Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds as he rips into some 2012 Topps Chome rack packs (they were on sale) in this latest Ripping Retail video.

What will he find inside? Watch and find out …

Join Beckett Football‘s Dan Hitt and Chris Olds as they rip into a pair of 2012 Topps Chrome boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Susan Lulgjuraj | Beckett Football Editor

Pretty sure the title of the post says it all.

Washington Redskins rookie running back Alfred Morris had only appeared in Panini America and Upper Deck in 2012, but Morris’ first Topps cards will come out in Blue Wave Refractor redemption packs, Topps announced earlier this week.

Morris will not have any cards in 2012 Topps Chrome base, which officially releases Friday, but was included in the Blue Wave packs because the company only recently signed him to a deal.

Morris is fourth in the league in rushing yards with 793 – just a yard shy of third place and fellow rookie Tampa Bay’s Doug Martin.

Related post: Where to find Alfred Morris Rookie Cards

Susan Lulgjuraj is an editor of Beckett Football. You can email her here with questions, comments or ideas. Follow her on Twitter here.

Join Beckett Sports Card Monthly‘s Chris Olds as he rips into some 2012 Topps Chrome football packs in this latest Ripping Retail video.

What will he find inside? Watch and find out …

Join Beckett Baseball‘s Chris Olds and Brian Fleischer as they rip into a pair of 2012 Topps Chrome boxes in this latest edition of Box Busters.

What will they find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor | Commentary

When collectors rip into their newest Topps packs and find an autograph of Bryce Harper they’re not only finding one of the more in-demand Rookie Cards of the most-hyped prospect in MLB history.

They’re also finding a perfect example of how a player’s autograph changes over time.

The Washington Nationals rookie is no stranger to signing autographs, and the demands for his ink have inevitably become time-consuming as his signature has become dramatically different in just the two newest releases from Topps — 2012 Topps Chrome (the latest, above) and 2012 Finest. His signature essentially has become an abbreviated “BH” — something different than the older autograph stickers the company presently is using on some of his cards and even more different than many of his other past releases.

Because nearly all of Harper’s 160 different autographed cards have been issued with serial-numbering, it’s easy to total just how many individual cards that the 19-year-old has signed since his signature debut in the 2008-09 USA Baseball boxed set that featured a full, nearly printed signature as seen above. (Of course, he signed just 55 cards for that product.)

Only 17 of his cards lack serial-numbering (one of those, from 2012 Tier One, will have numbering when it actually arrives via a redemption), meaning it’s easy to total his number of certified autographs. It’s 9,363 total autographs since 2008 between Topps, where he is now an exclusive, and three other companies. (Need a Harper checklist or OPG? Click here.)

Harper’s earliest autographs feature the full signature seen on the USA card, while most presently available to collectors are of the “BHarper” variety. His 2010 Bowman Draft Aflac autos (above) have a smaller, less flashy signature signed while he was still a high-schooler back in August 2009.

His Aflac sigs, along with his 2009-10 USA autographs, bridge the gap between his earliest autographs and his sigs signed as a professional. His sticker autographs, like this 2011 Bowman Platinum card signed along with Jameson Taillon, are a slightly flashier than his Aflac cards (though they can sometimes be much grungier than this example as he clearly doesn’t like signing on a smaller space) version of his full sig before its latest incarnation.

The non-sticker autographs signed in the “BHarper” style are often clean — but not always. Those more-hurried cards (unlike this Bowman Platinum card) are perhaps a sign that some of the larger quantities of autographs signed (of the non-numbered cards) are found in places such as 2011 Bowman. That would make sense as those are products likely with larger print runs than hobby-only releases and Harper was a big presence in that line. Some of his stickers can be very hurried and have less aesthetically pleasing sigs as well, though the split between on-card and sticker signatures, over his cardboard career, is essentially 50-50.

