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For the Walt Disney Pictures film about Jim Morris, see The Rookie (2002 movie). For the earlier, unrelated Clint Eastwood film, see The Rookie (1990 movie). For the professional poker player, see Brian "Rookie" Wilson. See also Rookies (disambiguation).

Rookie is a term for a person who is in his or her 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. rookie cop, rookie pilot, as a synonym for recruit), or occasionally to a freshman (especially in athletic teams).

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

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, a player has to have had fewer than 130 at bats or 50 innings pitched 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 their previous seasons.

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 involves taping players to a goalpost and dousing them with ice water, Gatorade, and other substances.^[1]

[edit] Etymology

Look up rookie in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The Oxford English Dictionary 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'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.^[2]. Although undocumented, it is very likely that it derives from the Irish Gaelic word "rúcach", vocative "a rúcaigh!" (pronounced "rookie"). In the nineteenth century many New York policemen were Irish.

[edit] See also

• Rookie of the Year (award)

[edit] References

1. ^ NOTEBOOK: Panthers break camp - CarolinaGrowl.com
2. ^ John Simpson and Edmund Weiner (editors): Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, Clarendon Press, 1989, ISBN 0-19-861186-2.