27a Orestes Destrade E*F* before copyright*
27b Orestes Destrade F* before copyright
*Some copies have been found with solid black name/team banner – printing flaw*
62a Alfredo Griffin red bar over photo in top right border
62b Alfredo Griffin red bar partially airbrushed
62c Alfredo Griffin red bar removed entirely
70a Mark McGwire thin red line through left of name banner (above M in MARK)
70b Mark McGwire thin red line removed
151a Terry McGriff background of name/team banner partially printed in white
151b Terry McGriff background of name/team banner printed entirely gray
167a Steve Searcy large gap between hat and Future Stars header
167b Steve Searcy small gap between hat and Future Stars header
212a Scott Sanderson dashed black right side border
212b Scott Sanderson solid black right side border
233a Gregg Jefferies larger gap between hat and Future Stars header
233b Gregg Jefferies smaller gap between hat and Future Stars header
303a Felix Fermin *F* before copyright on back*
303b Felix Fermin F* before copyright on back*
*Various printing variations affect the stripe color on Fermin’s sleeve. Red striped sleeves appear to be scarcest*
343a Gary Sheffield white line at bottom of photo with ghosted image “343” in bottom left corner
343b Gary Sheffield white line removed, Topps logo higher up on card
343c Gary Sheffield white line removed, Topps logo lower on card
348a Ed Hearn blue streak across face *UNCONFIRMED*
348b Ed Hearn streak removed from front
403a Kirby Puckett AS white blob over E in League on front
403b Kirby Puckett AS white blob removed from front
456a Tim Belcher white Dodgers name/team banner
456b Tim Belcher gray Dodgers name/team banner
469a Jose Bautista yellow wedge in top orange border at left
469b Jose Bautista solid orange top border
582a Mike Marshall full red blotch on sleeve
582b Mike Marshall partial red blotch on sleeve
582c Mike Marshall 1/2 red 1/2 yellow blotch on sleeve
582d Mike Marshall red blotch removed entirely
588a Luis Alicea E*F* on back
588b Luis Alicea F* on back *UNCONFIRMED*
594a Jimy Williams white area in J in Blue Jays on front
594b Jimy Williams blue area in J in Blue Jays on front
605a Bob Welch missing pitcher’s stat heading text on back
605b Bob Welch missing 1/2 of pitcher’s stat heading text on back
605c Bob Welch pitcher’s stat heading text included on back
648a Sandy Alomar Jr. large gap between hat and Future Stars header
648b Sandy Alomar Jr. smaller gap between hat and Future Stars header
662a Lou Brock TBC red line down sleeve on front
662b Lou Brock TBC red line poorly airbrushed
662c Lous Brock TBC red line completely airbrushed
665a Tony Oliva TBC missing copyright line on back
665b Tony Oliva TBC copyright line included on back
665c Tony Oliva TBC copyright line blacked-out on back
689a Stan Jefferson solid pink triangle on front, bottom left
689b Stan Jefferson partial pink, partial purple triangular shape on front, bottom left
689c Stan Jefferson mostly purple triangular shape on front, bottom left*
689d Stan Jefferson solid blue triangle on front
*Ratio of pink to purple varies*
691a Roberto Kelly white Yankees name/team banner on front
691b Roberto Kelly gray Yankees name/team banner on front
697a Franklin Stubbs white Dodgers name/team banner on front
697b Franklin Stubbs gray Dodgers name/team banner on front
711a Candy Sierra background of name/team banner partially printed in white
711b Candy Sierra background of name/team banner entirely gray
714a Joe Morgan MGR white blotch/mark over chest on front
714b Joe Morgan MGR blotch.mark over chest airbrushed grayish-blue
726a Dickie Thon yellow wedge in top orange border on front
726b Dickie Thon solid orange border on front
732a Steve Beuchele left-leaning pink mark over Topps logo on front
732b Steve Beuchele vertical pink mark over Topps logo on front
732c Steve Beuchele right-leaning pink mark over Topps logo on front
732d Steve Beuchele horizontal pink mark next to Topps logo on front
732e Steve Beuchele pink mark removed from front
741a Ken Phelps white Yankees name/team banner on front
741b Ken Phelps gray Yankees name/team banner on front
742a Mike Harkey larger gap between hat and Future Stars header
742b Mike Harkey smaller gap between hat and Future Stars header
750a Bret Saberhagen pink and black blotch/marks under right elbow on front
750b Bret Saberhagen pink and black blotch/marks partially airbrushed away
750c Bret Saberhagen pink and black blotch/marks completely removed
764a Robin Ventura red bar under photo in bottom right border
764b Robin Ventura red bar partially airbrushed
764c Robin Ventura red bar entirely removed
*Cards from the D* sheet printed in mid-February 1989 can be found with errant, black horizontal lines across the backs. A complete puzzled together set of affected cards has been compiled and the entire sheet is not struck by this variation, only 4 columns have the errant lines throughout.
**Several cards, specifically the Pirates, Giants and Reds, can be found with very dark team/name banners. They have been consistently found in this printing variety so frequently that it suggests a possible design change by Topps, however, at this point, I do not find them worth listing individually*
***Manager cards can occasionally be found with a thick black vertical stripe on back. This is because they are one of the few subsets with vertically oriented backs, the stripe is a remnant of the normally horizontal design that was poorly removed before printing***
****A single blackless uncut sheet was recently discovered, sold and cut up into individual cards and resold. No others have surfaced as of this posting**
*****A single sheet of gold bordered cards has surfaced in many parts across a number of collections. Stars such as Don Mattingly, Mike Schmidt, Bo Jackson TL are among the players known to date. It is possible that more than one sheet exists.
