The World Wide Gum is leading the way, however, the Zeenut is putting up a big fight! It's pretty interesting because a lot of you folks like minor league cards.
Now regarding the Canadian issues, I want you guys to look at it this way: we all know that the 1951 Parkhurst Gordie Howe is his rookie (and it's a very ugly card too). However, this card was only available in Canada. The 52' and 53' Parkies were only sold in Canada too. Howe's first card sold in America was from the 54' Topps series, I believe. Now since the 51' Parkie Howe is a foreign issue, then can we argue that it's not his rookie? The same goes for all the other popular hockey rookies that were not sold in the States, such as the O-Pee-Chee Gretzky, Topps Bobby Orr, etc.
I also agree with many of you that the 38' Goudey DiMaggio is an ugly card. Now I'm not really bothered by the set design; what I can't stand looking at is DiMaggio's facial expression. It just looks like he is on a toilet seat.
I still have Joe Orlando's
Top 200 Sportscards in the Hobby book and on page 102 he calls the 38' Goudey DiMaggio his "official rookie card." However, this book came out long time ago and a lot has changed since then.