Donnie, it is a bit confusing at first when you start prospecting Bowman Chromes. And there are a few reasons for that. Not everything I explain here is directly related to the particular card you are looking for, but it is knowledge that will help you in the long run.
Bowman Chrome cards are released every year in basically three parts. Bowman Baseball, which comes out at the very end of April, are regular baseball cards. They are the standard size and thickness of the cards you might have grown up on if you were my age. Think of the early 80s Topps, or 70s...all the way back to 1957, when Topps first adopted the now standard 2.5" x 3.5" card. I think each Bowman Baseball pack contains like 8 cards. Then, the pack also contains two Bowman Chrome baseball cards. When you first hold one of these beauties in your hand (if you have no already), you will immediately notice the difference. These are thicker cards with not only a high gloss, but a completely different coating on the front of the card. Super high tech stuff. The Bowman Chromes released within the Bowman baseball packs number BCP1 to BCP110, or "
Bowman
Chrome
Prospects #1-110".
On September 24th, or thereabouts, the second part of the overall set is released as Bowman Chrome packs. Here, every single card in the packs are Bowman Chrome. There are 4 cards per pack. This part of the set will include Chrome style cards for approximately 200-225 current Major League players. The 2013 set had 220, so those were numbered 1-220. Then, the second part of the overall Chrome set is included, and those number BCP111-220. These are again Bowman Chrome Prospects.
Then, in mid November, the third and final part of the overall Bowman Chrome set is released as Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects. There are 7 cards per pack, and I believe there are 5 of the regular cards again, and 2 Chrome. Now, the cards are numbered 1-130. These cards are for players that are recent draft picks. There exists the standard cards (again, like the old 80s, 70s etc Topps cards. Just cardboard). Then, the cards are again done, only as Chrome cards. These are numbered BDPP1-BDPP130 (
Bowman
Draft
Picks and
Prospects). There are 45 other cards, both regular and Chrome, for players that have achieved rookie status (they have the Rookie Card "RC" logo on the front).
Now, within all 3 of these different releases, the majority of players, if not all, will also have those autographed cards. Each Bowman box, released in April, each Bowman Chrome box, released in September, and each Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects box, released in November, will have 1 autographed card per box. Which card is autographed is done at random. And, of course, the autographed cards will have unique numbers. For example, the 2013 Draft Pick & Prospect autographed cards had the standard BCA-## format. This stands for Bowman Chrome Autograph, followed by the initials for the player's name. The one for Bryce Harper, when it came out in 2011, was BCA-BH, for example.
So, if you're not confused quite yet, you want to keep in mind that each player can have multiple autographs within a few years.
Here's a link to an in-depth explanation of how the Bowman Chrome releases are done, and how the autographs are handled. I did this on Sports Card Forum. I used the example of Bryce Harper to show how his cards were released, and which autos he did. I think this will help you, too.
Demystifying the "rookie card" for new/returning hobbyists, using Bryce Harper
Now, when you are looking for your Daniel Norris cards, be mindful that he has autographed cards within the 2012 set, and un-autographed cards. For unautographed cards, he has both regular Bowman and Chrome releases. For autographs, he has the following prospect autos:
Base no serial #
refractor /500
blue refractor /150
gold refractor /50
orange refractor /25
purple /10
red /5
superfractor 1/1
For his non-autographed cards, he has Bowman Chrome (all numbered BCP110)
refractor /500
blue refractor 150
gold refractor /50
orange refractor /25
red refractor /5
superfractor 1/1
Notice, no purple refractors /10 were released.
For his non autographed Bowman cards, he has (all numbered BP110):
orange /250
green /450
blue /500
purple not numbered
red 1/1
These do not have the same reflective properties of the Chrome cards. These numbered cards are not called refractors. They are called parallels.
Additionally, there are (I believe) five different printing plates used to actually print the cards. These are of course 1/1s. They can be pretty darned valuable. Not everybody, however, collects these. I do not. But when plates that were used to print autographed cards are released, they are autographed by the athlete.
Now, I don't want to blow your head, because that's a lot of information.
But there are different types of boxes, too.
You have retail boxes, which are sold at stores like Wal Mart, Target, etc. They will have a few unique cards that are not available in hobby boxes.
Hobby boxes are only sold at local card shops, or through authorized sellers online. They, too, have cards not available in the retail stores.
Bowman boxes sold at retail stores will have the Bowman regular cards (again, think of the cards from the 80s, 70s Topps, etc. Regular old cardboard). There will be players that have signed, and the autographs are on stickers, which are then put on the cards. Now, the autos aren't bad at all. Like Bryce Harper had a retail only card with his card and signature that you couldn't get through hobby boxes. The hobby boxes have Chrome on card autos. Bowman Chrome on card prospect autos are the Cadillacs of prospect autos. They will be the most valuable. Only the hobby boxes will contain the printing plates I referred to, as well. Only Hobby boxes can possibly contain the superfractor autos. Hobby cards have slightly better odds to get the parallel or refractor cards. I also think they have more cards. Like for Bowman Chrome, the retail boxes might have 4 cards, and Hobby boxes might have 5. It's been a while since I've bought either. But both have their little perks. But I definitely prefer the hobby boxes. There are also jumbo boxes, sold only at local card shops. They are more expensive, and have fewer packs. Where a hobby box might have 24 packs, a jumbo box will have 10 packs only. But where the hobby box has 1 autograph, the jumbo box will have 3 autos.
It might just help you to see the checklists themselves. I'm going to give you the three checklists for the 2013 cards, as they have already been released. Sports Card Radio does a great job every year of breaking down the individual releases, and provides pictures of the cards. This information comes from Bowman, er Topps.
Well, first, let me give you the checklist for 2012 Bowman, as this was the release with the Daniel Norris Chrome autographs:
2012 Bowman Baseball
Ok, now the 3 releases from 2013:
2013 Bowman Baseball
And...
2013 Bowman Chrome
And finally...
2013 Bowman Draft Picks & Prospects
Now, back to Mr. Norris. Let me show you a few other examples from my own collection to help clarify what is what.
From left to right, the 2012 Bowman Chrome Daniel Norris refractor auto #BCP110, the 2012 Bowman Chrome Daniel Norris non auto #BCP110, the 2012 Bowman Daniel Norris #BP110, and a 2012 Bowman Daniel Norris purple parallel. I'll show you the fronts and the backs.
These look much better in person. My scanner is quite good, but one of the things with newer cards, sometimes there is embossing, and that doesn't always translate well to a flat scanner. But I wanted you to get a general idea how the different cards look, and how the backs look. I learn visually myself, so this would be the best way for me to learn.
Now maybe you can start to see why at least some modern card collecting is fun. Bowman Chrome, and its sister set, Topps Chrome, are really fun to collect. It can be manic, because the Bowman Chrome sets seem to come out so fast. Every few months, there's a whole other set of players that have released autographed cards. Trying to keep up with them, deciding who is going to be the great players from each release, and which cards to collect. It keeps you busy. But the reward can be great. The cards are beautiful, especially when you've collected the parallels, or Chrome refractors. In this next post, I'm going to show you an example of one rainbow I put together. These will be Topps Chrome, which are more geared to veteran players, but will have cards for players who have reached rookie status. They have the same kind of profile as the Bowman Chromes, only they are released once a year. The only card from my Wily Peralta rainbow I am missing is the SuoerFractor, which I will never get, as there is only one. But the AtomicRefractor makes up for it. There are only ten made, and I have one. I am going to rescan these, and then you will see why I enjoy these so much. They are a wonderful compliment to the older releases, and precisely why I collect pre-war, vintage and modern.