I’m so glad I found this thread, what a great read. Glad to know there are
freaks scholars like me who really care about this stuff.
I'm in favor of a more restrictive definition of rookie cards, primarily for the sake of collectability. One corner of my collection is
rookie cards for the Cubs Hall of Fame, from King Kelly to Mark Grace. When I really got into pre-war Cubs cards and tried to find the rookie cards of these ancient players, I found that going with the “first issue” was not always feasible. So I came up with four criteria for determining a pre-war set’s rookie card eligibility.
1. Looks like a baseball card. No postage stamps, photocards, or newspaper inserts. Reluctantly I’ll go up to postcard size for the sake of Exhibits. Colgan’s Chips are fine I guess. Leaning no on pins, silks.
2. Random distribution. A key component of baseball cards, since the very beginning, was buying something that had a card in it but you weren’t sure which one.
3. A representative checklist. 1876-1897 sets should have at least 24 players in the set. 1892-1901: 36. 1902-1960: 48.
4. Availability. We can’t really use the “nationally distributed” criteria for pre-war, but we can use pop reports to deduce the rarity. An average pop/player of 30 (roughly Old Judge) is my standard.
What is Frank Chance’s rookie card? Some options:
A. 1899-00 Sporting News Supplement M101-1 (fails #1)
B. 1903-04 Breisch-Williams E107 (fails #4)
C. 1906 Fan Craze NL WG3 (fails #2)
D. 1908 American Caramel E91 (fails #3)
E. 1909-11 T206 (RC)
A lot of you are going to think I’m lame as heck for not recognizing a Frank Chance RC until 1909, but I don’t see the point in designating things rookie cards that no one gets to own, or isn’t a card at all. His E107 has a total pop (PSA+SGC) of 3. If I’m trying to complete a Cubs RC set, putting that one on the list is just self-destructive and not fun. Let's replace "nationally distributed" with "available."
I'm aware that my rules will result in some players having no true rookie cards, like Cubs HOFer Bill Lange. His only issues are the M101-1 supplement and the Whitehead and Hoag pin. I'm mostly OK with that. We can make exceptions in those cases. I'd rather do that than have to chase "rookie cards" for other players who have better options.
EDIT: I'm holding on to these principles pretty loosely, definitely open to debate and changing my mind.