******Blank fronts and wrong back/fronts for this set are extremely common, more so than most Topps issues, however, blank backs are fairly scarce and hardly ever show up for sale.****
Offer / Advertisement Inserts
NNOa white cardstock
NNOb gray cardstock
NNOc blank back (gray cardstock – Topps BIG issue)
Glossy All-Stars
1-22a * before copyright on back, white cardstock
1-22b * before copyright on back, gray cardstock
1-22c ** before copyright on back, white cardstock
1-22d ** before copyright on back, gray cardstock
Glossy Rookies
1-22a * before copyright on back, white cardstock
1-22b * before copyright on back, gray cardstock
1-22c ** before copyright on back, white cardstock
1-22d ** before copyright on back, gray cardstock
Traded
31a Darrell Evans pitching stat headers on back
31b Darrell Evans batting stat headers on back **DOES NOT EXIST**
Junk Wax Gems 
I recently went through six vending cases of 1989 Topps. I did find a Jack Howell error that is not on this list yet. As for the dark team and name banner error, I found both in an equal ratio. The Pirates team is the most obvious. I did not keep any of these errors and sold them as commons. They will be repackaged in after market packs and on the shelves within a month. Some eBayers are selling these errors as rare. Les
What’s the error on the Howell?
Also, congrats on balanced colation of the inking varieties. Some have appeared to be rarer than others in the past.
Les,
Did you find any versions of the Alicea card that didn’t have the E*F* on back? I’m starting to wonder whether this was ever corrected.
Can anyone shed some light on the 1989 Star Co Hensley Meulens (card #99) (St.Petersburg )error. I have both error and corrected The corrected card lists (albany) on the front. I have never seen
anyone selling it nor can i find any real info on it. See Pic..
http://dandrix6060.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/rare-1989-star-co-hensley-meulens-99-2/
Hi,
I know very little about the Meulens variation. It’s quite interesting and as always, thanks for providing a scan. Hopefully others out there will post some info on it.
i just sold the tony oliva tbc 3rd version that you have as unconfrimed, with the black box on the back …i have pics still and it does exist
Can you share a scan and/or sale price? Thanks!
I found the Oliva “blacked out” version #665c in my childhood collection. Not sure how to post my photo, but if you are still interested I can send it to you. Can’t find a value or copy for sale anywhere, though, wonder what’s it’s worth?
Hi Brian, I would love a copy. Send me an email at jacksoncoupage@yahoo.com and we can discuss further. Thank you!
I have the Tony Oliva error on Ebay right now at $5 with pics
I have 25000 loose 89 topps cards that i recently organized and went thru each card with 2 friends on average of 25-30 copies of each card and picked out a constant variation on almost every card. started listing them as long as i could find atleast 3 copies of the error.im still in the process of finishing them but plan on puttin all cards up on ebay with scans shortly
I have a Topps 1989 baseball card # 613 with both Gary Versho’s stats on the back and Ken Williams picture on the front. Is this a rare card. In mint condition. I also have the corrected # 613 with Gary’s pic.
just found Boggs #399 with and without a yellow circle just below his right elbow. Print code F* on both
Is the description on the 403 Puckett AS correct? I’ve seen a white blob over the N in American, but never either E in League.
I noticed the same thing – I have never seen a mark over the E but do have versions with a mark over the N.
i have almost 200 Sheffield RCs. from my stack, there doesn’t seem to be much scarcity to any of the variations. anyone have pics? i’m working on scanning a bunch of errors for a new site, as this one seems to have died.
What is the site you go to?
I just went through all of my 1989 Topps and found the following… The Future Stars cards with the wider gap between the top of hat and text are definitely much scarcer based on my findings. As something along the lines of 1 out of 7 when looking at Mike Harkey and Steve Searcy had the larger image on front as i went through the cards I acquired a few years back. Interesting to know how that sustains itself when when works through much larger quantities as I am sure it is case dependent as my cards were from varied sources. One other thing that i did stumble onto was that #244 Jim Acker on the back seemed to have a recurring print flaw where the solid black line below the IM in JIM was smeared. I had two with the smear and one without. I wonder how frequently that printing flaw variation occurred. Three cards isn’t enough to determine a trend.
One additional note is I have a #287 Juan Nieves that has a yellow line across the top just above the orange frame on the card that is similar to some of the other printing variations found in the set.
I have obtained more Nieves and know believe it was just a garden variety printing flaw wherein the printing plates did not align properly. It was not a trend as some others are.
I recently opened two 1989 Topps vending boxes I bought at a show last year, and found one of them to be stuffed with many of these variations variations – a pink triangle Jefferson, a Welch, two Sheffields with the white line and ghosting and two other variations that aren’t listed here – #253 Jose Alvarez and #271 Jay Tibbs – Tibbs is located directly above Alvarez on the B* sheet, and a magenta semi-circle seems is imprinted from the lower edge of the Tibbs card to the Upper edge of the Alvarez. I pulled two of each, and compared them with corrected versions I had in sets. I have a pic on the flickr stream – https://flic.kr/p/nEw7kp
That is really cool! I like the way that you showed the cards together. I know I never ran across that.
A fun printing error to share.
I call it the “Shoot Out” printing flaw variation.