People can call a card what ever they want but calling a Rookie Card when it clearly is not doesn't make it so...generally to me a Rookie Card is the players first card(s) issued at or very close to their MLB debut year
If a player debuted in 1933 and a card was made in 1933 that would be his Rookie Card and subsequent years 1934, 1935 etc would not be Rookie Cards
If a player debuted in 1933 but his first card was made in 1934 then that would be his Rookie Card
If a player debuted in 1933 but his first card was made in 1953 then I would say the player has no Rookie Card
1951 Bowman is Mantle's rookie card, the 1952 Topps is not, it is simply his first Topps card
Players can have multiple Rookie Cards ie Ken Griffey Jr's 1989 Bowman/1989 Donruss/1989 Score/1989 Upper Deck etc.
Modern Rookie Cards should be clearer with a few exceptions such as Ichiro
I would consider his 2001 US cards as his Rookie Cards since that was his first year in MLB
I would not consider his Japanese cards as Rookie Cards since he was not in MLB
Vintage Rookie Cards can be more problematic since players could have played a few years before a card was ever issued
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Tony
Collecting:
1909-1911 T206 Southern Leaguers
1914 Cracker Jack Set (94 out of 145)
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