2021 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup Pays Tribute To First-Year Players

Since 1959, Topps has honored major league baseball’s top rookies with a golden cup. The card company continues to celebrate its 70th anniversary with 2021 Topps All-Star Rookie Cup baseball, an online-exclusive product.

A hobby box will contain 10 cards, and Topps is promising one autograph in every box.

Base set

The 100-card base set features past greats, current stars and promising rookies. The card fronts will also carry Topps’ 70th-anniversary logo.

Hall of Famers including Cal Ripken Jr., Willie McCovey, Don Drysdale, Ozzie Smith, Derek Jeter, Rod Carew, Carlton Fisk and Johnny Bench grace the set, along with new inductee Tony Oliva.

The current stars lineup features Pete Alonso, Yordan Alvarez, Bryce Harper, Aaron Judge, Shohei Ohtani, Ronald Acuna Jr., Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Fernando Tatis Jr.

Rookies will feature Akii Badoo, Deivi Garcia, Ian Anderson, Bobby Dalbec and Taylor Trammell.

The base set will have foil parallels and several design variations. There will be 17 variations of Hall of Famers, with 16 Legends (non-Hall of Famers) variations, 17 variations of active stars and 30 rookie variations.

Inserts

There are two insert sets for Rookie Cup. The first one, Topps Recreates 1952-59, features players who likely would have received a gold cup on their cards if Topps had started honorees from its first set. This 10-card subset includes stars like Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Roberto Clemente, Harmon Killebrew, Orlando Cepeda and Don Drysdale.

All-Time Rookie Cup is another 10-card subset. This insert highlights 10 of the best players worthy of receiving a gold cup. That list includes Mike Trout, Ichiro, Ken Griffey Jr., Acuna, Jeter and Aaron Judge.

Autographs

The autograph subsets in Rookie Cup are broken down into four categories, much like the variations. Collectors will be able to find signatures of Hall of Famers, Legends, Active Autographs and Rookies.

Boxes are priced at $50 via this page on Topps’ website.

About Bob D’Angelo

Bob has been a sportswriter and copy editor for more than 35 years and a blogger for a decade. He is celebrating his 50th year of card collecting, and still counts his 1965 Topps Mickey Mantle as his favorite. You can reach him at [email protected].