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Posted By: davidcycleback

People can collect what they want, but in general a rookie card has to be of the player as a Major Leaguer. A rookie is popularly considered to be a player in the first year in the Major Leagues, and a high schooler or second year minor leaguer would not be considered a rookie. Another applicable definition is that a rookie card (rookie + card) is the first card of the player in the Majors. Some collectors say some Hall of Famers have no rookie cards, as there is no card from their rookie year. Others say that if the first Major League card comes in the player's third year in the bigs, that is his rookie card.

In the end, 'rookie card' is just a label-- but, in general, minor leaguers and college players are not called rookies. I understand that 'rookie' has two meanings that don't always meet-- rookie card and rookie player--, but 'rookie card' is supposed to be about the player being a rookie.

The hobby pick of the label 'rookie card,' instead of 'first card' or 'first edition,' was intentional. This is illustrated by many rookie card collectors will readily acknowledge that there are cards made before what they consider a player's rookie card. They will say 'rookie card' and 'first card' are different things, and they collect rookie cards. If you placed a 1984 Topps John Elway NFL card next to his 1982 TMCA Minor League baseball card and asked them to say which was his rookie card, they would likely pick the Topps card even when aware it was two years after the other card. If instead you had asked which card came first, they would pick the TMCA card.