I got into a disagreement with an eBay seller (who is somewhat respected in the older game used bat collecting community) over his Dwight Evans rookie bat on eBay. In 1972-1973, Evans wore the number 40, and there are photos from Topps that clearly show him holding a bat with 40 written on the knob. I contend that a true rookie bat would possess characteristics (in this case, the 40 on the knob) that could only be applied to a player's rookie eligible seasons. Since Evans started wearing 24 in 1973, it's possible that he would have rookie bats with 24 on the ends, but without a definitive methodology of dating the bat to 1973, it seems such a bat (1973-1975 labeling) would need to be deemed as a rookie era bat.

Seller said that I'm wrong, and a 1973-1975 bat would be a rookie bat. Is this accurate?