It's Evolution Baby! Upper Deck Style

Once upon a time there were two species of human, once upon a time there were two card companies (OPC and  Topps). Once upon a time, Upper Deck had two rookie subsets. It started off as Young Guns and Star Rookies. The Star Rookies were a carry over from the baseball sets and Young Guns were new for hockey. For a few years Upper Deck kept both around in their flagship set and then something happened. Young Guns died off and became a part of the Collector's Choice product and Star Rookies got the prime-time focus in Upper Deck's flagship sets. Was that the end? Of course not, eventually Star Rookies would be dropped and Young Guns came back and have been going strong for over a decade. Question is, would you want to see Star Rookies make a come back and live in harmony with Young Guns? Well Upper Deck has reformed its monopoly so they can do whatever they want! Here are two fun old Star Rookies.

1992-93 Upper Deck Series 1 Bill Guerin Star Rookie

This is a legit rookie. Check out the nice photography.

Here is the back side of the rookie. Bill is one of my all-time favourite players and this is a pretty cool rookie.

1992-93 Upper Deck Series 1 Martin Brodeur Star Rookie

Unlike the Guerin, this is NOT a legit rookie. Score included him in their 90-91 set as a first round draft pick. Still, this was the first card after he played in the NHL so that is cool right? Ok, maybe not but the photo on this card is cool. Green pants, cool helmet and gallimaufry galore!

Here is the back of the card, as you can see he already has 2 NHL wins and Zero Shutouts. Hard to believe he would set NHL records in both those categories in a mere 20 seasons...

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