As I recall the rookie craze really took off around 1980, give or take a year or so when Beckett and Eckes put out their annual guide, followed shortly thereafter by the monthly magazine.
Pete Rose was the hot card for several years, many in fact were counterfeited at the time.
I was in my teens at the time, and we started scouring our collections for rookies. I remember finding a 71 Topps George Foster in the Giants section of my shoebox and thinking I would pay for college off that card. Also, the 81 Fleer Fernand Valenzuela was a rookie card with an uncorrected error that was widely hyped at the time.
When I was collecting as a kid, we generally collected our favorite team first, rather than the star players. I would have gladly traded Ernie Banks, Billy Williams or other Cub stars for Cardinal common players if I did not have them.
"You've got Jerry DaVanon and Vic Davalillo? I'll give you this Ron Santo card for them".
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