General Forum

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/80/cid/20491/1978-Topps-13-Art-Howe

This card is Howe's 5th year in the majors, with a career # of AB of 662. What makes it a Rookie Card? He doesn't seem to be an MLB Rookie. 

RC designation isn't based on the professional rookie status, which yes, Howe had exceeded at that point. This was his first card released in an official product and that is what qualifies it as a RC. 

Ok, the designation 'RC' does not apply to the player, but to the fact that it's the first time that player has appeared in a release, in this case Topps. I just always assumed that it meant it was the player's rookie season.

Correct, but it's also not that straight forward as the RC designation on cards has changed over the years.  I beleive the current method is that it must be a MLB, regular release set.  For example, Bowman releases of minorleague players do not count as rookie cards, but if they get a card in the flagship set, in an MLB uniform,it is a rookie card.  

There's a period in the early 2000s I belive where they swithced to this process and so many players don't have a MLB rookie card because the RC designation was used in their minor league products. 

Other's may be more in the know on this.

This has become a MUCH more complicated system since the vintage era. In the pre-1980 era, a Rookie or RC was the first card of a player. Stan Musial's RC was WAY after his first year in the MLB as he refused to sign a deal with Bowman or Topps in the beginning. Then he went into the military for a couple of years during WWII. And he still didn't sign a deal to be on a card until the late 1940's. The MLBPA changed the rules a little bit as it allowed card makers to use images of anyone who was part of the union. Then in the 1980's, the Traded and Update sets became a product that you could originally only get as a complete set. These included cards of new players and those RC's became known as XRC's (extended rookie cards). The line was drastically blurred in the 1990's and eventually the MLB stepped in to stop the RC "tag" on cards. For example: Manny Ramirez has RC's in 1992 and Jeter in 1993, but their real RC's by today's terms should be a couple of years later for each player. There are so many star players that also fall into that category in the 90's (Jim Thome, Jim Edmonds, Scott Rolen, Billy Wagner, and several others I can't think of right now). Bowman is now stuck with the "1st Bowman Card" moniker/logo for any non-MLB players (and all the more reason I avoid everything Bowman now). Topps also doesn't put the "ROOKIE CARD" logo on a card of anyone who hasn't played in the Majors yet. But Bowman is their work-around to release cards of people who haven't gotten to MLB yet. Sadly, Topps exploits that RC logo on every parallel that makes the idiots think they actually have a RC when it is just a parallel of the RC. Panini does it too. No matter who prints it, a parallel is NOT a Rookie Card!

Is this card an xrc because it's not a base set? I bought it because I thought it was cool it was his first card even if 100 years late.

You'll be able to identify them rather easily because the top loader will have "ROOKIE CARD" stamped on it.

I don't know who tagged that card as an XRC but it IS a base set card. I personally don't know what to call that specific card. I wouldn't call it an XRC at all, but I also wouldn't call it a RC. A first card of someone long after their playing days is kind of a gray area to me, especially when they are deceased before the card is made.

I disagree on parallels. I know that's how this site treats them but they are literally called parallels which would mean they are in line with the base rookie (side by side if you will) and not "after" the rookie card. It's all personal preference though because there is no one governing body that dictates what a "rookie" card is.

It's the grumpy old man Monday for me. I miss the good old days when I first started collecting where there wasn't a rush to beat everyone to the market in producing a rookie card. When I started collecting for the most part you could tell a rookie card by looking at the back and see one year of professional stats. Of course you would have a fair amount of exceptions because some players may have played in multiple seasons before they had their first card printed. I still have a hard time collecting cards of my favorite team when the uniform they are wearing is from college or high school. I want the players from my favorite teams to be wearing the teams' uniform and I want to see a stat line that includes their pro stats not high school or college. OK, done with my grumpy old man Monday. Enjoy your week.