Rookie Rolodex

[Roussy35]

Hi there!

Not sure if this is where this topic belongs. Mods please feel free to move if necessary.

I was going over in my head whether or not having a rookie rolodex would be a good thing for collectors. Especially rookie collectors. I was thinking of building a database of every player to play at least 1 second in the NHL and break it down by team. Maybe take it as far as adding all of their RC's to the list as well. It would only be for players you have actually played in the league, so there would be no fillers. Like back up goalies who never played.

Any thoughts? What would you like to see in a database like that?

Is there anything out there like that now?

Thanks!

Chris

[30ranfordfan]

There's already lots of DBs of cards out there. Beckett, hockeydb, and the Inventory Manager here are three great examples.

It's just a matter of attributes and filters.

If a list of all time RCs is something I want, clicking inventory manager, checking of 'RC', selecting 'Hockey' and hitting "search" and I get that list instantly.

[Roussy35]

True but I find sometimes that they are not accurate, especially when you try getting down to the team level. Plus this database would be only players to actually play in the league.

[30ranfordfan]

Okay, you have a fair point there.... but I'm just wondering what exactly you're proposing to build (and I guess wonder how you're going to build it).


You list every player to have ever been in the league, and what team he was on in his first season, and what his rookie cards are? Or do you mean what team he's pictured in on his rookie cards?

I'm going to name a few players (and their cards) off the top of my head... just wondering how you want to handle this kind of stuff:

Jason Soules. 1990-91 Upper Deck. Clearly pictured as an Edmonton Oiler, never played in the league though. Is he in your list?
Scott Neidermayer. 1990-91 Upper Deck. Is pictured with Team Canada, but that's his rookie card. Are you including it?
Damien Brunner. Lots from 2013-14. Last year (his Rookie Season) he was a Red Wing. This Year he was a devil. His early season RCs show him as a wing... the later season ones as a devil. Do you tag him as a Red Wing, Devil, or both? Or is it one or the other, depending on which team it shows him as???


This brings me back to "how are you going to build it?". Are you going to start with a list of all players to have played in the league, and then go lookup what their rookie card is? That would be a massive undertaking, which is why I ask.

[Roussy35]

I have already actually started building it. I have each player listed with the team they broke into the league with and the year. I was thinking about adding the RC's to the list with no actual team denomination with them at all. That way there is no confusion - ie - Scott Niedermayer Team Canada.

Say you are a Devils fan, you can just look up the Devils and he's on the list, with all of his RC's

I would not include Jason Soules or anyone like that because they never actually played in the league. So there would be no fillers, just like the Kelly Guard's of the world.....backup goaltender, never actually played in the league.

However there may be players on the list that don't even have RC's.

This is kind of what I have so far (in it's rough stages):




As you can see I also have tags for the player if they got traded in their rookie year. I also have a tag if they debuted in the playoffs first.

I just thought this might be an idea for team/RC collectors.

[Roussy35]

aa

[30ranfordfan]

Okay, I'm following.....

So, list of all players to have been in the league, who they played their first game for, and what their RCs are?

It's an interesting idea, but that leaves me with one more really important question: Who is going to use it? (Not trying to be insulting here, just trying to be realistic).

You could put together a database like, do all the research / double checking / data entry yourself... put a lot of work into it, and stick it up online.... but is anyone going to use it over Beckett? I don't pretend to know the answer. If you do a good job of making the site easy to find, you might, because I think the specific info you're talking about is something that people would be interested in.... in that they want to know who the New Jersey Devils had for rookies in 1998 or the Edmonton Oilers had in 2003.


It seems to me though, that you'd really be focusing on a specific style of team collecting (granted, I can't see the pic - so maybe I'm misunderstanding a bit??). You seem to only want to include a list of players who have been in at least one game, and what team they played for at the time.

The traded during rookie season thing is an interesting one too. Even more fun... what do you do with Steve Pinizzotto. Debuted last year for Vancouver, had 'Canucks' cards early in the season.... but he signed as a FA with Florida over the summer, so he started getting cards that said 'Florida Panthers' on them, but was still pictured as a Canuck. Then FLA traded him to Edmonton during the season (where he did play). Not all cards out yet, so hard to say if he'll be in another set or not (I suspect not) but he could potentially have cards with three different teams this year, all of which are RCs :) (I work with large data sets on a regular basis, looking for the freak occurrences is something I do regularly, lol)


Anyway, I go back to the fact that it's very specific. IMO - If you're trying to build up a user base, you'd be better off cataloging all Rookie Cards, regardless of them playing in the NHL or not. Then "Played at least 1 game" could be a filter to add. The team they played their first game for another filter, the team they're pictured with another, and teams they played for (and which season) another. If you're looking to get lots of traffic, I think you'd have to go with something like that.....

I say that, because I collect Rookies from my favorite team (Edmonton) but your list would have been no help to me when I first started putting my own (just Oilers) list together. I didn't want a RC from all guys that had RCs as Oilers, I wanted a Rookie Card from everyone to have got into game action with the Oilers. Yeah, I need Taylor Hall whose on the team still.... I need Sam Gagner whose been traded away after drafting him.... but I also need the likes of Andrew Ferrence or Teddy Purcell.

I've also kept RCs of anyone who fits these categories:

1. Pictured as an Oiler, but didn't actually play for them (Soules is only one example, there are others)
2. First Round Pick as an Oilers, but never played for them (there's been lots over the years)


I only bring this up, to illustrate that we all collect in slightly different ways. Nobody is right, nobody is wrong. Collect what you like. It's just that if you want to build something that will actually get used by a lot of people, you need to make it as general as possible.

[Roussy35]

The pic is actually showing up! Finally......haha

So this database came to mind mainly for my own personal use, as I want to try and get 1 RC (mainly YG's, unless the don't have one obviously) from every player to play in the NHL. Probably an unrealistic goal but fun nonetheless.

The traded tag only goes with a player if they were traded in their debuted season. So in Pinizzotto's case, he debuted in 2012-13 with Vancouver, so technically his rookie season was last year and his RC's came out this year. So that would be a matter of preference for the collector. Do you want to collect all of his RC's just because he played for the Canucks? Or do you want just the cards that picture him in a Canucks jersey? It wouldn't matter when his RC's came out.

We all definitely all collect in different ways and this was just a way for me to work on this collection.

For my personal use I was going to do the research for all the players and only list one of the RC's that I would want to get, obviously the YG if they have one, since that would be my focus. If the player had multiple and I didn't care what card I got I would just list multiple and search for one.

I'm not sure I thought about posting on the web. I was just going to share with other collector's if they wanted. Maybe for a small fee, a RC or something :)

Interesting feedback, makes me think. I appreciate it!