Neilson's Chocolate Cards (V61)

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Posted By: David

I'm not a trading card collector, so I don't lose sleep over the definition of rookie card ('It's not a RC, it's a Pre-RC!'). Considering the scarcity of trading cards from the 1890s, it is resonable to make allowances for this period. If you applied the strict definition as applied to Topps cards, the Alpha Photo cards would probably not count as 'Rookie Cards.' Remeber that the definition of rookie card is made up my normal people, and not word sent from God.

As Paul Molitor, Cal Ripken, Nolan Ryan and Pete Rose appeared on multiple-player rookie cards, I don't find it objectionable to call a team card a rookie card. For me, the only real question is whether or not the 1894 Baltimore Cabinet counts as a trading card. For me, a trading card has to have a commercial and/or advertising component. Any card that has advertising on it and/or was made to be sold commercially is a trading card. If the 1894 Cabinet was a photograph commisioned for the private use of the players only (to be placed in Willie Weeler's cabinet or photo album), then in my book the cabinet is not a trading card. However, my guess (guess) is that the cabinet card, along with others, was made 'in bulk' to be sold to the general public. If this guess is correct, then it counts as a trading card.

In short, I don't object to it being called a rookie card. However, as with the pink Old Judge King Kelly discussed in another thread, the player images on this card are awfully light to justify the ultimately final high price-- though, as the price will show, that's just my opinion.