Rookie cards in soccer

[Peter_Spaeth]

I have noticed a fair number of soccer card auctions where a card that does not seem to be a player's first card is identified nevertheless as a "rookie." On a number of occasions now where I didn't really know the issue, a little digging easily reveals an earlier card, sometimes by years. Is this just overzealousness by the seller, or is RC really a looser term in this context? Or do some issues not count, much as minor league issues in baseball don't for most people?

[esehombre]

Overzealous could be one reason. More likely ignorance, deceit, apathy or perhaps (and this is one of my favorites) it is his rookie card from (pick a country or team).

[Peter_Spaeth]

For example I've seen several 66 Beckenbauers identified as a rookie card where he has several issues from 65.

[Peter_Spaeth]

One of my favorites. A 1978 Cruyff identified as a rookie.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1978-JOHAN-...YAAOSwDmBY3Sy1

[esehombre]

Yeah, about as accurate as the price! They probably meant to say "US Pre- Rookie"

[Copa7]

It took almost 12 years for me to catalog over 200 first appearances if world famous soccer players.

Where baseball has had thousands of collectors contributing to the data base, still only recently have they identified a 1915 Babe Ruth as his rookie card.

Genuine discovery is great. However, misinformation is rampant on eBay and terribly perpetuated by companies like PSA which slab cards with aggregious errors.

Rookie card phenomena is an American invention. There are many factors that deviate with soccer collectables in format issues (coin, stamp, sticker, disc and finally card).

The distribution and scarcity is also measured in population as product made for a region of 10,000 (like Ireland) is rarer than product made for 10 million (like the USA).

Good luck.