talkin' about which generation, now?

i realized after going through some 2009 cards recently that there aren't too many new ideas when it comes to card inserts. back in 2007, topps issued some "generation now" inserts in flagship

and chrome

and they also put a "generation now arrives" insert in flagship with a totally different design

for some reason. these inserts are all seared in to my brain.

what i didn't recall was that in 2009, upper deck released a "generation now" insert set and i actually had the josh hamilton card

in a monster box of other forgotten cards. i quickly sought out some dodgers, including russell martin

who also appeared in the 2007 topps insert set as seen up top, and manny ramirez

who was really from a different generation but was still "now" i guess. he could be in any insert set any company wanted him to be in after his 2008 partial season with the dodgers. my goodness. there are at least a dozen players, including martin, who appear in both the 2007 topps and 2009 upper deck sets.

last year topps took another shot at a "generation now" insert set, again in flagship 

and chrome

and update as well. in fact, that bo bichette card is from 2022 topps chrome update.

at least topps waited 15 years before redoing the set - that's a decent amount of time between generations in baseball terms. looking forward to 2037 topps and a new crop of generation now players!