Rookie Cards

llafoe

Rookie Card: For such an important term, rookie cards are surprisingly hard to define. Put simply, rookie cards are the first base cards issued for a player by major brands in the first year that a player appears on a card.

It looks like from 1948-1975, the order appears to be Topps (regular series), Bowman then 1948 Leaf... what is the order from 1931-1947?

Are both 1953 Bowman eligible for Rookie cards?

What are the Major Brands from 1931-1975?

Goudey
Bowman
Leaf
Topps

llafoe

I searched the entire SCD Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards and found the following sets with the (RC) Rookie Card designation:

1948 Bowman
1948 Leaf
1949 Bowman
1950 Bowman
1951 Bowman
1952 Bowman
1952 Topps
1953 Bowman
1953 Bowman Black & White
1953 Topps
1954 Bowman
1954 Topps
1955 Bowman
1955 Topps
1956 Topps
1957 Topps
1958 Topps
1959 Topps
1960 Topps
1961 Topps
1962 Topps
1963 Fleer
1963 Topps
1964 Topps
1965 Topps
1966 Topps
1967 Topps
1968 Topps
1969 Topps
1970 Topps
1971 Topps
1972 Topps
1973 Topps
1974 Topps
1975 Topps

There don't appear to be any before 1948... were none of the manufacturers "nationally distributed" prior to 1948?

AkbarClone

<< <i>Put simply, rookie cards are the first base cards issued for a player by major brands in the first year that a player appears on a card. >>



That is one definition of a rookie card, but there are other definitions, including the one used by Major League Baseball which determines which cards can have the official "RC" or "Rookie Card" logo on cards issued by the major manufactors that are licensed by MLB. That definition, used and also cataloged by Beckett in their checklists, says that it is not a rookie card until that player has actually made it to the big leagues--so a player could have many prior cards ranging from minor league issues to Bowman Draft or Bowman Prospect set cards that are not officially rookie cards. They are "pre-rookies" or "Prospect cards" or sometimes they are labled "XRC".

To each his own, but it is not always so "simple" when determining a "rookie card". I prefer the definition currently used by MLB and Beckett. I call the earlier issues of a player "Pre-Rookie" cards.

CocoaBeachDodgers

Also, in Pre-War era, there is all kinds of debate on what a rookie card is. Are minor leagues cards like Zeanut eligible? Do post cards or exhibits count? Should you go by major issues? If so, what are major issues? Foreign cards eligible? Cabinet Portraits eligible? It just goes on & on.

We were trying to start a HOF Players Rookie set in the Registry which would, of course, include pre-war cards and this all came up. One huge problem is that some of the cards had such a small population, it would be near impossible to complete in any grade. So we ended up with the HOF Players Restricted Set. Many are rookies, but not all. Some are early cards that are a little more obtainable.

Even though it is watered down, as some say, a little bit, it is still a monster set to put together. You may want to check it out if you have not already done so. It is under the HOF sets, about the 3rd or 4th from the top.

NickM

Goudey and Play Ball are generally accepted as major brands for rookies. For some athletes in different sports, Beckett considers their Sport Kings card as their rookie.

Beckett doesn't really acknowledge rookie cards for many pre-WWII players, because they consciously exclude tobacco, caramel, Exhibit, and many other types of cards from eligibility.

Personally, I take a much broader definition. I count almost anything that was designed as a card, features the player with a major league team, and wasn't a team or player issue.

Nick


[edited for typos and to add something]