Need help determining value *clueless*

[Phoenix]

I guess the best analogy I can think of is a car.

You have the year (obvious), manufacturer (in hockey we have three: Upper Deck, Panini, and In the Game), the model (which would be the set name), then you can get the factory model (base card), and then there's add-ons like A/C, power windows, etc. (autographs, jersey, patch, etc.).

OK, that made sense in my head, but now it just looks confusing.

[PattyLafontaine]

Basically from about mid eighties to 2000 cards were printed like money and there was nearly and endless supply. Finally the card companies began to realize that what made cards so valuable from the earlier decades was that people threw them out or used them for their bicycles etc and as a result there were very few cards avaible not to mention that they were not made in the same quanitities as they were in the ninties.

As a result card companies were losing a lot of business because they were selling something anyone could get and it wasn't worth anything.
To combat this problem they began to release inserts which could be found in 1:250 packs or 1:7,500 packs (wide array of ranges).

They also began to release products with limited print runs meaning they began to issue base sets with inserts where only 500 of that insert was produced. So of course the insert became more valauble becuase there were only 500 in existance.

The card companies also began to insert game used memoralbilia and add autographs.

What's also changed is that people used to be able to deliniate between cards by the company, but the companies also realized they could release different products. So what used to be just be a one release and maybe an update release became 20 different releases. The variance in releases allowed for cards to be released at different times, products to vary in price, and that allowed the card companies to cater to all sorts of collectors. It also created more interest and opportunity becuase if you didn't get the 1 of 1 card of player x in one brand there was still an opportunity in another.

Industry has increased the # of card companies but has also dramtically improved the product choices.

That's the big draw is the ability to open a box and get a unqiue card that no one else has ... and for the higher end products (ITG ultimate and The Cup) everything is limited in print meaning that even the base cards are not easy to get ahold of ...

[30ranfordfan]

Yes, No, Maybe?

Now for a serious answer :)

"Rookie Cards will often say 'Rookie' on them, but they are not required to, nor does the word 'Rookie' make it a rookie card".

A rookie card, to put it into simplest terms, is the first card of a player made by a manufacturer, as part of any particular NHL licensed release. Upper Deck and Panini will both have 11 releases this year, and most of the bigger name rookies this season will have a card in each of them. (The obvious exception would be Upper Deck Series 1 & Series 2 - players will only have a card in one release or the other).

So while Upper Deck makes Victory, OPC, Upper Deck Series 1, Black Diamond, Artifacts, etc.... any card of Taylor Hall from each of those releases is considered to be a rookie card.

But the word 'Rookie' being on the card doesn't make is so. Neither does the lack of the word 'Rookie' mean that it is not a rookie card. In this era of hockey card, normally that would be true. All the rookie cards are typically part of a rookie subset, the cards look different than the rest of the base set. Sometimes though, that doesn't happen. One really obvious one that sticks out is from 2005-06 Upper Deck.

Both Series 1 and Series 2 have 49 'Young Guns' Rookie cards (plus a checklist for each Series). They all have this design:



They are all Rookie cards too. No manufacturer had made a licensed NHL card of any of these players before, so any cards made of them in 2005-06 were considered their Rookie Cards.

In Series 2 though, this card was included as part of the base set (NOT a Young Gun)



If it had been a 'no-name' player, everyone probably would have forgotten about it, but because it's Mike Green, it's an easy example to remember.

The Mike Green was part of the Series 2 base set (cards #ed 251-450) and not part of the Series 2 Young Guns subset (451-500) but that doesn't change the fact that it's a rookie card. 2005-06 set cards are his Rookie Cards, so this one fits the bill.


There are a lot of cards from the 1990s that also make things tricky. As a general rule, the word 'Rookie' on a card then meant that the player was in his Rookie season, but this wasn't necessarily his rookie card.

Eric Lindors is a great example. Most of his cards in 1992-93 (his actual NHL Rookie season) say the word 'Rookie' on them. Take a look at this one from Fleer Ultra:



But Lindros' first card, in an NHL Licensed set was from two years earlier, when Score included him in their 1990-91 release:




This happened all through the 1990s. Manufacturers started including cards from the World Junior Championship tournament, getting players into sets years before they would ever play a game in the NHL. Upper Deck eventually started doing a 'Program of Excellence' subset, where they were using players from the Under 17 tournament, getting them into sets even earlier (I believe they had an exclusive deal with Hockey Canada on that one - the idea being that they could get rookie cards of players out a year (or more) before their competition).

Current NHL stars like Vinny Lecaviler, Joe Thornton, Roberto Luongo, Brad Richards, and Simon Gagne all fall under these types of cards. They were pictured in their Team Canada jerseys, long before they played their first NHL game.


Now.... I can't tell you the exact year, but eventually the NHL / NHLPA put a stop to this. Manufacturers are NO LONGER allowed to make a card of a player, until they have played in their first NHL game. For goalies, they just have to dress as a backup.

This doesn't mean they can't make international cards of the players - they just have to wait until they've made the NHL to include them in NHL sets. There is also nothing stopping the manufacturers from making non-NHL licensed sets (like In The Game does) and including these players there...... but because it's not an NHL set, it's not a rookie card.




Sorry for the long rant, but I'm trying my best to be clear


Easy way to find out (if you're not sure) is take a look at the SCF Inventory Manager. It has the information. You could use Beckett's website too.

Does a rookie card say Rookie Card on it? The Eric Lindros card I listed my friend says is a rookie card but I don't see anything on it that suggests so except in the details on the back about him they reference "the Flyer Rookie Sensastion"

[hedu1121]

You have been very clear and detailed, thank you so very much for your time and detailed explanation, things are much more clear now!