Rookie Trophy Chronicles (RTC) was created to document the past, present, and members of the Topps All Star Rookie Team in the future.
Since 1959, Topps has announced a list of 10 players who had exceptional rookie years or were very popular with the fans. Hence the name: Topps All Star Rookie Team. In most years, only 1 player from each position is selected along with 2 pitchers (1 left-hander and 1 right-hander) ; however, more on that in a second. If we use Willie McCovey as an example, in 1959 he played first base and won the NL ROY. Despite only playing 52 games and not being selected as an all-star, McCovey was a clear choice (in this case, by the fans using mail in ballots) as the topps rookie all-star firstman. In subsequent years, voting fell to a committee of mostly marketing old guys since the logistics of handling almost 2 million mail in votes sounds like a nightmare.
For baseball card collectors, investors, and dealers (in that order) a player’s selection to the team is important because the year after being selected, Topps will add a trophy or cup to that player’s baseball card. More often than not, the symbol appears on the player’s second year card. However there are cases of the symbol and the rookie shield logo being present on the players rookie card.
Each team Topps selected from 1959 to 1972 had the distinction of having a trophy as the symbol on their card which included players such as Ron Santo, Tom Seaver, Johnny Bench, and other hall of farmers. In 1973, the symbol changed to the rookie cup we know today. Topps skipped including the symbol entirely in 1974 for some reason (the lack of talent that year is often cited as the reason) but started back up again in 1975. In 1979 the symbol was again not included on the baseball cards and that remained the case until 1986. Every year since, Topps baseball cards have included the symbol for those who are selected to the all-star rookie team.
As the years progress and the introduction of card variations, Chrome versions, Heritage, Archives, Opening Day, and so on the number of cards that include the all-star rookie symbol has dramatically increased. Numbered parallels, autographed versions, buybacks have made collecting all versions of a specific year or player’s baseball card with the symbol cost prohibitive and practically impossible. Also, there are insert sets and full blown sets that can be built that are strictly dedicated to including the all-star rookie symbol.
Now let’s go over some interesting tidbits: even though some years do not have the symbol, a team is still selected and honored in some fashion. Some players who are selected don’t get the symbol on their card the following year; however, Topps may include the rookie cup on their cards in that year’s Update series as short prints. There are 27 players from past Topps all-star rookie teams in the hall of fame, the last of which is Derek Jeter. 2 players also made it into the hall as managers. Joe Torre and Bobby Cox. Finally 2 players have been named to the team two years in a row: Cal Ripken Jr and Ryan Mountcastle. Additionally, Mountcastle was selected to the team as an outfielder in 2020, and a 1st baseman in 2021. In 2010 a relief pitcher was added to the team, in 2011 the team went back to only 2 pitchers but one starter and one relief, in 2012 the team went back to 3 pitchers (1 lhp, 1 rhp, 1 rp), and the DH was added to the team in 1977, 2015, 2018, and 2019.
So there you have it, a brief high level explanation of the Topps All-Star rookie team and the impact it has on the baseball card scene. If you’re interested, I encourage you to stick around as I plan on documenting each year’s team and their cards in detail along with more fun tidbits in future videos. As always, appreciate the time and I’ll talk to you soon, thanks everyone.