2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball - 5 Things to Look for and Chase

2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball looks to the sport's future and takes it global in the process. The large checklist is home to dozens of Bowman 1sts, signed and unsigned. And while most of these are young players, there's another from a legend who is making his long overdue Bowman debut nearly 75 years after his death.

Join 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball breaks on Fanatics Live.

The set also includes an expansion of the Bowman Red Rookie Redemption.

When it comes to inserts, Chrome has some of the most memorable of the season.

Here are some of the highlights of what you should be looking for in 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball.

2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball Highlights

Prospects, Prospects Prospects

Like every modern Bowman release, the biggest draw in 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball is the prospects. More specifically, it's the prospects making their debuts in MLB sets.

Prospects come in several forms, all of which are notable in their own way. Base Prospects cards are common and affordable. Chrome Prospect Autographs are the chase. Signatures are on-card and players are in their MLB uniforms. These go on to become some of their most coveted cards across their careers. The importance of these cannot be understated. Finally, Refractors make up a mighty rainbow that's both colorful and adds rarity all the way down to 1/1 Superfractors.

International standouts are a major focus of the 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball checklist. Eight of the top 10 international prospects on MLB.com's annual list have their 1st Bowman Chrome cards in the product. These include San Francisco's Josuar Gonzalez, Elian Peña of the Mets, Detroit's Cris Rodriguez, and Andrew Salas from Miami. These four 17-year olds are all in the top 5 of MLB's international prospect list.

Bowman Red Rookie Redemption

A new group of first-year players join the Bowman Red Rookie Redemption program. These short prints give collectors the chance to unlock FanCash rewards as their careers progress.

The first level is winning American League or National League Rookie of the Year honors. Those that do are then eligible in future years for larger rewards for winning MVP or Cy Young Awards and, eventually, induction into the Hall of Fame.

The Bowman Red Rookie Redemption program began in 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball. More players have cards in 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball.

Full details on the program and how it works are available here.

Garbage Pail Kids

Adam Bomb isn't one of the 1st Bowmans on the checklist. Instead 50 players—prospects and veterans—get GPK makeovers. Even a handful of legends are on the checklist.

This set is a continuation of the popular inserts found in last year's release. In addition to regular cards and numbered parallels, select players also have autographs.

The first Garbage Pail Kids-MLB collaboration was back in 2015 with a handful of baseball players getting autographs in 2015 Topps Garbage Pail Kids Series 1.

Following some GPK-inspired cards in 2021 Topps Project 70, the '80s icons went on to inspire three online sets with art from Keith Shore (Series 1), Alex Pardee (Series 2) and David Gross (Series 3). These were followed by the chase inserts in 2024 Bowman Chrome Baseball.

Bowman Spotlights

2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball has a lot of colorful and over-the-top designs. Bowman Spotlights goes in the opposite direction.

These popular inserts return, once again opting for a minimalist approach. You've got the player standing in front of a plain background with only a spotlight creating some contrast. The Bowman Chrome logo is the only other thing on the front so you'll have to flip it over to find the player's name. Simple. Striking. Gorgeous.

Fifteen players make the cut, 10 prospects and five rookies.

Like the Bowman Garbage Pail Kids, these are some of the tougher inserts on the checklist.

Joe Jackson's 1st Bowman Card

Banned from baseball for more than 100 years as a result of the 1919 Black Sox Scandal, there haven't been many "Shoeless" Joe Jackson baseball cards in MLB-licensed sets. He has one in 1994 Upper Deck Baseball: The American Epic, a box set done in conjunction with Ken Burns' epic documentary on the sport.

Seven years later, Upper Deck managed to get a Jackson bat card into 2001 SP Legendary Cuts Baseball.

When MLB commissioner Rob Manfred announced that banned players would be reinstated following their deaths, it didn't just have possible Hall of Fame ramifications for Jackson. Licensed baseball cards were in play as well.

And that's exactly what has happened. 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball is the first set produced by Topps to include the career .356 hitter. Jackson appears on a Retrofractor, an ongoing series that aims to given legendary players "1st Bowman" cards. He's joined by Cincinnati Reds legend Tony Pérez on the checklist.

Join 2025 Bowman Chrome Baseball breaks on Fanatics Live.

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