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.