1976
I remember going to the big annual show in the Detroit area. I went every year from 1971 to 1978. It was about 1976, when a few dealers started promoting rookie cards as being worth double or triple the price. It was a gimmick but it gradually caught on. By the mid 1980's it was all the rage.
In 1971, most dealers had about the same price for commons as for star cards, believe it or not. By 1973, the stars were being marked up to maybe double the price of a common. Rookie cards weren't any higher than any other card of the great players.
I still chuckle when dealers call a Cy Young T206 his "rookie card". He was 42 years old and had won almost 500 games by that time!
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