It’s official: Stephen Strasburg will appear in remainder of 2010 Topps baseball products

Once Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg throws his first pitch on Tuesday evening in Washington, he will be eligible for a Rookie Card.

Topps couldn’t wait even that long to announce that fact and its plans for the rest of the year.

Will the much-heralded rookie be in Allen & Ginter? Could he be in Triple Threads? Or would the deadline crunch be too much?

The last line of a company statement on its blog outlined the big news of Monday after detailing a program that will accelerate getting a Strasburg card into some collectors hands:  “Strasburg Rookie Cards will appear in the remainder of Topps 2010 baseball products starting with the release of Topps Allen & Ginter baseball.”

Let that sink in a minute … especially the Triple Threads part.

First, though, Topps is making the first Strasburg available on toppsmillion.com, where collectors have been entering codes to win cards from the past. Now, they have a chance to find cards that are all about baseball’s future.

And they won’t be easy finds. (And, because of their distribution, they technically won’t be Rookie Cards, but I digress … )

The card will feature a photo of Strasburg’s first major league pitch and will be ready immediately after that moment, something one Topps official couldn’t help but note on Monday.

“Before Stephen even hits the showers, the very first Strasburg Rookie Card will likely be owned by at least one lucky collector,” said Warren Friss, Topps GM of Sports & Entertainment.

We’ll have more on this as it becomes available in the coming days.

Chris Olds is the editor of Beckett Baseball. Have a comment, question or idea? Send an e-mail to him at colds@beckett.com. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here.