[bcbgcbrcb]

I'm a little bit late to the party here but just saw this thread and read through everyone's opinions.

While I generally consider any minor league/amateur card issues to be pre-rookies (i.e. - Zeenuts, etc.) and MLB issues to be rookie cards, I would classify the N172 Old Judge cards to be a Major League issue although some minor league teams/players were included. Off the top of my head, I believe that Clark Griffith also falls into the same category as Nichols, appearing pictured in his minor league uniform but part of a widely recognized Major League set as the N172 Old Judge is. There may be one or two others that I am not recalling at this time.

The 1889 cabinet card that Derek mentioned is a great item and could be considered Nichols' earliest card since it is a cabinet but not really a rookie card as it was not part of a catalogued set and studio photographer's cabinets, in general, were not produced to be collected by fans so the intent isn't really there either. The Sporting News premium mentioned earlier also wouldn't qualify as a rookie card, besides the obvious part of being produced a number of years later, the size of the item would eliminate it from consideration as it could never be considered a "card", thus eliminating the possibility of it being a rookie card. This type of item, if the earliest issued for that player could be an earliest collectible or possibly even be called a rookie issue but not a "rookie card".

I realize that this subject will never get everyone to be in agreement but, hopefully, explaining the rationale behind each of these classifications will help to clarify some things.