When did the rookie card phenomena start

[vintagebaseballcardguy]

I remember being a kid in the mid 1980s and starting to hear about the importance of rookies like those found in the 1984 Fleer Update set, the 1985 Topps Mark McGwire Olympic rookie, the 1984 Donruss Don Mattingly rookie, etc. Not sure if the rookie emphasis started just then or if it was simply a matter of my becoming old enough to begin knowing and understanding.

Either way, it's a shame. While there are undoubtedly some rookie cards out there which are aestically pleasing, there are many which just aren't all that great and collectors would otherwise prefer not spending big rookie $$ in favor of another card of the player, but they "can't" because just gotta have that rookie. Pete Rose springs to mind. I would guess 98 out of 100 sober collectors would choose his 1964 Topps card over the 1963 floating head Topps rookie.

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