but is extremely light on Mets cards with only four base cards and one insert.

Bowman Draft is always one of my favorite releases of the year, as I eagerly await the opportunity to add more cards to my collection of some of the Mets’ top prospects and their new draft picks in both the Paper base set and Chrome. Both the Paper and Chrome sets offer several serial numbered parallels.

Bowman Draft – Paper Base Serial Numbered Parallels
Sky Blue 1 to 499
Purple 1 to 250
Aqua 1 to 199
Green 1 to 99
Gold 1 to 50
Orange 1 to 25 (hobby boxes only)
Red 1 to 5
Black 1 of 1
Printing Plates 1 of 1 (Black, Cyan, Magneta & Yellow variations)

Bowman Draft Chrome offers four parallel refractors of each card in the entire set, as well as twelve serial numbered parallels.

Bowman Draft Chrome Parallels
Refractors
Black & White RayWave Refractors (hobby boxes only)
Sky Blue Refractors (hobby boxes only)
Sparkle Refractors

Bowman Draft Chrome Serial Numbered Parallels
Purple Refractors 1 to 250
Aqua Lava Refractors 1 to 199
Blue Refractors 1 to 150
Green Refractors 1 to 99
Green Sparkle Refractors 1 to 99
Yellow Lava Refractors 1 to 75
Gold Refractors 1 to 50
Orange Refractors 1 to 25 (hobby boxes only)
Red Refractors 1 to 5
Red Lava Refractors 1 to 5
Printing Plates 1 of 1
Superfractors 1 of 1

Bowman Draft Chrome also includes two Mets 2021 draft picks in the Chrome Prospects Autograph along with parallels.

Bowman Draft Chrome Prospect Autograph Parallels
Refractors 1 to 499
Purple Refractors 1 to 250
Aqua Lava Refractors 1 to 199
Blue Refractors 1 to 150
Blue Wave Refractors 1 to 150
Green Refractors 1 to 99
Black Refractors 1 to 75 (hobby boxes only)
Sparkle Refractors 1 to 71
Gold Refractors 1 to 50
Gold Wave Refractors 1 to 50
Orange Refractors 1 to 25 (hobby boxes only)
Red Refractors 1 to 5
Red Lava Refractors 1 to 5
Printing Plates 1 of 1
Black Wave Refractors 1 of 1
Superfractors 1 of 1

Despite the fact the Mets were shut out from the inserts sets and that the set does not include a certain first-round pick that they refused to sign, the set does include first cards of the top four draft picks the Mets did sign, along with three top prospects.

Mets Bowman Draft Team List
Ronny Mauricio Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-52
Dominic Hamel Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-60
JT Schwartz Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-61
Francisco Alvarez Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-112
Calvin Ziegler Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-123
Brett Baty Base-Paper/Chrome BD/BDC-130
Christian Scott Autograph Chrome Draft Pick CDA-CS
Calvin Ziegler Autograph Chrome Draft Pick CDA-CZ

I have yet to find any listings on eBay for the complete Paper or Chrome base sets, but I have found several reasonable listings for each of the Paper or Chrome base cards individually between $1 and $2. The serial numbered parallels and autographs may get a bit pricey since the cards were just released. I expect to see some market correction for the pricing on the base cards, especially when they begin appearing on COMC.com, an online trading card consignment site, however, the prices on the serial numbered parallels will rise.

In 2020, Bowman Heritage traveled back in time, using the design from the widely popular 1992 Bowman set. This year, 2021 Bowman Heritage flashes back to 1993 using the design from its less popular 1993 Bowman set that included rookie cards for former Mets prospects Preston Wilson, Aaron Ledesma, Quilvio Veras, and Tim Bogar.

As I alluded to earlier, 2021 Bowman Heritage does not have any insert sets. It does include Chrome Prospects Autographs, however, the Mets were somehow shut out. The Chrome parallel for the base set is only available for the prospects included in the base set, much the same as in previous Bowman Heritage releases.

Mets Bowman Heritage Team List
Base
14 Jacob deGrom
29 Francisco Lindor
77 Peter Alonso
92 Javier Baez
107 Brett Baty
131 Alexander Ramirez
143 Francisco Alvarez
250 Ronny Mauricio

Chrome Prospects
107 Brett Baty
131 Alexander Ramirez
143 Francisco Alvarez
250 Ronny Mauricio

Much like the Bowman Draft release, Bowman Heritage includes cards of three of the organization’s top prospects with Brett Baty, Francisco Alvarez, and Ronny Mauricio. Furthermore, Bowman Heritage includes a card of outfield prospect Alexander Ramirez, his second card included in a Bowman set this year after his inclusion in its Bowman Chrome Prospects set. Ramirez topped out at Low A St. Lucie in 2021.

I have yet to find any listings for this product on eBay but would expect to find them soon.

The 2021 Bowman’s Best release includes ten parallel set, all but one serial numbered, three insert sets, and prospect autographs.

Bowman’s Best Parallels
Atomic Refractors
Purple Refractors 1 to 250
Aqua Lava Refractors 1 to 199
Blue Refractors 1 to 150
Green Refractors 1 to 99
Gold Lava Refractors 1 to 75
Orange Refractors 1 to 25
Red Refractors 1 to 10
Red Lava Refractors 1 to 5
Superfractors 1 of 1

The Mets were again shut out from the prospect’s autographs, but Pete Alonso is included in the Heatwave Die-Cut set. The base set is just 100 cards, thus the small team set.

Mets Bowman’s Best Team List
Base
16 Jacob deGrom
45 Pete Alonso
74 Javier Baez
99 Francisco Lindor

Heatwave Die-Cut
HW-17 Pete Alonso

Much like the Bowman Heritage release, I have yet to find any listings on eBay but expect to find them soon.

Over the past two years, Bowman Draft, Bowman Heritage, and Bowman’s Best have been getting released later in the year than in previous years. Nonetheless, all three releases are widely popular with collectors and should not be ignored.

Next up for Topps, will be its first release since the announcement of the sale to Fanatics, 2022 Topps Series One. Originally set for a February 9th release, it was just announced on Friday that the release has been pushed back until February 16th. This will mark the latest Topps has ever released its flagship product.

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