Newbie RC Questions

[223]

Hi fellas. Have a few questions about baseball RC's. I've typically been a football collector and only dabbled a bit with baseball in the past but find myself more interested in collecting it now. A couple things and examples.

Rookie Cards: In football it's pretty cut and dry which card is a rookie card. The year he's drafted. I'm finding that isn't the case with baseball. Some examples..

Freddie Freeman- He has a 2011 Topps as well as a Heritage. They both have the nifty "rookie card" emblem on them but a search of ebay shows he has previous years. From what I see, it appears his 2007's are the most expensive so I'm assuming those are his first cards. Soooo are those considered TRUE RC's? If so, why does Topps have the "RC" emblem on both Topps and Heritage? Would those be his first regular Topps cards?

Same with Joey Votto. He has 2008 Topps cards that say "RC" on them but he has 2002 Bowman's which are again, more expensive.

Most Reds players are like this and I assume everyone else is too.

I hate to bring Bryce Harper into this because he seems to have taken over the boards, but what gives? Are his USA cards his TRUE RC or is it the 2011 Bowmans that everyone wants?

Long story short, what is/isn't considered a true RC? Very confusing coming from football to baseball.

[bigfrank]

Originally Posted by 223

Hi fellas. Have a few questions about baseball RC's. I've typically been a football collector and only dabbled a bit with baseball in the past but find myself more interested in collecting it now. A couple things and examples.

Rookie Cards: In football it's pretty cut and dry which card is a rookie card. The year he's drafted. I'm finding that isn't the case with baseball. Some examples..

Freddie Freeman- He has a 2011 Topps as well as a Heritage. They both have the nifty "rookie card" emblem on them but a search of ebay shows he has previous years. From what I see, it appears his 2007's are the most expensive so I'm assuming those are his first cards. Soooo are those considered TRUE RC's? If so, why does Topps have the "RC" emblem on both Topps and Heritage? Would those be his first regular Topps cards?

Same with Joey Votto. He has 2008 Topps cards that say "RC" on them but he has 2002 Bowman's which are again, more expensive.

Most Reds players are like this and I assume everyone else is too.

I hate to bring Bryce Harper into this because he seems to have taken over the boards, but what gives? Are his USA cards his TRUE RC or is it the 2011 Bowmans that everyone wants?

Long story short, what is/isn't considered a true RC? Very confusing coming from football to baseball.

Usually the "true" RC is the first card of the player when he arrives in the bigs.