This has been the subject of much debate and I am sure there have been threads on here before but I would like to revisit this topic, since I had an obession with HOF rookie cards when I first started collecting again. I want to share my criteria for a card being considered a "rookie card" when I am collecting, and also why I only collected rookie cards from post war only.
My criteria is as follows (all these qualifications must be met):
1. must be a rookie card of a rookie player. The card must have been issued either during their first season or issued during their second season. Third season is ok as long as their first season was not a full season examples are Nolan Ryan, Yogi Berra, Bob Feller. If he came to the pros and played a partial or even full season then got sent back to the minors, then I can consider that a rookie card. An example is George Brett or Hank Greenberg.
2. Must be a card from a main producer such as Topps, Goudey, Etc...If I was to collect all the off brands I would go insane and broke. Plus alot of the off brands are ugly cards (in my opinion).
3. If the player even had just two full seasons before the card came out, I do not consider it a rookie card. Examples are Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, or Ralph Kiner. If the player came and sat out a few season such as Dizzy Dean then I can't consider that a rookie card either.
I chose to only do the rookie card thing for post war only for a few reasons:
1. Post war rookies make up some of the coolest cards from post war, especially when you are talking 1950s.
2. Prewar is too hard to pin down rookie cards and they are often way too rare and expensive. I really do not feel like spending tons of money on a card I am not too crazy about, such as a E91 marquard is just ugly. I do not want to chase that card down and pay for a card I really don't like looking at.
3. I have fallen soooo deeply in love with prewar that I cannot limit myself to "rookie cards." Or else I wouldn't enjoy N162, N28, T205, or all the beautiful gum era cards.
This is a silly thread, I know, I just wanted to ramble about it and see what others think a "rookie card" is
