O/T The concept of a non-sports "rookie card"

[wdmullins]

Elijah Wood's first card (one of the two kids playing the video game).

[Exhibitman]

Originally Posted by Peter_Spaeth

Found a major grail. Cost me next to nothing. 1952 promo card of Hank Williams, his only "card" issued during his lifetime to the best of my knowledge.

Looks like a card to me. Congrats.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Thanks Adam. The only other vintage Hank card I know of is this (criminally undergraded, it's pristine) 1965 Heather Country Music, but it's long long after his death.

[Peter_Spaeth]

1930s postcard of a very young John Wayne

[Leon]

This was moved from another section so a few more eyes can see it. Neat cards shown that a lot of us can relate to whether we collect non-sports or not.
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[Snowman]

I've been told that my 1899 Stollwerck Leonardo Da Vinci is his "Rookie Card" lol. Feels like a good excuse to post a picture of it.

[h2oya311]

I think the term “rookie” has honestly just supplanted the word “earliest” for all facets of card collecting. I’m fine with it. And I’ve started to dabble in the non-sports “rookie” collecting thing as well, but am way behind Peter with respect to this niche and am not as stringent with the “rules”.

As for Michel Jackson, wouldn’t his 1969 Victoria Vedetten Parade pre-date the 1972 issue from the first post??

[Peter_Spaeth]

That Jackson is from 1973. Victoria Vedetten Parade were issued in four series from 1965 to 1973 and PSA just ignores that and calls them all 1969 which has led to people mislabeling them. This is from the last series. I have this on good authority from the world's leading music card collector and from people in Europe.

[oldjudge]

I have started a collection of non-sport prookies. I have a feeling it will be quite small.

[Snapolit1]

I think the term “rookie”’ is absurd in this context.

Hypothetically a guy performs on stage or screen for a dozen years and then ends for the first time on a card or similar item …. That ain’t a rookie anything. It’s a first something.

If Joe Biden or Willie Nelson ended up on a card this year for the first time, would someone with a straight face claim that as a “rookie” something?

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Originally Posted by Snapolit1

I think the term “rookie”’ is absurd in this context.

Hypothetically a guy performs on stage or screen for a dozen years and then ends for the first time on a card or similar item …. That ain’t a rookie anything. It’s a first something.

Exactly. This term is infuriating when applied to non-athletes who don't have rookie seasons. It's used in an attempt to drive up hype and inflate prices by introducing such cards to sports-based collectors as "RCs".

Of course, this will lead to somebody asking how this then applies to executives and other non-playing personnel who may have cards issued as part of sports sets. To me, that's a bit of a grey area, but hey, they are involved in the sport in some way.

I'm thinking that perhaps The Simpsons came up with this idea over 30 years ago. "A Methuselah rookie card!"

For musicians, should their RC have to be released around the same time as their debut album or first hit? Should I have to pay a premium for a A Taste of Honey card that was issued pre-Boogie Oogie Oogie?

Now, steer me to the Captain and Tenille RCs and Dion DiMucci superrefractors!

[BillyCoxDodgers3B]

Love the facsimile autograph in modern script.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Don't people call 50-51 Toleteros Josh Gibson (issued after he died) his rookie card? There are certainly a number of first football cards issued years after the player's rookie season that are commonly called RCs.