"Rediscovered" rookie cards

[Topnotchsy]

Hope this makes sense.

I'm pretty new to vintage, but from what I have seen over the last few years it seems like on some level the hobby "discovered" the 1925 Exhibits Gehrig and 1947 Bond Bread Robinson as rookie cards of the respective players.

Certainly, they were not unknown before, and I am sure many would not necessarily count them as rookie cards, but it seems like there was a significant increase in market interest and price on those two cards.

I was wondering if I was understanding what happened with these cards correctly, or am I totally missing the boat?

Thanks!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by Topnotchsy

Hope this makes sense.

I'm pretty new to vintage, but from what I have seen over the last few years it seems like on some level the hobby "discovered" the 1925 Exhibits Gehrig and 1947 Bond Bread Robinson as rookie cards of the respective players.

Certainly, they were not unknown before, and I am sure many would not necessarily count them as rookie cards, but it seems like there was a significant increase in market interest and price on those two cards.

I was wondering if I was understanding what happened with these cards correctly, or am I totally missing the boat?

Thanks!

Very true.

[yanksfan09]

Lot of factors at play. The hobby has become more acceptive of oversized issues such as exhibits and postcards etc. There's also been more emphasis put into first cards or "rookie cards" of players. More research has been put into some of the more rare and elusive issues like tougher regionals. Looking at Ty Cobb, Gehrig, Foxx etc... RC's years ago, I wasn't really sure what their true rookie cards were. There wasn't nearly as much research and info available on them. Some cards had a lot of debate on when the cards were actually issued and the water was a lot murkier so to speak. I think the hobby has evolved a lot and collectors more knowledgeable than me have put in a good deal of research. The picture is much clearer to me at least on a lot of guys earliest cards that I consider to be rookies. I don't think there will ever be 100 percent consensus out there as to what each players rookies are in some instances but the information to make your own decision is out there much more than in the past. Phil Gary's list on oldcardboard certainly helped a lot as well as researching threads on this forum for more info on the best early cards of HOFers.

[yanksfan09]

You will always have some collectors that dismiss the rarer issues, especially for post WW2 cards, where you have "pack issued" cards that can get a rookie label by people. Some collectors dismiss anything "regional" or "too rare/obscure" which is just silly in my opinion. I think there's room to love both cards in the hobby such as 1947 Jackies and his more mainstream and colorful 1948/9 issued cards. I think finally the hobby is beginning to value true rarity more and also more accepting of non-standard size issues.

[drcy]

Years back, only the big nationally issued cards were commonly considered to be rookie cards: Topps, Bowman, Fleer. "Off brands," regionals and odd balls "didn't count." That was just the popular conception. That has changed.

[triwak]

Originally Posted by drcy

Years back, only the big nationally issued cards were commonly considered to be rookie cards: Topps, Bowman, Fleer. "Off brands," regionals and odd balls "didn't count." That was just the popular conception. That has changed.

+1