The team usually consists of eight position players (four infielders, three outfielders, one catcher) and two pitchers (one left-hander and one right-hander).

The special-design cards featured a trophy symbol of a batter on a top hat and the phrase, "Selected by the youth of America."

The set included a card for Willie McCovey, a future member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

In 1961, the ASR cards followed the regular-issue design but had a trophy symbol embossed with the phrase "Topps 1960 All-Star Rookie".

This practice continued until 1973, when the symbol was changed to a gold cup bearing the words "Topps All-Star Rookie."

[3] Fernando Valenzuela (1981) is the first player to be named to an All-Star Rookie team and win his league's Cy Young Award during the same season.

Fred Lynn (1975)[5][6] and Ichiro Suzuki (2001) are the only players to be named onto the All-Star Rookie Team and win their league's MVP Award during the same season.