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Originally Posted by Cross-Over
I didn't see this thread back on the 10th, but real cool man. Nice collection you got there.
I am not trying to be particular, but while reading all your descriptions, some of the years and rookie status didn't seem to match up. For example, Stockton's rookie year was 84-85, but his card is 88-89. Same thing with Dominique, 82-83 was his rookie year, but his card is 86-87.
Perhaps a typo? Maybe another reason (both rookie cards were 4 years after)?
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You are correct about Stockton and Dominique's rookie seasons, but the rough definition of a rookie card is the first card printed of a specific player. The definition has recently expanded to the first card printed of a specific player by an accepted professional manufacturer (So companies like SAGE and HIT, who overproduce their cards and only consist of rookies, don't lower the value of rookie cards).
Fleer didn't start producing basketball cards until the 1986-87 season, which is why Dominique's rookie card is '86-'87. For some reason, they didn't make any cards of John Stockton until '88-'89, so his card from that year is his rookie card. Cards from older years were all produced by Bowman and Topps (Bowman is now owned by Topps). Bowman only had one year with basketball, which was 1948 (the set with George Mikan's RC, which has a Beckett Value of $2,500.00!). After that, Topps started up in '57-'58 (Earl Lloyd was a rookie in 1950, but his rookie card is from this set). Their next season wasn't until '61-'62, and after that it was '69-'70 (which is why Havlicek, who was drafted in 1962, has a rookie card from that season).
It's all confusing until you look at the chronology of set production. Fleer was the company that started the ongoing, year-by-year production of basketball cards, while Topps was busy with baseball. Hoops didn't start until '89-'90, and Skybox didn't start until '90-'91. Both companies are now owned by Fleer. Upper Deck, which is the current industry standard for basketball (primarily because LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Kevin Garnett can only sign autographs for them due to lucrative contracts) didn't start producing basketball cards until '91-'92.
One more tidbit: Topps' last year in basketball was 1981-82, until they started back up again in 1992-93 after an 11 year hiatus in basketball.