Night Owl Cards

We have just wrapped up 10 years of the much-maligned rookie card logo. To me, the rookie card logo doesn't have much of a point. The logo most definitely does not signify the player's rookie card, not with Bowman and any number of Panini and minor league products out there. I own 17 cards of Corey Seager that were created before the above "rookie card." And for the general collecting public this is the case, too, as a player's first Bowman or Bowman Chrome card has been deemed the "true rookie card" for players for years. The logo has even less of an impact on someone like me, who doesn't collect rookie cards and is far more dismissive of them than many other collectors. For me, the players who receive the rookie-card logo are often unnecessary intrusions into Topps' flagship set every year (and many of the other sets it puts out as these players show up in Heritage, Allen & Ginter, Archives, Chrome, Finest, GQ, etc.). As someone who ...

Five years ago, I wrote a post titled "Five Years is a Long Time," in which I updated readers on the vast changes in players' careers in a five-year period. It was a bit surprising to see the results and the post drew a lot of comments. Well, five more years have passed since that post. Crazy, I know. And the set that was just coming out when I wrote that post -- 2011 Topps flagship -- is now going to kindergarten. I figured another comparison post was in order. But I don't have the time I had five years ago, so I won't be calculating like I did the last time. This time, I dug out all of the cards with the rookie card logo that I have from that flagship set (the set isn't complete) and briefly reviewed how those players have progressed since. See, this way I get to bash the rookie card logo while working on the post. It's double the entertainment! The most notable rookie-card logo player from that set that I own -- as of this moment right now...