Posted By:
Gary B.It seems to me that since Topps came around, it's a lot more obvious what is considered a rookie card, whereas especially for pre-war players, people had to do a good deal of research to actually determine what constitutes a given players first appearance on a card. It seems that only because some people did the research, and because that information got passed on among the most avid vintage card collectors, that then the price started rising on these rookies, not necessarily because they were any harder or easier to get than any other issue of any given player.
That being said, and I don't know how much of this is because of the influence of rookie cards being hyped, they just seem more glamorous to me somehow. The same phenomena exists in the comic book collecting world, where there is great demand for the #1 issue of any given comic series, and the #1 will usually command a considerably higher price than a #2, #3 etc., except in rare instances when other extenuating circumstances come in to play. There's just something about having the first appearnce of a comic, or in this case a ballplayer. It's special, it's them at the start of something great.
And THAT being said, due to limited funds, I'm usually ecstatic just to have any card at all by great players of old. Having a rookie is just somewhat of an added bonus, often one too pricey for me to even go after right now...