2016 Topps Now Aaron Judge --RC, why not?

[Peter_Spaeth]

We probably did this last time Judge was red hot. His 2016 Topps Now cards were issued after he was called up and show him in a big league uniform. They are from TOPPS not some obscure issuer. They are base numbered like any set. Why, other than the fact that Topps didn't put the RC logo on them, aren't they his true rookie cards and not all the 2017 issues? And the logo is meaningless, ironically, his 2017 Topps Now card (he may have more than one) has the RC logo, and there are tons of Topps Nows with the RC logo. Soto and Acuna for example. Is the issue, then, the online distribution? In this day and age that seems weak.

[steve B]

It's probably because of the "rules" about what counted put out by Beckett years ago.

The general gist of it is that the set has to be mainstream which i guess translates to available at retail, so update sets only sold through dealers don't count, regional sets don't count etc. That is probably extended to sold over the internet only as well.
Do any of the ETopps cards count as rookies? It's been so long.

I always read their rules as "a rookie card is a players first card issued, as long as it exists in big enough quantities that all dealers can hype it and readily obtain inventory. "

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by steve B

It's probably because of the "rules" about what counted put out by Beckett years ago.

The general gist of it is that the set has to be mainstream which i guess translates to available at retail, so update sets only sold through dealers don't count, regional sets don't count etc. That is probably extended to sold over the internet only as well.
Do any of the ETopps cards count as rookies? It's been so long.

I always read their rules as "a rookie card is a players first card issued, as long as it exists in big enough quantities that all dealers can hype it and readily obtain inventory. "

I would consider eTopps rookies. So does Topps, note logo.

[Peter_Spaeth]

And again, Judge's 2017 Topps Now cards have the logo. But the cards from 2016, issued after he was in the bigs, do not. Zero sense.

[packs]

The Topps Now cards are ignored anyway. I would have thought they'd have great value seeing as they're issued in real time. But no. Nobody really wants them.

[D. Bergin]

In the racing collecting world, Lewis Hamilton's 1st Topps Now issue goes for a pretty decent premium.