What is considered the 'True Rookie Card' (RC) of any player?
- Thread starter rciky
- Start date
taffster74
OzCardTrader
Imo, true rookie is the base rc card - not a subset, not an insert or parallel.
zephyr_213
OzCardTrader
Look at MJ for example. The 'market' determines which card becomes the so called 'true rookie'
jimboiitmac
miami pride
I would think it’s any rookie base card across the sets. So for Zion could be base Prizm, Donruss, Optic etc... Obviously the market prices them differently but they are all legitimate rookie cards... Not sure if I’d classify the Prizm rainbow as true rc myself...
Dodgydave
OzCardTrader
The strict definition of a rookie card is highly debated and certainly not all people agree on a common definition.
The most common definition of a rookie card (for basketball purposes since this is where it is posted) is a base card from the year where a player first appears in an official licensed set(s) from a product that is widely distributed in packs of random cards. (That is really clumsy and there is surely a more elaborate way of phrasing it).
Effectively, what the different parts break down to as examples are:
Base: In 2019-20 Prizm the base card is the rookie card none of the 39 different parallels are rookie cards (However, since their pricing is effectively a multiplier based off the base rookie card value the price of the parallels are still relative to the true RC even if the parallel cards are not true rookies).
Base: In 2019-20 Hoops the Tribute cards are not rookie cards. They are a subset only the initial base cards are rookie cards, hence why they carry a lower value. In theory one could be a rookie card if the player had no proceeding base card in the series.
Year: If say an undrafted (or second round or whatever) player has no cards from their rookie year then cards in their second year then whichever base cards they had in the second year releases are their rookie cards even if they do not note the card as being a RC.
Year: In the same sense if the above player had a card in one release in their first year and no others, but then second year release cards. The lone first year release is the RC, the second year ones are not, even if they did have some form of rookie card notation.
Official licensed product: Either licensed by the the NBA Players Association or NBA itself.
Widely distributed: Or a mainstream national/international release. This is one of the points of contention as the general definition for a RC does not include products that are released regionally in relation to a team's location.
Random distribution: Again a point of contention in the definition and normally rides hand in hand with the above. Sealed sets of team cards where you know what you are getting before opening do not count as having rookie cards by this definition.
The last two are why cards from 1986-87 Fleer are *generally* accepted as players rookie cards (Jordan, Olajuwon, Barkley, Stockton, Malone, Ewing, Drexler etc) rather than their earlier Star predecessors. The Star cards were distributed regionally in team sets. These cards are generally referred to as XRC — extended rookie cards. Though that is kind of a made up term (as with all terms we use really!).
Here is a link to a baseball definition which probably does a better job than I do!
http://baseballcardpedia.com/index....nition" of the,, parallel, or redemption card.
The most common definition of a rookie card (for basketball purposes since this is where it is posted) is a base card from the year where a player first appears in an official licensed set(s) from a product that is widely distributed in packs of random cards. (That is really clumsy and there is surely a more elaborate way of phrasing it).
Effectively, what the different parts break down to as examples are:
Base: In 2019-20 Prizm the base card is the rookie card none of the 39 different parallels are rookie cards (However, since their pricing is effectively a multiplier based off the base rookie card value the price of the parallels are still relative to the true RC even if the parallel cards are not true rookies).
Base: In 2019-20 Hoops the Tribute cards are not rookie cards. They are a subset only the initial base cards are rookie cards, hence why they carry a lower value. In theory one could be a rookie card if the player had no proceeding base card in the series.
Year: If say an undrafted (or second round or whatever) player has no cards from their rookie year then cards in their second year then whichever base cards they had in the second year releases are their rookie cards even if they do not note the card as being a RC.
Year: In the same sense if the above player had a card in one release in their first year and no others, but then second year release cards. The lone first year release is the RC, the second year ones are not, even if they did have some form of rookie card notation.
Official licensed product: Either licensed by the the NBA Players Association or NBA itself.
Widely distributed: Or a mainstream national/international release. This is one of the points of contention as the general definition for a RC does not include products that are released regionally in relation to a team's location.
Random distribution: Again a point of contention in the definition and normally rides hand in hand with the above. Sealed sets of team cards where you know what you are getting before opening do not count as having rookie cards by this definition.
The last two are why cards from 1986-87 Fleer are *generally* accepted as players rookie cards (Jordan, Olajuwon, Barkley, Stockton, Malone, Ewing, Drexler etc) rather than their earlier Star predecessors. The Star cards were distributed regionally in team sets. These cards are generally referred to as XRC — extended rookie cards. Though that is kind of a made up term (as with all terms we use really!).
Here is a link to a baseball definition which probably does a better job than I do!
http://baseballcardpedia.com/index....nition" of the,, parallel, or redemption card.
drobfan8
OzCardTrader
MattWasGF4L
Administrator
Similar threads
