OT: Who Determined That Mantle's Rookie Card was the 52 Topps

[vintagetoppsguy]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

How many feel these are RCs?

My answer is no. IMO a RC should only be from a nationally issued set (Topps, Bowman, Fleer, etc.), nothing oddball, team issued, etc.. But I know that some people consider them RCs and I wouldn't argue the point. It's just my opinion.

And it's my opinion that a RC should only be issued after the player is a rookie. There are too many "rookie cards" out there (especially from the late '90s to early 2000s) of players that never even played in a MLB game. How can you have a rookie card if you were never a rookie?

[packs]

I think those would be classified as "rookie issues" but not "rookie cards". I think a rookie card is a baseball card that comes in a pack of cards, not a premium or something issued in a team set.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I think those would be classified as "rookie issues" but not "rookie cards". I think a rookie card is a baseball card that comes in a pack of cards, not a premium or something issued in a team set.

There is some force to that argument but what do you do with, for example, the Fleer Update Clemens that I think was only issued in a set? Beckett used to XRC it and others like it but to me that seems stupid.

[packs]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

There is some force to that argument but what do you do with, for example, the Fleer Update Clemens that I think was only issued in a set? Beckett used to XRC it and others like it but to me that seems stupid.

I, myself, don't consider Update or Traded series to be the rookie cards either. For Clemens, I say his rookie card is the 85 Topps. I say Ripken's rookie card is the 1982 Topps, and not the Traded as well. If a card is only issued in a factory set, that to me is not in the spirit of the "rookie card" that you pull from a pack.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by packs

I, myself, don't consider Update or Traded series to be the rookie cards either. For Clemens, I say his rookie card is the 85 Topps. I say Ripken's rookie card is the 1982 Topps, and not the Traded as well. If a card is only issued in a factory set, that to me is not in the spirit of the "rookie card" that you pull from a pack.

84 Fleer Updates of Clemens and Puckett sure feel like rookie cards to me.

[packs]

It's a factory set though and of course open to interpretation but to me if you couldn't pull the card from a pack of cards or whatever the substitute in the day was for a pack of cards, it's not a rookie card. It's a rookie issue.

[darwinbulldog]

Originally Posted by packs

I think a rookie card is a baseball card that comes in a pack of cards.

And just when do you suppose a baseball card was first pulled from a pack of cards?

[packs]

Originally Posted by darwinbulldog

And just when do you suppose a baseball card was first pulled from a pack of cards?

If you ask me a Cracker Jack box with a Cracker Jack card inside that was bought for the baseball card is the equivalent of a pack of cards for its time. If you had to mail away for something, like an N173, that's not a rookie card in the same vein.