Bowman Gum was a manufacturer of bubble gum and trading cards in the period surrounding World War II. Originally known as Gum, Inc., it produced a series of cards known as the "Play Ball" sets each year from 1939 to 1941. Production halted after the United States entered the war, and the company did not return to making baseball, football, and other trading cards until 1948, now under the Bowman name.

For a few years, Bowman was the leading producer of baseball cards, but was overtaken by another company Topps. After a period in which the two fought to sign players to exclusive contracts for their cards, Topps bought out Bowman in 1956. Much later, the Bowman brand was resurrected by Topps in the 1990s to use on some of its subsidiary sports card sets.

In recent years, the Bowman company has became known for being a top brand in making Rookie Cards. Ever since being resurrected by Topps in 1989, Bowman has produced rookie cards of top MLB stars such as Ken Griffey Jr. in 1989, Sammy Sosa in 1990, Mike Piazza in 1992, Vladimir Guerrero in 1995, Miguel Tejada in 1997 and Albert Pujols in 2001, David Wright in 2002 and Felix Hernandez in 2004.

Bowman Chrome

Another popular trading card set produced by Bowman is the Chrome set. After the success of the Chrome set by Topps, Topps created a Bowman Chrome set in 1997. This was initially fueled by Rookie Cards of Jose Cruz Jr. and Travis Lee, but top RC's from it now are Miguel Tejada's, Eric Chavez's, Kerry Wood's and Lance Berkman's cards. The set continued to be a mainstay, but it got a major jump in 2001 when Bowman decided to put Autographed Rookie Cards inside the base set. One of the Rookies that autographed cards for Bowman Chrome in 2001 was St. Louis Cardinals star Albert Pujols. This card continues to skyrocket in value, worth about $2,500 not graded. In 2002, MLB rising stars David Wright of the New York Mets, Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and Bobby Jenks of the Chicago White Sox. In 2004, Seattle Mariners pitching prospect Felix Hernandez signed an RC in Bowman Chrome which is a very valuable card.

Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects

Bowman also creates a set called Bowman Draft Picks and Prospects. This set is like regular Bowman, but shows cards of MLB Draft Picks, participating players from the MLB All-Star Futures Game and MLB rookies that have had previous issues (veteran cards). Usually relic cards featuring swatches from jerseys of All-Star Futures Game players, other memorobilia cards and Non-rookie autographs called Signs Of The Future. Bowman "Draft" also has 2 chrome cards per pack, and the chrome subset has autographed rookie cards and all the parallels from regular bowman chrome. Many stars have had rookie cards in Bowman Draft Picks. 2002 Bowman Draft has rookie cards of Florida Marlins prospect Jeremy Hermida, Oakland Athletics outfielder Nick Swisher, Atlanta Braves outfielder Jeff Francoeur, Tampa Bay Devil Rays shortstop B.J. Upton, San Diego Padres shortstop Khalil Greene and Florida Marlins pitcher Dontrelle Willis. 2003 Bowman Draft Picks has rookie cards of Boston Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon, New York Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard, Milwaukee Brewers second baseman Rickie Weeks, Tampa Bay Devil Rays outfielder Delmon Young and Los Angeles Angels shortstop prospect Brandon Wood.

AFLAC Redemption Set

Making it's debut in 2004, was Bowman's idea of redemption cards for a set of cards from the AFLAC High School All American game. Players included were Cameron Maybin, Andrew McCutchen, Chris Volstad, C.J. Henry, and Justin Upton. The sets were delayed and not shipped until 2006, and the Gold Refractor cards "Accidentally" slipped into packs, which caused them to be delayed even more. Topps sent out a letter asking customers if they wanted a 3 card auto set consisting of C.J. Henry, Andrew McCutchen and Cameron Maybin. (Justin Upton was later added as a fourth person in the set) or the Gold Refractor set. The Gold Refractor set was shipped before the Auto Set. Here are the Final Print Runs

• 2004 AFLAC Bowman Chrome Refractor Set (#’d to 500) – 315 in circulation
• 2004 AFLAC Bowman Chrome X-Fractor Set (#’d to 125) – 107 in circulation
• 2004 AFLAC Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor Set (#’d to 50) – 34 in circulation
• 2004 AFLAC Bowman Chrome Autograph Set (#’d to 125) – 90 in circulation
• 2004 AFLAC Bowman Chrome Refractor Set (#’d to 500) – 315 in circulation

Bowman's Best

Bowman's Best started in 1994 and was the first Bowman product to have refractors. 1994 Bowman's Best key rookie cards were Jorge Posada, Billy Wagner and Edgar Renteria. Next years Bowman's Best would be one of the best Bowman sets ever. It had rookie cards of Vladimir Guerrero, Bobby Abreu, Andruw Jones, Hideo Nomo and Scott Rolen. The 1997 Bowman's Best set gave something new to the Bowman's Best brand that would stay with the Bowman's Best brand for a while. This set had Rookie Cards of Miguel Tejada, Kerry Wood and Roy Halladay, and the refractor parallels, but this time they had inserted autographed cards. Tony Gwynn and Derek Jeter were among the signers in this set, and there were refractor and atomic refractor parallels of the autographed cards. In 1999, Bowman's Best had autographed cards with 2 autographs on one card. In 2002, Bowman's Best had autographed and memorabilia rookie cards inside the base set. This set still has many autographs and stars such as Ryan Howard have autographed cards for Bowman's Best.

Bowman Sterling

Bowman Sterling was introduced in 2004. This set was an immediate hit. Collectors enjoyed the offerings of the set along with the refractor parallels. The base set is made up of Rookie Cards, Veteran GU cards, Autographed Game Used cards featuring a jersey swatch from the players jersey alongside an autograph and autographed RC's. This set was released again in 2005 and was a hit again. Regular Refractor cards are limited to 199 copies and are in regular packs. Black Refractors (limited to 25 copies) and Red Refractors (limited to 1 copy) and buyback cards, which are already released Bowman and Bowman Chrome cards which are purchased by Topps and signed by players, are inserted into the box loader packs. Box Loader packs are one per box and encased in a special topps holder.

Bowman Heritage

Bowman Heritage is a set that pays tribute to older bowman sets. These cards look like the cards produced by Bowman in the 1950's. These cards have autographed inserts called Signs Of Greatness and Game Used Jersey/Bat cards called Pieces Of Greatness. Even though they pay tribute to older Bowman sets, they still have many Rookie Cards of prospects and MLB Draft Picks.