Topps All-Star Rookie Team

The Topps All-Star Rookie Team, also known as the Topps ASR, is a set of baseball cards issued by Topps Company, Inc., every year to commemorate notable Major League Baseball rookie players.

History

Since the 1960s, Topps' regular-issue baseball-card sets have included a sub-set of players named to the annual Topps All-Star Rookie Team. The team usually consists of eight position players (four infielders, three outfielders, one catcher) and two pitchers (one left-hander and one right-hander). The first Topps ASR team appeared in the 1960 baseball-card series and featured a special card design that included a trophy symbol of a batter on a top hat and the phrase, "Selected by the youth of America." The set included Hall-of-Famer Willie McCovey's rookie card.

In 1961, Topps moved to including a trophy symbol that included the phrase "Topps 1960 All-Star Rookie" on cards that followed the same design as the rest of the regular issue. This practice continued until 1973, when the symbol was changed to a gold cup bearing the words "Topps All-Star Rookie." Topps left the symbol off the 1974 cards, marking the first year since 1960 that the players were not recognized on the card faces. The gold cups reappeared in 1975 and stayed through 1978. In 1979, Topps once again left the symbol off the cards and it stayed off through the 1986 release. During the years when the symbol did not appear, a list of All-Star Rookies was still selected, though there was no regular indication of it on the cards.

The 1987 Topps baseball set featured a throwback design paying homage to the 1962 set. The 1962 cards had a wood-grain design on the borders and had included the All-Star Rookie trophy on team members' cards. Topps brought back the gold cup symbol on the 1987 cards. The 2005 set, the most recent release at the time of this article, included the 19th straight Topps All-Star Rookie Team and the 37th overall issue of the team commemorated by a gold symbol on the face of team members' cards.

In 2000, a special 10-card insert set of Topps All-Star Rookies was included in packs of the regular issue. Topps combined a list of All-Star names and holographic foil design to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Topps All-Star Rookie team. On the front, these cards featured a current player who had been named to a team in his respective rookie season. The backs of each card contained a list of players from 1959 through 1999 who had been named to the team at the position played by the player on the front of the card. The team was composed of the following:

Mark McGwire, 1B
Chuck Knoblauch, 2B
Chipper Jones, 3B
Cal Ripken, Jr., SS
Manny Ramírez, OF
Ken Griffey, Jr., OF
José Canseco, OF
Mike Piazza, C
Dwight Gooden, RHP
Billy Wagner, LHP

All-Star Rookie rosters

For year-by-year listing of each Topps All-Star Rookie Team, see List of Topps All-Star Rookie teams.

Rookie of the Year

Ichiro Suzuki, named to the 2001 Topps All-Star Rookie Roster, was also named the 2001 American League MVP. Suzuki, a Nippon League superstar, was also named the AL Rookie of the Year after winning the batting average and the stolen base crowns in his first Major League campaign. Ichiro's 242 base hits set the record for the most hits in a season by a rookie.

Cy Young

Fernando Valenzuela accomplished a feat matched by no other in 1981 when he won the NL Cy Young award in the same year that he was named to the 1981 Topps ASR team.

Most Valuable Player

Over 22 different players have been named to an All-Star Rookie Team and then won a league MVP award. Only Ichiro and Fred Lynn did it during their rookie year. Johnny Bench, Joe Morgan, and Cal Ripken, Jr. each earned two MVP awards. In 2011, Justin Verlander and Ryan Braun, were each named MVP for the AL and NL respectively.

All-Star Game

Many players named to a Topps All-Star Rookie team have also played in a Major League Baseball All-Star game. The most prolific All-Star was Cal Ripken, Jr., who appeared on 19 All-Star rosters.

Manager of the Year

In 1995, 2001, and 2005, both Managers of the Year were former All-Star Rookie Team members. In '95 it was Don Baylor and Lou Piniella, in '01 it was Larry Bowa and Piniella, and in '05 it was Bobby Cox and Ozzie Guillén.

Hall of Fame

Twenty players named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame:

Two players who were named to the Topps All-Star Rookie Team have been inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame as Managers:

Cal Ripken, Jr. was named the All-Star Rookie shortstop his first two seasons. His cards appeared in the 1982 and 1983 sets - neither one included the gold trophy symbols.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Archived February 5, 2005 at the Wayback Machine

External links

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