2019 Topps Chrome Baseball Cards Bring the Color, Parties Like It’s 1999 (and 1984)

2019 Topps Chrome Baseball maintains its presence as a chromium take on the year’s flagship release. Refractors and Rookie Autographs remain as cornerstones while other inserts round out the checklist.

Available in a variety of configurations, 2019 Topps Chrome Baseball has both hobby and hobby jumbo boxes. Hobby promise a pair of autographs while hobby jumbo have five.

2019 Topps Chrome Baseball Base Set Basics and Refractors

Just as it has been since Topps Chrome debuted in 1996, the main base set has the same general design as the main Topps Baseball set. Rookies and veterans, primarily from 2019 Topps Series 1 and Series 2, make up the checklist.

All of them have more than a dozen different Refractor parallels. In addition to basic Refractors, the hobby rainbow includes Refractors in the following forms: Prizm, Negative, Purple (/299), Blue (/150), Green (/99), Green Wave (/99), Blue Wave (/75), Gold (/50), Gold Wave (/50), Orange (/25), Orange Wave (/25), Red (/5), Red Wave (/5), and Superfractors (1/1). Cards also have one-of-one Printing Plates.

The various Wave Refractors are only available in hobby and hobby jumbo packs. Regular Orange Refractors are a hobby-exclusive and not in jumbo.

Autographs and Memorabilia Cards

Rookie Autographs make up the bulk of the signatures in 2019 Topps Chrome Baseball. These are signed on-card and have the same general look as the base set. They also have plenty of parallels as well: Refractors (/499), Purple Refractors (/250), Blue Refractors (/150), Blue Wave Refractors (/150), Gold Refractors (/50), Gold Wave Refractors (/50), Orange Refractors (/25), Orange Wave Refractors (/25), Red Refractors (/5), Red Wave Refractors (/5), Printing Plates (1/1), and Superfractors (1/1).

Like base Refractors, most of the Wave versions are only in the two hobby configurations. Rookie Autograph Blue Wave Refractors are the exception and not exclusive. Orange Refractors are basic hobby only.

Dual Rookie Autographs are where collectors can find on-card signatures from a pair of young players. Base versions have 25 copies while parallels come as Red Refractors (/5) and Superfractors (1/1).

1999 Topps Chrome Baseball Autographs go back a couple of decades for their design. Like the other parts of the checklist, these are hard-signed. The main versions come numbered while parallels are available in Orange Refractors (/25), Red Refractors (/5), Printing Plates (1/1) and Superfractors (1/1).

Topps Chrome isn’t usually a place where memorabilia cards take up a big part of the release. That said, 2019 Topps Chrome Baseball has new Debut Gear cards. These have a swatch from veterans and retired players from their rookie team.

Debut Gear relics are a hobby case hit. Parallels for these include Green Refractors (/99), Orange Refractors (/25), Red Refractors (/5), Printing Plates (1/1) and Superfractors (1/1). Select cards also have autographs.

Inserts

2019 Topps Chrome Baseball has a handful of other insert sets. 1984 Topps Baseball carries over from flagship, this time giving the 35-year-old set a chromium spin.

Future Stars and Freshman Flash both return for another year.

New to this release are Greatness Returns. These picture a current star alongside a comparable retired legend.

Regular inserts come with similar Refractor rainbows that consist of Green Refractors (/99), Gold Refractors (/50), Orange Refractors (/25), Red Refractors (/5) and Superfractors (1/1).  All but Greatness Returns have numbered autographed versions. Refractors on the signature side include Orange (/25), Red (/5) and Superfractors (1/1) as well as Printing Plates (1/1).