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kcbrez
Posts: 16
Joined: Jun 2023
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 7:58 AM | |
Returning to the hobby after decades. Thanks for your patience and your responses in advance. Two questions:
- What makes a card a rookie card? I believe there are certain generally agreed upon requirements for a card to get the RC designation.
- With a card such as this LeBron James card, why do I see it listed with the RC sometimes and sometimes without it? Are there disagreements over what constitutes a rookie card?
Again, thank you so much, everyone!
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tcdbkrn
Posts: 584
Joined: Aug 2020
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 8:19 AM | |
The general rule for this site is, "First cards in major releases get 'RC' designation." A little more detail is provided in the FAQ.
Usage of "Rookie/RC" has been overdone the last few years with all of the parallels, inserts, etc.
You can ask this question to 10 people and get 10 different answers.
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vrooomed
Posts: 14,247
Joined: Dec 2012
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 8:34 AM | |
RE: LeBron card - His basketball RCs are in the 2003-04 season. The card you point out is a 2004 baseball card that is part of an insert set. The card is not part of a base set, it was released in a sport not associated with the athlete in a season after the RCs were released.
I don't think any actual hobby outlet would call that a RC.
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-- Dan -- Note: Please see my profile for more info regarding trading (section updated 10/25/2023). I have added a large portion of my inventory to the site, and currently have trading turned off (details are in my profile). I have (finally) unearthed my 2 very large boxes of Star Company minor league sets and they are available (email for details).
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kcbrez
Posts: 16
Joined: Jun 2023
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 9:42 AM | |
Interesting. That card is a part of a baseball set as you say, and that makes sense. I was thrown off because I found it while searching under “basketball.” Thank you.
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kcbrez
Posts: 16
Joined: Jun 2023
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 9:43 AM | |
Thank you. I’ll look at the FAQ. I appreciate that.
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John Gawrylash
Posts: 46
Joined: Sep 2021
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 10:01 PM | |
It seems to me that a lot of cards that are numbered or autographed or a patch etc., are selling for a lot more than a true base rookie card these days. By definition, a rookie card would be a card from the players rookie year. It either is from the rookie year or it isn't. It's not a matter of opinion. You can't print it the following year and slap an RC on it and call it a rookie card. Who says the card must be the 1rst release of a flagship series ? Just because it isn't the 1rst card, that doesn't mean it isn't a rookie card.
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jimetal7212
Posts: 4,361
Joined: Dec 2016
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| Tuesday, August 8, 2023 10:29 PM | |
A rookie card is the first card issued for the player in a mainstream set. What year it is issued matters not. That has been hobby norm for decades now. Otherwise, by your definition, all minor league cards would qualify. And until recent times, especially when it was only Topps, not everyone was given a card during their first year, sometimes it took several before a card was issued. With so many sets being issued nowadays, it is much more likely a player has a card issued in a mainstream set during their first major league year, but still not always the case.
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When the sky is coming down When you feel like you're going to drown When you know the end is all that you've been looking for When the pain is too much to bear When there's no one who will care
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Havok211
Posts: 109
Joined: Nov 2016
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| Wednesday, August 9, 2023 4:09 AM | |
Everything jimetal said is 100% accurate, but John you were correct when you said “just because it isn’t the first card, that doesn’t mean it isn’t a rookie card” Because there are more than one major card companies you will have multiple sets with mainstream releases in a players rookie year that he will likely have cards in. So I think it’s pretty much accepted that a player is going to have multiple RC’s in a year. The inserts and parallels however are not given the RC designation, just the standard base cards.
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John Gawrylash
Posts: 46
Joined: Sep 2021
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| Wednesday, August 9, 2023 6:39 AM | |
I understand that but, here's my arguement. Manufacturer #1 prints out multiple rookie cards of "Joe the rookie" in series 1, 2, and Update in 2023. Then Manufacturer #2 comes along and misses out on "Joe the rookies" rookie year, and doesn't print a rookie card for "Joe the rookie" until 2024, but you're going to accept that as a true rookie card and not the ones that were printed in his rookie year from series 2 or Update ? What happens if that player gets traded and Manufacturer #2 failed to get a picture of "Joe the rookie" in his original uniform.That's CLEARLY a 2nd year card and therefore, not a rookie card in my eyes. If you're going to accept a 2nd year card on a different team as a rookie card, that's where you kinda have to accept a 1rst year card, on the correct team , in his rookie season and in the correct year, as a rookie card as well. For eg. there is no reason topps can't have every accounted for , after 3 releases. We all know who the rookies are for 2023. For marketing reasons, they may hold somebody back until 2024. Not good enough. They don't get to dictate what a rookie is or isn't, not a matter of opinion. That's my arguement. Doing something wrong for 30 years doesn't make it right.
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jimetal7212
Posts: 4,361
Joined: Dec 2016
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| Wednesday, August 9, 2023 6:56 AM | |
No, we do not accept that scenario (2nd year release when a legit mainstream was already released) as a RC. Just because a manufacturer slaps a RC shield on there (ahem, Panini) doesn't make it a RC. That's all just marketing and 2nd year cards are not accepted as a RC in the hobby. Now there are sellers out there more than willing to make it look like they are those. Heck, this extends to the 90s as well. Look at all the listings for Jeter's 95 and 96 cards being labeled as RCs when his RC are in 93.
Note, Topps tries hard to get the hot rookies released during their actual rookie year for, yeah, marketing reasons. However, the timing of a call-up, using baseball as an example, may prevent them from issuing a card. This would be due to the lead times needed to get a product out the door. So not that they want to hold a card back, but they can't issue in a particular release because it's already at the printer/printed.
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When the sky is coming down When you feel like you're going to drown When you know the end is all that you've been looking for When the pain is too much to bear When there's no one who will care
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