Making sense of Russell Wilson Rookie Cards
This off-season, the Steelers made a big shift at quarterback by moving on from first-round pick Kenny Pickett and bringing in Justin Fields and Russell Wilson. It was a risk to bring in two quarterbacks of that level to compete for the job. Wilson was planned to be the starter until an injury sidelined him for the first six weeks of the season. At 4-2, the Steelers had a decision to make: stick with Fields or go back to Wilson. Wilson has now started his season 3-0, and the Steelers are in first place in the AFC North.
2012 was one of the most important years in sports card history because it was the inception of Panini Prizm. 2012 was also Wilson's rookie year.
Just like Stefon Diggs, Wilson has Panini rookies and Topps rookies because, up until 2016, both companies were making football cards.
But did you know that before Wilson ever got a football card, he was included in the 2010 Bowman Baseball set?
From 2010 until his rookie year in 2012, he was included in multiple baseball products because Wilson was a two-sport athlete and was drafted by the Colorado Rockies. Wilson isn’t the only football player to have baseball cards; Tim Tebow and Johnny Manziel were also included in baseball sets.
Other than those baseball cards, Wilson’s football cards may still be a bit confusing to sports card collectors because he has two different Prizm cards as well as regular Topps and Topps Flagship cards.
His two Prizm cards have the same design but use different photos. Based on grading data, the “Towel Up” is the short print variation, and the “Towel Down” is the cheaper base card.
![2012 Panini Prizm - [Base] Russell Wilson](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_1711,h_962,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_1080,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images%2FvoltaxMediaLibrary%2Fmmsport%2Fsi_collects%2F01jcdxw24x3yp89w56te.png "2012 Panini Prizm - [Base] Russell Wilson")
For Topps, it is much easier to tell the difference between the cards because one card is a paper Topps card and the other is a Chrome card.
Wilson has had a bit of a tumultuous career playing on multiple teams, but sometimes people forget he won Super Bowl XLVIII. His loss to the Patriots and his short stint with Denver have put a dark cloud over his career at times, but if Wilson can continue the success he is having this year, he might be a player that collectors should be looking at again.
Adam has been a sports content creator since 2016, initially focusing on creating sports-related graphics for his Instagram page. In 2018, he transitioned to writing and podcasting about sports cards. Since then, he has worked both independently and with companies within the industry, producing podcasts, videos, and written content on sports cards.