Posted By:
Tom LawrieOK, let's take two old-time HOFers, Jake Beckley and Kid Nichols:
Beckley: He's pictured in several different poses in the N172 Old Judge series, all of which appear with the St. Louis Whites (Western Association minor league) caption and most also appear with the Pittsburgh major league team caption. He appears in his St. Louis Whites uniform in all of them. You're saying that the exact pose in a minor league uniform that says Pittsburgh on the bottom is a "rookie" card, while the ones that say St. Louis Whites are not? [The St. Louis Whites caption cards appeared in 1888, while the Pittsburgh caption cards appeared later in 1888, and also in 1889.] That just doesn't make sense to me, considering it's the exact same company and same photograph.
Nichols: He appears with Omaha of the Western Association in the 1889 Old Judge series. So his first professional cards in the N172 set are only "first" cards (he joined Boston the following year), while his Mayo card of 1895, 5 years after he made it to the majors, is his "rookie?"
I really think that for 19th century and early 20th century issues, we should think of "rookie" in terms of rookie professional season and not rookie major league season as defined by major league baseball 3/4 of a century later.
Just my opinion,
Tom