Rookie

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Rookie

Rookie is a term

Terminology

Terminology is the study of terms and their use. Terms are words and compound words that are used in specific contexts. Not to be confused with "terms" in colloquial usages, the shortened form of technical terms which are defined within a Academic discipline or speciality field....
for a person who is in their first year of play of their sport and has little or no professional experience. The term also has the more general meaning of anyone new to a profession, training or activity (e.g.

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Encyclopedia

Rookie is a term

Terminology

Recruit

Recruit can refer to:* a recently enlisted member of a military or paramilitary corps, still in training, as in :** Army recruit** Seaman Recruit...
), or occasionally to a freshman

Freshman

A freshman is a first-year student in an educational institution. The term first year can also be used as a noun, to describe the students themselves ....
(especially in athletic teams).

Rookies (in the sporting sense) can be submitted to hazing

Hazing

File:Bizutage pilote gazelle.jpgHazing is a ritualistic test and a task involving harassment, abuse or humiliation used as a way of initiation a person into a gang, club, military organization or other group....
as a pledge

Pledge

A pledge is an oath. Pledge or The pledge may also refer to:* Pledge of Allegiance, used in the United States* The "Teetotal Pledge" or "The Pledge", of abstinence from alcohol, taken by many Catholics in the 19th and 20th centuries, in a movement started by Theobald Mathew in Ireland in 1838....
in some clubs.

The term rookie has been modified in some online communities and is often referred to as simply rook, as a synonym for newbie

Newbie

Newbie is a slang term for a newcomer to online gaming or an Internet activity. It can also be used for any other activity in whose context a somewhat clueless newcomer could exist....
.

In some sports there are traditions in which rookies must do things or tricks are played on them. Some examples in baseball include players having to dress up in strange costumes, or getting hit in the face with a cream pie; a traditional rookie "hazing" procedure in American football

American football

American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive team sport known for mixing strategy with physical play....
involves taping players to a goalpost and dousing them with ice water, Gatorade

Gatorade

Gatorade is a brand of flavored non-carbonation sports drinks manufactured by the Quaker Oats Company, now a division of PepsiCo. Intended for consumption during physically active occasions, Gatorade beverages are formulated to rehydrate and replenish fluid, carbohydrates and electrolytes....
, and other substances.

Generally, a safe definition of rookie card is any trading card manufactured prior to or during an athlete's rookie year. This can come in a variety of formats including packs, boxes, sets, magazines, and more.

In NASCAR, rookies are symbolized by a yellow stripe on the rear bumper of the car that is placed on both sides of the name or symbol of the manufacturer of the car.

To qualify as a rookie in Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of play in American professional baseball. Specifically, Major League Baseball refers to the organization that operates the National League and the American League, by means of a joint organizational structure that has developed gradually between them since 1903 ....
, a player has to have had fewer than 130 at bats

At bat

In baseball, an at bat or time at bat is used to calculate certain baseball statistics, including batting average, on base percentage, and slugging percentage....
or 50 innings pitched

Innings pitched

In baseball, innings pitched are the number of innings a pitcher has completed, measured by the number of Batter s and baserunners that are put out while the pitcher on the pitching mound in a game....
in the majors, or 45 days on the active rosters of major league clubs (excluding time on the disabled list or any time after rosters are expanded on September 1st), in previous seasons.

Etymology

The Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press , is a comprehensive dictionary of the English language. Two fully-bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989; as of December 2008 the dictionary's current editors have completed a quarter of the third edition....
states that the origins are uncertain, but that perhaps it is a corruption of the word recruit. The earliest example from the OED is from Rudyard Kipling

Rudyard Kipling

Joseph Rudyard Kipling was an English author and poet. Born in Mumbai, British India , he is best known for his works of fiction The Jungle Book , Kim , many short stories, including The Man Who Would Be King ; and his poems, including Mandalay , Gunga Din , and If? ....
's Barrack-Room Ballads (published 1892): So 'ark an' 'eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin' sore, referring to rookies in the sense of raw recruits to the British Army.

A common urban legend suggests that the term derives from the game of chess

Chess

Chess is a recreational and competitive game played between two Player . Sometimes called Western chess or international chess to distinguish it from History of chess and other chess variants, the current form of the game emerged in Southern Europe during the second half of the 15th century after evolving from similar, much older...
; the "rook

Rook (chess)

A rook is a chess piece in the strategy board game of chess. In the past the piece was called the castle, tower, marquess, rector, and comes , and non-players still often call it a "castle"....
" in chess is often the last piece to be introduced into gameplay. This would appear to be consistent with the definition of "rookie". However, there are no known citations that prove or disprove this explanation.