Bowman isn’t just for baseball prospects. It used to be a football release as well. 1999 Bowman Football features a 220-card base set that features 70 rookies In addition to the base set there are two full-set parallels. Inter-State parallels are found in every pack, while Gold parallels (limited to just 99 copies) are tough pulls and found just once in every 68 packs.

1999 Bowman Football doesn’t have a lot of inserts. The checklist has just two standard ones, Scouts’ Choice and Early Risers/Late Bloomers. But, there are also autographs! No guarantee on finding autographs though like in today’s Bowman releases, they do fall about once in every four boxes. 

This box was a card show find. You never know what you’ll find at some of these.

1999 Bowman Football Box Break

Cards per pack: 10
Packs per box: 24
Price paid: $45

Shopping for 1999 Bowman Football boxes on eBay.

Pack 1 highlights: 

Tiki Barber & Terrell Davis Inter-State Parallel (one per pack)

While Bowman Baseball has International parallels that highlight a player’s home country, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for football since the vast majority of players come from the US. Instead, they went with an Inter-State parallel theme. 

Pack 2:

Brett Favre, Bobby Engram, Michael Irvin inter-State & Edgerrin James Scouts’ Choice (1:12 packs)

Pack 3:

Andre Rison, Steve Young, Ray Lewis, Tim Couch RC, Doug Flutie, Jim Harbaugh & Andre Wadsworth Inter-State

Pack 4:

Priest Holmes, Jimmy Smith, Kerry Collins, Ed McCaffrey Inter-State & Randy Moss Early Risers (1:12 packs)

I love the look of these Early Risers inserts.

Pack 5:

Kordell Stewart, Charles Woodson, Thurman Thomas, Vinny Testaverde & Mike Alstott Inter-State

Pack 6:

Drew Bledsoe, Antonio Freeman, Raghib Ismail, Edgerrin James RC & Jamal Anderson inter-State

Pack 7:

Shannon Sharpe, Terence Mathis, Ben Coates & Aaron Glenn Inter-State

After a very solid NFL career that included 41 interceptions, Glenn is now the defensive coordinator for the Detroit Lions.

Pack 8:

Terrell Owens, Mark Brunell, Levon Kirkland Inter-State & Donovan McNabb Scouts’ Choice (1:12 packs)

Pack 9:

Warrick Dunn, Andre Reed, Eddie George, Robert Brooks & Ty Law Inter-State

Pack 10:

Michael Irvin, Randall Cunningham, Ricky Williams, Rod Smith, Bruce Smith Inter-State & Fred Taylor Early Risers (1:12 packs) 

The Early Risers actually come from an insert set called Late Bloomers/Early Risers. The Late Bloomers half of the checklist features a different design. 

Pack 11:

Jerry Rice, Eric Moulds, Terry Glenn, Trent Dilfer & Derrick Mayes Inter-State

Pack 12:

Dan Marino, Terrell Davis & Chris Spielman Inter-State

Pack 13:

Keyshawn Johnson, Corey Dillon, Peerless Price RC, Deion Sanders & Steve Young Inter-State

Price was a second round pick out of Tennessee. I feel like he had some hype back then. He did have a 1,000-yard season in 2002. 

Pack 14:

Peyton Manning, Steve McNair, John Randle, Junior Seau & Antowain Smith Inter-State

Pack 15:

Jeff Blake, Joey Galloway, Amani Toomer & Lawrence Phillips Inter-State

Pack 16:

Randy Moss, Robert Smith, Troy Aikman, Tim Brown & Corey Dillon Inter-State

Dillon hails from Seattle, hence the Space Needle in the background. He also played his college ball at the University of Washington. 

Pack 17:

Derrick Thomas, Hines Ward, Champ Bailey RC & Bert Emanuel Inter-State

Pack 18:

Jerome Bettis, Antowain Smith, Herman Moore & Jeff Black Inter-State

Pack 19:

Akili Smith RC, Duce Staley, Fred Taylor, Marshall Faulk, Curtis Martin, Warren Sapp & Rod Smith Inter-State

Remember Akili Smith? Drafted third overall in 1999, he proved to be a bust throwing just five career touchdown passes. 

Pack 20:

Donovan McNabb RC, Dorsey Levens, Mike Alstott, Keenan McCardell, Kevin Faulk RC & Reidel Anthony Inter-State

Pack 21:

Barry Sanders, Cris Carter, Bruce Smith, Isaac Bruce, Michael Strahan Inter-State & Champ Bailey Silver Foil Autograph (1:212 packs)

Pack 22:

Marvin Harrison, Zach Thomas & Barry Sanders Inter-State

I’ll never complain about pulling Sanders parallels.

Pack 23:

Aaron Brooks RC, Jevon Kearse RC, Ike Hilliard, Michael Strahan, Ricky Watters, Ed McCaffrey & John Elway Inter-State

Pack 24:

Daunte Culpepper RC, Emmitt Smith, Trent Green, Ty Law & Kordell Stewart Inter-State

Lastly, the Smith card back. They were big on player info on these backs, and showed just the previous season’s stat lines as well as career numbers. Safe to say the scouts that called Emmitt a “specialty back” coming out of college were wrong.

This one was really fun. Obviously, the Champ Bailey autograph does’nt hurt. He made 12 Pro Bowls during his Hall of Fame career, racking up 52 interceptions in the process. Pulling an autograph like this out of a 24 year old unopened box? Count me in every time.

Shop for 1999 Bowman Football cards on:

• Beckett Marketplace
• eBay

Want more installments of Shane Salmonson’s Cheap Wax Wednesday? Check out his other breaks in the archives.