Quick Look: 1990 Upper Deck Checklist #800A Black Box On Back & Mike Witt #702

Since they seldom turn up, I’m sure some collectors have yet to see this card and may still find it interesting. Though now it resides in a great, permanent collection, here are images of the only copy that I have personally held in 30 years of searching.

It is worth noting that unlike the 1990 Upper Deck Mike Witt #702, just a few copies of this card have ever been offered for sale. And while it stands to reason that if an 800 count box full of Witt cards can turn up, there may exist one full of these as well, but, to date, they remain among the most elusive junk wax era variations.

Cards You’ve Never Seen: 1993 Pacific Rob Maurer 313A Photo Error (Jose Oliva)

A ‘final frontier’ type of junk wax variation, a copy finally turned up after decades of searching. Even photos were few since its discovery. 1993 Pacific #313A is one of those upper echelon variations that have only been mentioned among enthusiasts, on every E&V wantlist, yet hardly seen. Rob Maurer’s card was originally printed with a full body photo of Rangers prospect Jose Oliva.

In late 2021, I had the pleasure of chatting with Mike Cramer over email regarding some Pacific variations and oddities and when asked about the Maurer, this is what he had to say:

“Rod Maurer variations are shown. The wrong photo was in the first printing,the correct photo card was in the second printing. As were all of the variations listed. I first print run was very small when we discovered the Mauer card and made the changes. First printing and second printing variations were both in was packs (sic)”

Pretty exciting to finally see a sample.

Quick Look: 1991 Stadium Club Jamie Quirk Variations

Here is a glimpse at all three versions of Quirk’s 1991 Stadium Club card. Interestingly, Quirk was featuring on series two packaging and promotional materials, though, I doubt many would argue that Stadium Club could’ve picked a number of better photos that this somewhat dull image.

Quirk was original printed with a 1990 Topps notation for his rookie card on back. This was changed to his correct, 1976 version. However, there exists two variants: one, printed clearly and correctly and another, printed with a 90-degree rotated “ghost” image over his corner of his rookie card image on back. This is not the result of a wet-transfer or errant ink strike, it is beneath the gloss layer and always printed in the exact same way. In fact, this version appears to be slightly more prevalent than his clean, 1976 version.

Quick Look: 1989 Score Paul Gibson #595 – Four Different Variations

For a few years in the early-mid 90s, the 1989 Score Paul Gibson card had P1, P2 and P3 notations in certain catalogs denoting three separate printings and while most are familiar with the ‘obscenity’ in the first printing of the card, few are aware of the 3rd and 4th versions that exist for this card. Similar to the 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken and Randy Johnson, Score made more than one correction attempt to cover the infielder’s arm adjusting his cup.

Here are a few images showing all four types. In the first image, from left to right, you will see the first, uncorrected version followed by the commonly found correction type, then a rarer type of whiteout/correction with a yellow shape where the player’s arm would be and, lastly, the rarest type of correction without the yellow “ghost” of the arm.

Next is an image showing a closer image of the four types:

And last, a close up of just the two rarer correction types, P3 and P4 (or 595c and 595d):

1990 Pro Set Dexter Manley “NEVER released”

I keep a vast archive of old hobby publications, especially those ca. 1989-1993, the junkiest of the junk wax era. Typically I only keep pertinent and “lost” information such as old company news releases, old letters from collectors reporting their unusual findings, old product info/ads and articles outlining error and variation items of this period. Recently, I came across an advertisement by a company called 49er Headquarters, who, by 1993, seemed to be holding a decent amount of rare and/or hard to find Pro Set items: 1989 promos, 10-up sheets of Dickerson 338, Lombardi Holos and…Dexter Manley substance abuse error cards. For $124.99!

While it is just their word, in their ad blurb, I find it interesting (and likely) that they mention that the Manley substance abuse card was never released. Personally, I do not know one collector who can confirm pulling one out of sealed Final Update sets. Same for the No Bio cards. The only confirmed “source” of the Manley errors was a 10-up sheet found in a trash pile, revealed by a commenter here under the 1990 Pro Set rarities post (which, fyi, they had cut up and sold on ebay). I’m interested in hearing from collectors on this card and if anyone has any solid info to counter the ad’s claim. I will say, if true, it is very disappointing to me as I’ve opened hundreds of these sets over the years, even recently at their very-inflated current price point.

