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Posted By: Jay Miller

Since everyone is throwing in their two cents I'll do the same. My view is that since this is a hobby for each individual's enjoyment there is no reason to have a carved in stone definition of anything. If someone wants to call a player's first card his rookie---great. If someone else wants to call his first major league card his rookie card---also great. Personally, in the case of Ruth, I would rather have the Baltimore News card than the M101-5.
An interesting question relating to rookie cards is how do you handle Old Judge rookies. If someone wanted to make the definition of a rookie as the player's first major league card then if a player had Old Judge cards issued in 1887, 1888 and 1889(and these were his first cards) then only his 1887 card would be his rookie card. This is the case because each year of Old Judge cards(two different issues in 1888) were seperate and distinct. Saying that 1887 Old Judge cards are the same as 1889 cards is no different from saying that 1984 Topps are the same as 1986 Topps. For simplicity catalog makers have aggregated all Old Judge as one group, but they clearly are not. Therefore, what is the rookie card of Dan Brouthers? Answer--his 1887 Old Judge card(not any other Old Judge card).