Bowman Blast From the Past

I'm still waiting for my 2012 Bowman Cubs to arrive.  Hopefully they'll be here in a couple days.  In the meantime, I thought I'd try to track down the first Bowman card of the 2012 Cubs.  If Bowman is the prospect brand, just how good did they do in predicting the careers of the Cubs?


The plan is to go through the Cubs starting nine and then see if they made a Bowman checklist before they established themselves as major leaguers.

Starting pitcher Ryan Dempster has the oldest card with this one from 1996.  I had forgotten that Dempster was originally signed by the Rangers.  I associate his early career with the Marlins.

Catcher Geovany Soto was in the 2007 set.  He had a brief stint with the Cubs in 2005 and 2006, so including him in the 2007 set wasn't a difficult decision.

The Cubs first baseman Bryan LaHair finally made a Bowman checklist in 2007, which was four years after he was first drafted.

Darwin Barney made the cut with 2008 Bowman Chrome.

Shortstop Starlin Castro was included in 2010 Bowman.  This card was pretty hot a couple years ago as it came out at about the same time Castro burst onto the scene.

Ian Stewart was a top prospect of the Rockies and made the Bowman Sterling set in 2007, the same year he made his MLB debut.

Right Fielder David DeJesus first Bowman cards was in 2003.  He was the Royals Minor League Player of the Year in 2002, so adding him to the 2003 checklist was a pretty easy decision.


Center fielder Tony Campana is the only one of the Cubs starters that has never been in a Bowman set.

Alfonso Soriano has the second-oldest card of the nine, with this one from 1999.  That was his second season in the Yankees chain after three years in Japan.  He played in AA, AAA, and with the Yanks in 1999, which was a pretty quick spin through their system.


The totals would be eight out of nine that Bowman identified as a decent enough prospect to include in a set.  Not too bad.