When was the term "Rookie Card" introduced into the Hobby ?

[Leon]

It would be nice for a few old timers to chime in. I collected in the later 60s, as a kid, and just don't remember if we collected the rookies in particular or not. That was a long time ago.

[rats60]

Originally Posted by Leon

It would be nice for a few old timers to chime in. I collected in the later 60s, as a kid, and just don't remember if we collected the rookies in particular or not. That was a long time ago.

I do believe that the 1954 Topps Aaron was the first card referred to as a rookie card. Possibly as early as 1974 when he became the all time HR leader. My brother had gotten an Aaron RC from a "grab bag" at a swap meet and I remember it being a big deal after Hank hit 715.

I remember the multiplayer rookie cards were unpopular in the 60s and early 70s. I bought 2 Seaver Rcs for ten cents each in 1973, they were treated as commons. We had a bunch of Ryan and Bench Rcs because no one wanted them. When we "flipped" cards, those were among the first to go. Mantle, Mays, Koufax, Clemente, etc. cards were valued and kept.

[drcy]

Many "old timers" collectors say a common sentiment was to prize the latest not the earliest card for a player.

Worth noting that the early definition of rookie was very narrow in its scope and what cards could be included.

[jerrys]

Mark Lewis - Publisher of "Card Prices Update" (1978-80)? had a Rookie List page denoting rookie cards and their value in his monthly CPU. He was doing well until he used some of Jim Beckett's baseball data without permission. CPU folded shortly after.

[riggs336]

Originally Posted by drcy

Many "old timers" collectors say a common sentiment was to prize the latest not the earliest card for a player.

Worth noting that the early definition of rookie was very narrow in its scope and what cards could be included.

I remember that for a very short time premiums were placed on a player's "first" and "last" cards.

[Gary Dunaier]

Originally Posted by drcy

Many "old timers" collectors say a common sentiment was to prize the latest not the earliest card for a player.

If memory serves me right, I recall reading somewhere that one of the reasons for this was because the newer cards had the most complete stats of the player.

Originally Posted by rats60

I bought 2 Seaver Rcs for ten cents each in 1973, they were treated as commons.

Wow!

[Fred]

Assuming the OP is asking about the "rookie card craze" rather than cards noted with "rookie" on it, then here's what I remember:

I'm going to guess the REALLY crazy prices started somewhere in the early 90s.

I remember a dealer busting open cases of 84 Topps (the year the cards were released) trying to pull the Mattingly's so he could sell them for a couple/few bucks apiece. I thought the guy was nuts and anybody buying them was even crazier. I think things really got going with the Griffey Jr. 89 UD rookie cards. After that things went out of control.

I can still remember dealers selling 84T wax football cases and couldn't get more than $100 bucks a case (right after the football season ended), then people started trying to get the Marino's and Dickerson's. Somewhere in the early 90's those same wax 84T football boxes (not cases) were going for over $100 each because of the Marino rookie cards.

Old Beckett guides might provide a good clue regarding the time frame when things got stupid.

I never bought into the modern era rookie card craze because the thought of paying a ton of cash for a card where there were probably millions minted just didn't make any sense.

It looks like the "rookie card craze" did have a pretty big influence on market prices for "rookie" cards of vintage era players.

All of the above is from a memory that seems to be getting cloudier as time moves on.

Just for the heck of it I just checked on PSA10 89 UD Griffey rookies on fleabay. PWCC sold 5 different slabs for between $505 and $560 on 27NOV19 (alone) on fleabay. If I read the PSA pop report correctly, there are over 24,000 PSA10 89 UD Griffey cards graded. Pretty crazy stuff.

[glynparson]

Rookie card term has been around since i started buying cards in 1978. And rookie cards were the most sought after at that time. Rose and Mantle were two of the earliest vintage rookies to get HOT. It seemed The rose was going up 50-100% each month at one point in the early 1980s. Condition mattered but not to the extreme it does now. there was basically mt, ex, vg , and poor with some slight variations to the terminology depending on who you talked with. people were already coloring 1971s so those freaking out about alterations it has been around since i bought my first card. So i am not a real old timer but i am not a novice either and these are my recollections of my early days in the hobby.

[uyu906]

I began collecting in 1976. Probably went to my first card show in S.C. Pennsylvania in 1978. At the first couple of shows I went to I was busy buying cards to complete my current year Topps set and Orioles team sets. By about the 3rd show I got interested in vintage and began collecting cards of Baltimore players and Brooklyn players (my father's favorite team.) The first time I heard the term rookie card was when I asked a dealer how much a 1955 Sandy Koufax was and he told me a price that I thought was really high. Probably something like $20-$30. I asked why that one was so high when the 1956 Koufax he had was only about $5 in the same condition as the 1955. He told me it was because it was his rookie card. I asked him if that made the 1955 rarer than the 1956, he said no. To my 10 year old mind I couldn't figure out why there would be such a premium on a first year card of someone, if it was not any rarer than the next years card. In fact, I have never fully embraced the rookie card paradigm for my collecting. I know the rest of the hobby has. If memory serves, I think the idea of this premium began with coin dealers, who were some of the early dealers of cards as well. Not sure if that is something also true in numismatics or not, as I am not a coin collector.