[Lucas00]

I am far more in line with pre war people. If it's on paper stock and the player is in a major league uniform/the issue is from a players ML days I don't care what size it is. Stans rookie is his m114 (Which is very likely a 1941 or 1942 issue, not 1943 like its stated most places). Or the Donora Zinc works premium photo from 1942 in my eyes. How something 5 or even as much as 8 years later can be called his rookie issue instead, I have no idea. Maybe if your definition includes the words standard Card size or mainstream release. Which are boring ways to think IMO. And one of the reasons postwar (During war in this case) rookie oddballs haven't caught on nearly enough compared to pre war. I do like the folks who've said Sears and Prop so far, that's the right direction.

And then personally I'd take it a step further and say if the player has a minor league card that would be the "pre" rookie to me (think DiMaggio zeenut). But that's a whole new can of worms.