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These threads regarding the identification of pre-war rookie cards (HOF’ers or non) always go this same route, that’s why the hobby does not have a clearly defined answer for each player and, thus, pre-war rookie cards do not command the same premium as post-war rookie cards when compared to the player’s subsequent cards. My previous post here explains all of the parameters that I use, which is just as important as the ultimate answer as to which pre-war card(s) is/are the rookie cards. To me, it’s quite simple when keeping three things in mind:

1. Go into this endeavor looking for the correct answer, not with the preconceived notion that everyone is never going to be in agreement on this subject.
2. An item can be a “Rookie” without being a “Rookie Card” in the cases where the item does not meet the definition of a card.
3. An item can be a “Pre-Rookie” without being a “Rookie Card” when that item pre-dates the players Major League experience.

Thus, what you have left over after taking all three of these things into consideration is that player’s “Rookie Card(s)”. I will leave off here with one final note, once you stray away from the categories of players and managers and delve into other areas such as Negro Leaguers, Executives/Pioneers and even Umpires, a lot of grey areas begin to arise as baseball cards were traditionally designed to portray players and managers, not necessarily those other areas of our National Pastime. There are “Rookie Card” answers for those other individuals as well but parameters may be oftentimes “stretched” in order to come up with them.