With the arrival of the hobby-only Finest product earlier this month came the first “BH” autographs, though some cards from last year and some recently fulfilled redemptions this year showed hints of this style just with an additional line or two following the “H.” Aesthetically, the card is a bit more disappointing but with plenty of demand for his ink it’s probably not going to have much effect. (Autograph quality never seems to come into play with elite-level athletes — either in what they have already achieved or what they might accomplish.)

Conservatively, Harper likely appears on somewhere in the ballpark of 11,000 to 13,000 certified autograph cards with more arriving with each new product (Chrome alone included 998 serial-numbered sigs and an unnumbered card).

Meanwhile, while that may seem like plenty of signatures for Harper, it’s nowhere in the ballpark of prospects during the 1990s autograph boom. As a minor-leaguer, for example, Derek Jeter signed a total of 10,650 cards for a single product in 1994 alone (Signature Rookies). Today, Jeter appears on more than 1,050 certified autograph cards — many with ridiculously small print runs — and his overall number is one that could be higher if he had signed an autograph deal elsewhere after years with Upper Deck.

Overall, it will be interesting to see how Harper’s autograph continues to appear — and whether he continues with signing for companies after his Topps deal expires in the future. Consider that these autographs aren’t the only signatures he’s signed since that Sports Illustrated cover back in June 2009.

With that thought alone, it’s perhaps surprising that the changes in how his signature looks didn’t come even sooner.

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 2012 Topps Chrome blaster box in this latest episode of Ripping Retail.

What will he find inside? Watch and find out …

By Chris Olds |  Beckett Baseball Editor

If Bowman is the home of the Rookie Card, then Topps Chrome might be the home of the diecut card.

Topps unveiled the basic product information and preview images for2012 Topps Chrome on Wednesday, and there is not one but two new diecut insert sets to chase with autographed versions in tow, too.

Oh, and there will be two autographed cards per box as well as Refractor Hot Boxes to be chase, too — one in every three cases — when it arrives on Aug. 22.

The base set will consist of 220 base cards each with autographed patch variations limited to just 10 copies as well as redemption cards good for uncut sheets. Each card will be found with Refractors and Xfractors as well as Blue, Black, Sepia, Gold, Red and Atomic Refractors, too. Hobby-only 1/1s include Superfractors and printing plates as well.

On the autographed side, the constant in Chrome is the autograph and this year’s autographed Rookie Cards will showcase at least 25 players, each signing directly on the card. Rays rookie Matt Moore and a Seattle Mariners Jesus Montero are the headliners here with the same lineup of Refractors available. The standard Refractors will be limited to 499, while the Atomics will be limited to 10.

But diecuts are not all that’s new with Chrome this year.

A new inclusion here is the Cut From the Same Cloth Autographs set — a double-sided, double-autographed card limited to just five copies apiece. One pairing, for example, will have Buster Posey and Joe Mauer, while another will have Dustin Pedroia and Robinson Cano.

Also new — and also diecut — are the Dynamic Diecuts cards. There will be 50 stars showcased here in this ornate, one-per-box find. Autographed versions of these cards will be limited to 25 or fewer copies.

Also new are dual autos and autographed Chrome buybacks — each limited to just 10 copies. The Buybacks will feature Rookie Cards of players who never had a signed Topps Chrome RC — notables there will include Jose Bautista, Joe Mauer, Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Prince Fielder among others. The last new inclusion for ink are the Chrome Encounters autos, which are hobby-only and all limited to just 10 copies or less.

Some of the other autographed rookies tentatively lined up for this one include Brett Lawrie, Brad Peacock and Drew Pomeranz, while players on other autograph cards will include Albert Pujols, Lawrie, Michael Pineda, Matt Kemp, Jay Bruce, Mike Trout, Robinson Cano, Jose Bautista, Fielder, Justin Verlander, Ryan Braun, Eric Hosmer, Clayton Kershaw, Paul Goldschmidt and Ubaldo Jimenez to name a few.

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.