Eleven players will get the ‘ Rookie Cup’ on the front of next year’s card as members of the newly announced 2014 Topps Rookie All-Star team.
A tradition that began in 1959 includes eight position players, left and right-handed starting pitchers and one relief pitcher. This year’s team included:
1B Jose Abreu, White Sox (2015 card mock-up shown at right)
2B Kolten Wong, Cardinals
SS Xander Bogaerts, Red Sox
3B Nick Castellanos, Tigers
OF Danny Santana, Twins
OF Billy Hamilton, Reds
OF George Springer, Astros
C Travis d’Arnaud, Mets
LHP Roenis Elias, Mariners
RHP Masahiro Tanaka, Yankees
RP Dellin Betances, Yankees
Tanaka and Mets’ rookie pitcher Jacob deGrom had similar statistics but Tanaka missed significant time during the summer and would likely have surpassed the numbers put up by deGrom had he gotten a few more starts and was given the nod from Topps.
Twenty future Hall of Famers have been named to the Topps Rookie Team since its inception. Willie McCovey was the first to reach the Hall of Fame. Others include Johnny Bench, Rod Carew, Gary Carter, Bobby Cox, Andre Dawson, Carlton Fisk, Paul Molitor, Joe Morgan, Eddie Murray, Tony Perez, Kirby Puckett, Jim Rice, Cal Ripken, Ryne Sandberg, Ron Santo, Tom Seaver, Ozzie Smith, Joe Torre and Billy Williams.
You can see all 2014 Topps rookie cards on eBay here.
2015 Topps Series One is due out in early February.
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