First look: 2011 Topps USA Baseball boxed set

By Chris Olds | Beckett Baseball Editor

The red, white and blue are back — in boxed set form — once again.

Topps released the basic information for its 2011 USA Baseball box set on Monday — an annual collecting staple that lets collectors get some of the earliest cards of potential future stars years before they might ever play in the big leagues all in one place.

This year’s set, which will include seven autographs, three Relics and a 61-card base set in every box, will arrive on Dec. 14.

Each box will include five standard autograph cards, two autographed Relics and three triple Relic cards showcasing the players from this year’s Collegiate, 18U and 16U teams.

The base set will include 22 Collegiate teamers, 19 members of the 18U team and 20 members of the 16U team. Each case will include eight sets.

For the autographs, new this year will be Gold parallels — cards limited to just 25 copies singed in gold ink. There also will be red (/99) and Green 1/1 parallels as well. Autographed Triple Relics will have Gold (/20) and Green (1/1) foil parallels as new additions along with the Reds limited to 25.

Triple Relics will be paralleled with Red foil (/25) and Gold (/10) while there also will be Green 1/1s to be found.

Lastly, all base cards will also have printing plates.

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.