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

[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.