(Bowman) In the year 2000 (trade bait!)

That was a "funny picture" that popped up on my Twitter feed, but I edited in a pile of card wrappers instead of a guy asleep on the couch.

Here's the last hobby box from my September splurging. This was a good deal I stumbled upon on eBay: $26.77 shipped for two (2) 2000 Bowman hobby boxes. Under $14 for a hobby box works for me.

I've never ripped much Bowman, but I'm not necessarily anti-Bowman. In contrast to the last box I ripped, 1994 Collector's Choice, interesting photography is not on the menu here. Ripping Bowman is like playing a game of "Spot the big leaguer" with a large percentage of the players never making the majors. But there are also a lot of early cards of guy who go onto nice MLB careers. Plus there are some veterans mixed in so you'll get at least a couple dudes you've heard of.

So let's check out what these 2 boxes had in store for me...

These Bowman Best Preview inserts are 1 or 2 per box, so makes sense I'd pull 3. I really like these, though not the best names. Josh Hamilton is a decent pull, I suppose (2 or 3 years ago it was, at least). Maybe Zippy needs that A-rod.. it's a nice looking card.

These Early Indicators and Major Power inserts are supposed to be 1 each per box, but I lucked out with a bonus Nomar sticking to the back of the Sosa. I'll hang on to the Vlad, and one each of the Nomars are set aside for Mr. Hoyle, but if anyone needs the Sosa or Nomar dupe, let me know.

Here are the 3-per box Tool Time inserts. Furcal is probably the best name here. All up for trade.

These subset cards (1 per pack) are pretty ugly, but I get the nod to the old Bowman TV design of 1955. About 90% of these guys are nobodies, though I picked out some guys who made it for the top of the stacks. All available for trade. (Oh, and not pictured, but I thought it was amusing there was an Angels prospect named Steve Fish.. Salmon, Trout, and Fish.. all Angles, that's funny. You'd think the Marlins would draft these guys. Perhaps get Kevin Bass to manage.)

Here's the stack of cards for me. I have dupes available of some of them (Griffey, Gwynn, Mariano, Larry Walker, Vlad, Pedro)

Here are some "on the fence" cards of mostly known guys.. (I don't know how Jung Bong made it into this stack.. I guess it was the funny name.) If anyone's interested in trading for any of these, I'd probably be down.. otherwise, I may hang onto them. 

..And the rest! That "thumb's up" Mondesi is one of the few non-generic photos in this set. Again, I tried putting known guys on the tops of these mini stacks, though the vast majority of the cards underneath are of players you've never heard of. If anybody's trying to complete the set, or wants the guys from your favorite team, let me know. 

Sadly, no autos or gold parallels or any tough pulls like that. My legacy as the "No Hit Wonder" lives on. Even an auto of some never-was would have been neat, but nope. Shut out with both boxes.

So that wraps up my recent wax attacks. No more ripping for me for a good long while (let's hope). Again, please get in touch if you can help me turn the cards that don't fit into my collection into cards that do. (My wantlist is here.) I'll soon be going back through my other recent trade bait / box break posts (2006 Flair, 2006 Ovation, 1994 Collector's Choice) and following up with interested commenters, looking to get a few trades going. Sorry for the delay replying to those of you who expressed interest.. but I'm hoping to get stuff going with y'alls in these next few days.