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Can a guy have an XRC if he didn't also eventually have an RC?  Are the two terms independent of each other, or does getting an RC make previous cards default to XRC status?

For the record, I don't care one way or the other.  I just wondered if I should delete an XRC note from a card I have of a guy who never made the majors.  I ain't here to start a fight.

Is "XRC" a term coined and used predominately by B* alone?  

I first heard the term in 2001, not sure when it was first used. I was building the 01 Fleer Futures set, which was 220 cards, and had about 40 RC's in it.  Then it came out that Fleer was putting out 10 more 2001 Fleer Futures RC cards, but not an 01 Fleer Futures RC update set.  Instead, they were inserting those 10 cards of McGwire, Ichiro, Teixara and 7 more, in the 01 Fleer Platinum Rookie edition [update or series 2 release.]  I heard the hobby calling those 10 RC cards ... "XRC"  ... I thought it meant:  "extended addition" RC.

Must be older than that.  Didn't some of the late-80s RC class (Roberto Alomar, Edgar Martinez) have XRCs?

Technically they are independent of each other. Usually, an XRC is designated for a card outside the normal production of a set. Topps Traded, Fleer Update, etc. That's a Beckett term. Cheers

One of the great features of this site is the ability to cross reference information between different sets, using the master Glossary link at the bottom of every page. There are currently 121 sets listed that use the XRC Note, with the oldest being 

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewSet.cfm/sid/9/1934-36-Batter-Up-(R318)

though it's not common prior to the 1980s.

This is just one of the reasons we try to keep the Note entries consistent.

I started seeing a lot of the XRC with the Topps traded and Fleer update sets of the 1980s.   T

I don't personally like the XRC.  The term means extended rookie card, which I believe is a card of a player that gets issued before they are technically a rookie.  Please advise if I am wrong, but if that is the case wouldn't there be a ton of these for example: Bowman and Heritage Minor cards.  

So going back to the original question I would say if a player never was to get a actual RC than that player should not get a XRC.

Just my opinion.

Trade On! 

As far as I know, "XRC" was a term invented by Beckett to indicate a Rookie Card of a player in a set that did not get distributed in normal "packs". The first usage I remember seeing for it was in both the Topps Traded & Fleer Update sets in baseball and the Star Company basketball sets of the mid-1980s (the baseball sets only being distributed in 132-card factory sets to hobby dealers and the basketball being distributed in team sets to hobby dealers - neither being available in packs).

I'm not sure why a set from the 1930s would have XRC (that seems odd). I would expect that the XRC note would apply only to cards from 1981 through about 1993 (or whenever the last factory only set was produced that contained first cards for players).

i have a Kyle Lewis card from 2017 bowman but that's not his RC...nor is the 2016 cards.  His rookie year is 2020...

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCard.cfm/sid/150780/cid/9739913/2017-Bowman---Prospects-BP125-Kyle-Lewis