Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Introducing the 2009 Topps All-Star Rookie Team!!!


The MLB managers have spoken, and today, Topps has announced the players named to the 51st All-Star Rookie Team!!! (If the player's name is in bold, it means I predicted that they would make the team back in October).

  • 1B: Travis Ishikawa, San Francisco Giants (.261 batting average, 9 HR 39 RBI, 2009 stats)
  • 2B: Chris Getz, Chicago White Sox (.261, 2, 31)
  • 3B: Gordon Beckham, Chicago White Sox (.270, 14, 63)
  • SS: Elvis Andrus, Texas Rangers (.267, 6, 40)
  • OF: Chris Coghlan, Florida Marlins (.321, 9, 47)
  • OF: Andrew McCutchen, Pittsburgh Pirates (.286, 12, 54)
  • OF: Nolan Reimold, Baltimore Orioles (.279, 15, 45)
  • C: Omir Santos, New York Mets (.260, 7, 40)
  • RHP: Tommy Hanson, Atlanta Braves (11-4, 2.89 ERA, 116 K's,)
  • LHP: J. A. Happ, Philadelphia Phillies (12-4, 2.93 ERA, 119 K's)
So I guessed 7 out of 10 spots correctly (I guessed Colby Rasmus for the third outfield spot, Matt "I'm a Razor Exclusive, so I'm not with Topps" Wieters for the catcher and Andrew Bailey for the RHP). I did better last year.

That Santos pick came out of nowhere. He wasn't even a blip on MLB's rookie tracker radar. Could it be because of the Wieters exclusive with Razor and Upper Deck? Could this be why Hideki Matsui was not part of the 2003 Topps All-Star Rookie team??? Let the conspiracy theories flow!!!

So congratulations to all. Each player will now get the illustrious rookie cup trophy (pictured above) added to their 2010 Topps cards. And about that trophy. Instead of gold, it's now a silver cup, with the words "Topps All Star" on the cup, and the word "ROOKIE" on the base. Brand new decade, brand new rookie cup.

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama

P.S. I will go over the entries this evening to see if there was a winner in my contest. To all who participated, good luck to you. jba

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

They changed the trophy a little this year. It looks silver instead of gold. I hope they get trophies on their Topps Heritage cards as well.



Eric

Anonymous said...

You've posted the most logical explanation for Omir Santos' selection that I can think of.

Still, I'm happy to see one of my favorite Mets receive an honor (and a guaranteed spot in the 2010 Topps set.)

csd said...

So they missed the Rookie of the Year in the AL entirely. The good news is that two White Sox players (last year) made the team. Thanks for the first look at the Beckham card.

Anonymous said...

As was mentioned in an earlier post. Garrett Jones could appear as a DH. Every couple of years a 10th ASR appears in the set. I think Robbie Hamrock made the team a few years back as the 10th man.,

Anonymous said...

Back in 2000 Topps series 2 had an insert set called "Topps All Star Rookie Team". The set contained the 10 best active past winners. I hope series 2 of the 2010 set has the same set.
2000 Winners
C= Mike Piazza
1B= Mark McGwire
2B= Chuck Knoblauch
3B= Chipper Jones
SS= Cal Ripken
OF= Jose Canseco
OF= Manny Ramirez
OF= Ken Griffey Jr
LP= Billy Wagner
RP= Doc Gooden

2010 Winners (My Picks)
C= Joe Mauer
1B= Albert Pujols
2B= Dustin Pedroia
3B= Chipper Jones
SS= Derek Jeter
OF= Manny Ramirez
OF= Ichiro Suzuki
OF= Griffey Jr (Active?) or Carlos Beltran
LP= CC Sabathia
RP= Roy Oswalt

LP is a tough one to call with Wagner, Webb, and Sabathia.

Eric

Anonymous said...

The Hanson card - #20 - is missing the trophy!

Same thing last year with the Alexei Ramirez(#585) and the David Murphy(#614) cards!!

Anonymous said...

None of the series 2 cards (Reimold,Ishikawa, Santos and Getz) have trophies on their cards. Could topps be phasing them out?