Card You’ve Never Seen: 2002 Topps Mark Loretta Corrected Photo

Several players in the 2002 Topps set were affected by odd, almost vintage-Topps style mistakes: Albert Pujols, Craig Counsell and Mark Loretta had other players’ photos appear on their cards; Craig Wilson, John Vander Wal and Timo Perez had bizarre (and unrealistic) individual feats hidden in their stats on back. And while most collectors don’t believe that Albert Pujols’ card famously depicting Placido Polonco on back was ever corrected for the base issue set (read, not-HTA or Limited Edition parallel sets), there exists scattered evidence through the years that corrected copies do exist but in extremely limited quantities. To date, I have personally only heard of two. Allegedly these cards were corrected very late in last run of factory sets.

Up until recently, Loretta’s card, picturing Curtis Leskanic on front, has been understood to be a classic Topps UER (uncorrected error), documented in the annual ‘big books’ as such but clearly that is not the case. As with the Pujols (and to a lesser degree, Craig Counsell), this correction was only a rumor for the last twenty years. Here is a look at the likely very rare and very late correction to Mark Loretta’s card:

And while not quite junk wax by most collector’s standards, it is an otherwise noteworthy addition to Topps master sets as one of the last, true, unintentional variations produced by Topps. It raises another question: how many exist out there and how many are still trapped in sealed factory sets, almost certainly fused with the cards surrounding it?

Quick Look: 1991 Topps Desert Storm #186 Variation

Another seemingly rare variation to turn up from the Topps Desert Storm set, this time from the relatively variation-light series three. I reached out to the few remaining DS master set collectors that I know for info such as origin source and potential ownership but all denied knowing anything about it.

Previously sold on COMC, a copy of card #186 King Fahd, showing his named spelled incorrectly on front. Some collector out there is the lucky recipient of a King Faht.

1990 Pro Set Jim Morrissey #754 – Does It Exist?

An interesting find in the March 1991 issues of Beckett Football Card Magazine. In their first listing for the 1990 Pro Set Final Update set, they show card #754 as Jim Morrissey. As many already know, that card belongs to Steve Tasker (which can also be found in two variations) of the Buffalo Bills. Interestingly, the card of Chicago Bears player fits correctly in Pro Set’s 1990 team order, right between a Buffalo Bills player (James Lofton #753) and a Cleveland Browns “player” (Jim Shofner CO #755). Since Beckett and other hobby publications received preliminary checklist info from the companies, it is safe to assume that they had originally planned on Morrissey’s inclusion.

Was this card produced? Has anyone seen a copy? What happened to cause the switch out to Tasker? My guess? It’s out there. Someone has an unfinished, blank back type of proof for this card. If anyone has any info or photos to add to this mystery, please reply in the comments.

Quick Look: 1990 Donruss Grand Slammers Red Star Error (Todd Benzinger)

The first and only example, until recently, that I had seen of this variation turned up in 2015 on eBay. I can’t recall if I found it completed or was outbid but I have been trying to track down this variation since. Not on any of the dozens of want lists or master set checklists sent to me by E&V collectors, this elusive variation, so far, has only shown up on Todd Benzinger’s card. A few 1990 Donruss experts have claimed that other cards in the Grand Slammers set can be found with the red star on front too, however, I have yet to confirm this.

If you have photos of any other 1990 Grand Slammers with a red star on front, please send to: jacksoncoupage@yahoo.com and I will update this post with a credit.

Quick Look: 1990 Pro Set Paul Gruber #310A Missing Name & Number On Back

Recently unearthed the one and only image I have of this card. Another Pro Set collector told me that there was a recent-ish eBay sale for this extremely scarce printing variation but somehow I didn’t catch it in any of my searches. This is quite possibly the last, super-scarce 1990 Pro Set issue that can be found in packs. At this point, aside from Dexter Manley in the Final Update sets, most of the big ones came directly from the company in promotional or inter-company gift form.