Join Beckett Football’s Dan Hitt and Andrew Tolentino as they rip into a pair of 2011 Topps Chrome football boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? What won’t they find inside? Watch and find out …

Join Beckett Baseball’s Chris Olds and Brian Fleischer as they rip into a pair of 2011 Topps Chrome boxes in this latest episode of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

When I heard about these cards, I liked the idea.

When I saw these cards — particularly the autographed ones — I liked them even more.

And I bet they’ll look even better in-person.

What are they? The new Sepia Refractors in 2011 Topps Chrome — a new creation for this year that just might have some potential staying power.

What do you think about these cards? Am I off my rocker?

Are they a winner? Or are they a loser?

Tell us in a comment below … or take the poll.

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Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds as he rips into a 2011 Topps Chrome baseball value pack in this latest Ripping Retail video.

What will he find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

Collectors ripping into boxes of 2011 Topps Chrome baseball cards arriving today may find a redemption card for a set of USA Baseball cards.

That ain’t happening, according to Topps, as the company announced Wednesday that there was a mistake with the redemptions and previously announced sales materials.

Instead, the redemptions are good for a single pack of USA cards containing as many as six members of the 22-player squad.

Redemptions can be found in standard Chrome form as well as Refractors and the following colored Refractors — Blue, Gold, Atomic, Red, SuperFractor (1/1) and Printing Plates.

Collectors who find USA Baseball autographs in boxes will also receive a second signature as the amateurs’ autographs are bonus cards.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball magazine. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an email to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.

By Andrew Tolentino | Football Editor

Topps has a tendency to make big football card news on Fridays.

Today, the company headlines the hobby with the announcement of 2011 Topps Chrome Football — reincarnated with design staples and a handful of new exclusives.

Hitting shelves in late October, the hobby mainstay will come in four-card packs and 24 packs per box. Case chasers can expect to break 12 boxes per case. Each hobby box should yield one autograph Rookie Card, nine inserts and nine parallels.

The one-per-box hits — rookie autographs — feature the penmanship of 45 rookies from the base set in both on-card and on-sticker form. These cards also come in Refractor parallel versions including:

• Superfractors (1/1)
• Red (new, numbered to five)
• Gold (numbered to 10)
• Black (numbered to 25)
• Crystal Atomic (new, numbered to 50)
• Refractor (numbered to 99)

Collectors should also keep an eye out for Rookie Autograph Patches, Dual Rookie Autographs (numbered to 25), Triple Rookie Autographs (numbered to 10) and new Autograph Rookie Variations featuring 25 rookie signatures on Rainbow Refractors.

New inserts in 2011 Topps Chrome inclue:

• Bowman Chrome Autograph Refractor parallels (Rookies with an autograph and a patch, numbered to 10)
• Superlative Rookies (36 rookies on die-cut Refractor cards, also in Superfractor, red and blue parallels)
• Superlative Rookies Autographs ( 36 rookies with one-of-one autographs)
• Finest Freshman (36 Rookie Premiere newcomers, also on die-cut crystal, gold and Refractor parallels)
• Finest Freshman Autographs (The same 36 rookies with limited-to-five autographs)
• Rookie Refractor Recognition (Rookies representing “team allegiance”)
• On-card Autographed Refractor Rookie Recognition

The October release also features all 220 base set players in the following parallel forms:

• Superfractor (1/1)
• Red (numbered to 25)
• Gold (numbered to 50)
• Sepia (numbered to 99)
• Crystal Atomic (numbered, one per box)
• Blue (numbered to 199)
• Black (numbered to 299)
• Refractor (numbered)
• Printing Plates (1/1, of course)

Stay tuned to Beckett.com for more details and preview images as they are released.

By Chris Olds | Baseball Editor

What will be perhaps one of Topps‘ most-scrutinized releases of the year, 2011 Topps Chrome baseball, was unveiled Thursday in advance of its late-August arrival.

Each 24-pack hobby box will include two autographed Rookie Cards — both with on-card signatures — and there will be 12 boxes per case. How collectors will react to Chrome a year after it was plagued by printing problems and severe stock warping issues remains to be seen.

The base set will consist of 220 cards — 170 veterans and 50 rookies — and every autograph card in the product will be signed on-card. New this year will be 1/1 Canary Diamond Parallels while other inclusions will be Sepia parallels, USA Baseball autograph redemptions and 60th anniversary autographs along with a “Vintage Chrome” insert set modeled after the 1996 Topps Chrome design.

There will be 20 rookie autograph variation cards in the set, each with printing plates, SuperFractors, Red Refractors (/25), Golds (/50), the aforementioned Sepia (/99), Blue (/199) and standard Refractors, which will be limited to just 499 copies.

The base cards’ parallels will include the Canary Diamonds, SuperFractors, plates, Reds, Golds, Sepia and Blues with the same press runs. Standard Refractors will not be numbered and will be found in every third pack.

Among the insert sets to be found are 2011 Heritage Chrome cards, Black-bordered Refractors and the Vintage Chromes. The Heritage Chromes will pick up where the inserts in this year’s Heritage set left off, each numbered to 1,962 copies. The Black-bordered cards will include just 110 players and will be limited to 100 copies apiece, while autographed versions of the cards will be limited to 100 as well.

See images from the set and read more after the jump.

The USA Baseball presence in 2011 Chrome also is improved. This year’s autograph redemptions will feature the 2011 Collegiate National Team — each card having SuperFractors, plates, Red Refractors (/5), Diamond Die-cut Atomic Refractors (/10), Golds (/50), Blues (/99) and standard Refractor (/199) versions.

However, there also will be redemption cards good for an entire National Team set inserted into packs, including a printing plate sets, SuperFractor sets, Red, Gold, Blue, standard Refractor and the Diamond die-cut. Some amounts on those are still TBD, but the Golds will be limited to only 50 and Reds will be limited to just five.

The rookie autograph lineup includes Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Brandon Belt, Freddie Freeman, Michael Pineda, Chris Sale, Kyle Drabek and Mike Minor to name a few, while the 60th Anniversary signers are still TBD.

Other rookies on the preliminary checklist include Domonic Brown, Aroldis Chapman and Jeremy Hellickson, while some of the players slated to appear on Heritage Chrome cards include Derek Jeter, Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Ichiro Suzuki, Tim Lincecum, Stephen Strasburg and Jason Heyward. Some of the Chromes will be combos cards such as “Manager’s Dream” or “Hot Corner Guardians” as was common with past sets — but not in the Chromed versions of Heritage in recent years.

(Click on the images for a closer look.)

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.