Are we talking about Rookie to mean what it means in today's way of thinking... that a "rookie" is someone who is new to MLB. It can be to a specific league, whereas a minor league card can be a rookie card for the player in that league, but not considered a rookie card for MLB. Same could be true of negro league or japanese leagues.
In fact, it is already true for modern cards in hockey and baseball. In hockey a guy who can have played many years comes to the NHL and they get a rookie card (like Artemi Panarin) who is not actually new to professional hockey. Same can be true of any baseball player who starts in Japan and comes to the US like Ichiro Suzuki.
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