[Apokalypse]

Hi.. Could I please ask a couple of questions without being called an idiot? Here it goes.. First: I have been a huge hockey fan my whole life but have never had much interest in buying or collecting cards...until about a year ago when a good friend passed away and left his cards to me. I began looking through them and discovered the fun and great memories of the players and games I grew up with that these cards gave me. Now I am hooked. I couldn't care less about the value of these cards but I would like to know how I can tell if the card I'm looking at is a rookie card or not... Does it have to say "Rookie" on it? I have hundreds that do.. But hundreds more that don't but only have 1 year of stats on the back.. The value isn't important to me but it might be to my son in the future when I give them to him.. And I worry that I may not be storing some potentially valuable cards correctly..

[roussy35]

First of all, welcome to the club! LOL

There is no easy way to tell. Most of the time I look them up on here using the search tool.

Happy Collecting!

[cards2trade]

Welcome to Beckett, and good luck with your new found passion in the hockey card world. Feel free to send me a PM with any card your unsure of and I'll be glad to look them up for you........

[gfel2795]

Welcome! Yes there is no easy way to tell.

During the '80s some RC cards were produced a few years late. Brett Hull, for example was a year late and some lesser guys were in the league 3-4 years before Topps/OPC noticed.

Then there was the '90s craze where it was the other way around. All these new card brands swooped in and wanted exclusive rights to a player's RC so they took pics of guys playing in World Juniors, etc and called them rookies.

It wasn't until 2001-02 I believe where this act was stopped and players needed to be in their NHL jerseys before companies (mostly Upper Deck and Pacific at this time) were producing their official rooks.

If you decide to start any kind of set-building/team-building projects please PM me. I can offer you anything I have extra for a very fair price.

[Apokalypse]

Thank you everyone! It's so refreshing to not get a smart ***** reply to an honest question in an on-line forum! I literally have thousands of cards from the 80's and 90's.. Grouping them according to brand was a task... Breaking those groups down to teams seems monumental. And at the same time... Fun. Maybe after the holidays.. I'm sure I will be checking back with you all for possible needs/wants trading.

Thank you all again!

[rczubaty]

using the search here on beckett makes it easier to differentiate what card it is that youre looking at. usually searching a Last name and Card number limits it down quite well. Welcome to collecting, check my ORg if you want to make some trades to add to your collection. Also if you are looking for any info on a certain card, brand, player etc. this board is FULL of members who will help you, discuss with you, and NEVER call you an idiot for asking a question. I cant say you will never get a smart @#$ reply, but it will be in good fun. ha ha

[bonnev659]

welcome to the club

normally it is the first year the player plays a game for a skater for goalies has dressed as a back up

if you have any questions feel free to ask them and we will try to help you!

happy collecting

[wickabee]

Welcome!
The search function on this site is your best bet for figuring out your RCs. You also might find out that some of your cards, and I'm guessing you're gonna have a few of these, say rookie but aren't actually rookie cards. Players whose rookie cards came out in 90-91 have cards from 91-92 and even later that say rookie OK them. Scott Niedermayer, Jaromir Jagr, and Martin Brodeur are some good example of this.
Any other questions just ask, there's a lot of people on this site just dying to tell you how much they know.
We like the attention.

[bguzowski16]

Welcome to Beckett and happy collecting!!!

[alstott9adams]

Love ur picture !!!!