As usual, the progression of information is a bit “off” at the Topps offices.  We brought you the extremely vague information about the 2011 Topps USA Boxed Set release, but it had no checklist or card images.  The product is set to release very soon and we still haven’t seen a legit sell sheet with any more info.

Thanks to Gilmore at Freedom Card Board, we have actual scans of the cards.  Very interesting stuff.  We’re still debating on the design, but it seems to be all on-card autographs, which is nice.  Check them out for yourself and let us know what you think.

It’s been about a week since 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Picks & Prospects has hit the market and we’ve already seen a few notable cards sell.  The most notable (arguably) superfractor auto has hit the market over the weekend and it should be a record setting sale. The non-auto version hit as well, which should be a nice price comparison for comparable players.  I’m not sure why I’m even saying that because there aren’t too many prospects who compare to “The Freak v2.0″.  Baseball America had some pretty strong words to defend their #1 prospect ranking for the Arizona farm system.

“He not only has top-of-the-rotation potential, but his approach is so revolutionary that his success in the majors could cause teams to rethink how they condition and develop young pitchers.”

TREVOR BAUER SUPERFRACTOR AUTOGRAPH 1/1

TREVOR BAUER SUPERFRACTOR 1/1

A surprising seller from the set has been Francisco Lindor, who seems to have a very large following back in Puerto Rico.  The slick fielding former USA shortstop has Cleveland fans salivating over his projection and his market prices are showing the aftermath.  Even his USA stuff is selling well, which is nice to see with a chrome autograph fully on the market.  His superfractor was pulled within the first days of the product release and sold for a pretty penny.

FRANCISCO LINDOR SUPERFRACTOR AUTO 1/1

Some other notable are below, which includes two of the better 16U superfractor autos, as well as the too name in the canary non-auto set.

ZACH COLLINS USA 16U SUPERFRACTOR AUTO 1/1

CARSON SANDS USA 16U SUPERFRACTOR AUTO 1/1

BRYSON BRIGMAN USA 16U SUPERFRACTOR AUTO 1/1

AUSTIN MEADOWS CANARY USA 16U 1/1

The news broke this week that Topps will be including #1 MiLB prospect, Bryce Harper, in their 2011 Pro Debut product.  While the release is an official licensed minor league baseball product, it still should cause a frenzy with fans and collectors.  Not only will Harper have a base card, which has an identical design to 2011 Topps Baseball, but they also included one of the nicest looking 1/1 autos yet.

Behold, the nicest Topps Bryce Harper Autographed card….so far:

The long awaited Bowman Chrome wrapper redemption program has finally delivered to the collector, and boy is it a little confusing.  For starters, the base cards in the packs are bowman stock, which I guess was noted on the program info.  That’s more of a gripe than an issue, but it’s still a little ridiculous.  The next part that has some really confused are the inserted Bowman Chrome USA autographs and Refractor autographs.

The Refractor autos have black borders and are numbered to 25 copies.  Those are unmistakable and actually a nice addition.  It would have been nice to see some varied photos for the 18U team, but the collegiate team features some nice action photography.

The Base chrome autographs are a really head scratcher, and overall just confusing to the regular buyer on the market.  Not only do these cards look exactly the same as the pack pulled base card, but they also have the same photos.  The only difference is the serial number on the back that is out of 99 copies (which is also the same as blue refractors).

Also included are USA chrome buybacks of the 2009 18U and collegiate teams, which features Jameson Taillon, Bryce Harper, Manny Machado, and others.  Not every player from the sets were selected for the program, but most of the important names made it as on-card autos.  It’s yet to be determined how well they’ll sell, but I’m sure Harper will be a hot commodity. The autos might be hard to see on some, but they do feature serial numbering to 100 on the backs.

Given the points mentioned as I pick apart the product a bit, they seem to be selling like hotcakes.  Some of them are featured below, along with a small photo gallery of various singles.

Bryce Harper Buyback Auto #1
Bryce Harper Buyback Auto #2
Bryce Harper Buyback Auto #3

Manny Machado Buyback Auto

Drew Pomeranz Buyback Auto

Bryce Brentz Buyback Auto

Henry Owens Chrome Wrapper Redemption Auto /99

Henry Owens Chrome Refractor Wrapper Redemption Auto /25

Lance McCullers Chrome Refractor Wrapper Redemption Auto /25

Phillip Pfeifer Chrome Wrapper Redemption Auto /99