Bowman Draft is a Big Deal in Tampa
“Let’s Pull a Caglianone!”
Looking out the front doors of Baseball Card Clubhouse and across a high-traffic road are the baseball diamonds at Plant High School in Tampa. The facilities don’t look out of the ordinary, but the school has been a longtime hotbed for athletic talent.
It served as the home of MLB Hall of Famer Wade Boggs and power hitter Pete Alonso. It’s also where Jac Caglianone developed a name for himself earlier this decade as one of the top two-way players in the country.
On Wednesday, Tampa-area hobby shops were bustling as customers ripped 2024 Bowman Draft Baseball in search of Caglianone and other top players from July’s MLB amateur draft.
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Caglianone—who played at the University of Florida and was picked No. 6 overall by the Kansas City Royals—shared the cover of the Bowman Draft boxes with the top selection, Travis Bazzana, who went to the Cleveland Guardians.
Travis Bazzana (L) and Jac Caglianone (R) on the Bowman Draft box.
With multiple customers continuously ripping Bowman Draft packs, Baseball Card Clubhouse owner Jason Weintraub could be heard saying, “Let’s pull a Caglianone!”
A selection of 2024 Bowman Draft Caglianone cards for collectors to “pull a Caglianone”
South Tampa native Brandan Underwood—who is friends with Caglianone’s agent, Matt Rodriguez, who all happened to attend Plant High School—is a huge Bowman Draft collector. On Wednesday, he stopped into Baseball Card Clubhouse to pick up a hobby box and a breaker delight box to support a local hero to The Hobby.
“I’m high on Jac,” Underwood said. “Obviously, being here locally and having an affiliation to him, it’s someone that I would like to prospect and see how he does in the bigs. I think he’ll achieve really good things in the bigs, especially with the team that he’s on. With Bobby Witt and everyone else, it’s going to be a pretty solid run.”
Brandan Underwood pulled a number of Caglianone cards on release day (Photos by Greg Bates)
Underwood hit a Chrome refractor, base Chrome, an insert, and a pair of base paper cards of Caglianone.
“I’m still looking for the auto,” Underwood said. “It’s not only just the auto; we’re going for orange [parallels] or better. True orange, true red. I wouldn’t be upset if I hit a Super [Superfractor]. I’ll take a couple waves [refractors]. Some color would be nice.”
Prospecting for Top Talent
Underwood wasn’t just ripping packs for Caglianone cards. He knows all the big names in Bowman Draft and was going after Cincinnati Reds pitcher Chase Burns, the second overall pick in July’s draft, and Los Angeles Angels middle infielder Christian Moore, the No. 8 selection. Underwood hit a couple of cards of those top picks.
“I’ve ripped Bowman long enough to know it’s not easy to hit top picks, so any time you get first-rounders, you’re always doing well,” Underwood said.
Collector Shawn Harris stopped into Baseball Card Clubhouse for the best lunch break: ripping packs of Bowman Draft. The Bradenton resident was also looking to pull some big names from the product.
“Christian Moore is probably my top guy,” Harris said. “Then if I get Theo (Gillen) from the Rays, that’s good, too.”
Harris started collecting Bowman products in 2022, with Elly De La Cruz becoming a hit of that year’s product.
“We got a really nice Elly that we got a PSA 10 on,” Harris said. “I’m a huge fan of James Wood. So, I fell in love with that class.”
“Release day for every Bowman product is like Christmas,” Harris said.
2024 Bowman Draft Baseball prospecting at Baseball Card Clubhouse in Tampa, FL
Some Big Hits
Brian Mott, who lives in Spring Hill, a good 50-minute drive to Baseball Card Clubhouse, opted to try his luck with a breaker delight box. Featuring just three cards, all autographs, Mott hit a monster. A beautiful gold numbered to 50 autographed card of Washington Nationals’ Seaver King. It’s the 1st Bowman card for the first-round selection.
Brian Mott showing off his Seaver King auto
“The 10th overall pick. That’s pretty much one of the best you’ll get,” Weintraub said.
“I’m pretty happy,” Mott said. “We’ll see how that goes. I’ll hold onto the card for a while.”
Mott plans on keeping track of Seaver’s progress to see if he turns into an MLB star. If he does, Mott will own one of Seaver’s top cards.
In that same breaker delight box, Mott also hit a 1st Bowman of Minnesota Twins’ Billy Amick that is autographed and numbered to 99.
Mott is impressed with the look and design of this year’s Bowman Draft product.
“I like them; they’re very nice,” Mott said. “To me, this picture kind of pops out.”
Longtime Bowman collector Jimmy Ray loves watching college baseball and picking out his favorite players, so going after Bowman Draft cards is an easy choice.
“It’s the pinnacle,” said Ray about Bowman. “There’s nothing better.”
Ray puts in some research on the prospects before buying Bowman Draft. On release day, he purchased a case of the product to take home.
Ray believes this year’s draft class is very talented and has great upside. He’s big into Moore, Chicago Cubs’ Cam Smith, and Pittsburgh Pirates’ Connor Griffin.
“There were a few less high schoolers this time and much more college-established talent,” Ray said. “You’ll get to see them in the majors quicker.”
Ray is also a fan of collecting Bowman paper cards. Ray said it’s proven over time that paper can be a valuable asset. Ray used Aaron Judge’s 1st Bowman paper card as an example. Collectors could have purchased 20 cards for $5 in 2016; these days, a PSA 10 can fetch $175.
“Paper’s where it’s at because Bowman’s the best,” Ray said. “It holds its value.”
Surrounding Shops’ Release Day
Draft release day was hectic for Jonathan Stone, who owns two Blue Breaks Sports Card & Hobby Shops in Sarasota and Venice, Florida.
“We had somebody standing at the door 18 minutes before we opened,” Stone said. “He grabbed two hobby jumbos of Bowman Draft. He hit a Caglianone auto and a few low-numbered cards, so he did well.”
One reason for the constant flow of traffic at Blue Breaks is because of a special bounty placed by Stone. Atlanta Braves pitcher Carter Holton, who is in this year’s Bowman Draft product, is a regular customer at the shop.
“He inscribed one of his base cards with his name and ‘Blue Breaks is the #1 LCS.’ That is on his card in Bowman Draft,” Stone said. “That picture is on one of the windows in my store.”
There is a $1,000 bounty out on that specially inscribed Holton card.
General manager Jared Solomon noted Bowman is always a hot product at Wonder Water Sports Cards Comics & Games in Clearwater, Florida.
“Every year, Bowman is the number one seller on release day,” Solomon said.
Having Caglianone and other local Florida players in Bowman Draft helps drive sales at Wonder Water. The Rays are nearby in Tampa, and the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays have spring training facilities close to Clearwater.
Back at Baseball Card Clubhouse, Weintraub finally sat down and checked out the latest Bowman Draft cards during the hectic release day. Twenty-three years earlier, Weintraub was a sixth-round pick in the 2001 MLB Draft and had his 1st Bowman card in the Bowman Draft set that year.
Jason Weintraub, Baseball Card Clubhouse owner, holding his very own 2001 1st Bowman (and rocking a Fanatics Fest T-shirt)
“What I love about Bowman Draft is you can open up a pack, and it’s mostly 1st Bowman in there, with a few prospects here and there,” Weintraub said. “The whole purpose of prospecting is to get those 1st Bowmans of the players who will be the future stars in the MLB.”
Weintraub is a big fan of Bowman Draft and this year’s release.
“I love the design—it’s very clean,” Weintraub said. “They do such a fantastic job with presenting Bowman. To me, it’s the pinnacle of baseball products. A 1st Bowman is always the player’s best card.”
