My card of the year - 2017

Thanks to P-Town Tom for once again running the Card of the Year Contest.

I was torn this year.

I really wanted to choose the 2017 Topps Jacoby Ellsbury Lightning Butt card. It's awesome. But Ellsbury and Yankee fans have a bit of a tough relationship, and while the photo is awesome, I'm not going to remember cards in 2017 because of him.

I'm going to remember cards in 2017 because of this guy, and because of how many Topps NOW cards I bought of him. So, my card of the year, is one of my newest additions: Aaron Judge Topps NOW Rookie of the Year.

Last year I chose a Topps NOW as card of the year - Aaron Judge and Tyler Austin homering in their MLB debuts. I didn't want to do it again, but it's really what my 2017 collecting was defined by. I bought a lot of Aaron Judge cards via the Topps NOW program, although most came from eBay versus directly from Topps.

It was hard to choose just one. There were many moments and instances to be commemorated, but on the whole, it was a record-breaking rookie season for Judge, and the card that simply states "Rookie of the Year" sort of encompasses all of that.

So here it is again, Rookie of the Year, and my Card of the Year.

And here is my Topps NOW Aaron Judge year in review. I spent a lot on Topps NOW cards this year. Sheesh.

Maybe I'll switch it up in 2018, but considering I already bought a Giancarlo Stanton Topps NOW from his press conference, I highly doubt that.