Posted By:
Todd SchultzWe may have to get Peter involved in this one. 
According to Beckettpedia (all genuflect now):
"Rookie Card - A player's regular issue card from an officially licenced brand issued in the first year the player is eligible to appear on a trading card."
Now, Beckett would tell you that Colgan's and m101-5 were not "officially licenced", so those can't be rookies, and Thorpe was done playing football for quite some time before the Sports Kings cards came out, so it technically wasn't issued in the first year he was eligible to appear. Heck, Babe Ruth himself had to wait until he'd played 19 seasons before his Beckett rookie card came out.
It's all so confusing....Oh wait, that was the beauty of the Beckett definition, or so we were told--it is clear cut and easy to follow. Never mind, must just be me.