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.

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.

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.

1990 Topps Frank Thomas NNOF August 1995 Beckett Write-Up: 25 Years Later

A quick look at two pages from the August 1995 Beckett Baseball Magazine outlining the most up-to-date info on the card at the time. The ‘Readers Write’ letter is interesting to me as it tackles the big question surrounding the legitimacy of this printing error vs. others and the generally accepted hypocrisy applied to it. Also noticeable is how their example does not contain the tiny piece of Frank’s name commonly (but not always) found on the iconic print flaw. Theo Chen’s estimation of 500 to 1000 and possibly even “less than 100” copies is laughable 25 years later. While truly a needle-in-a-haystack card, far more than 1000 copies have surfaced since.

Bonus: January 1994 NNOF Pricing

Cards You’ve Never Seen: 1990 Upper Deck No Position On Front Promos/Proofs

Take a look at this interesting print ad for 1990 Upper Deck baseball. In the foreground are a handful of cards, oddly enough, all from the 101-199 sequence (the missing copyright affected sequence), showing no position in the upper left corner box. Ken Griffey Jr, Bo Jackson, Barry Larkin among other highly collected players. I can only imagine what kind of money these likely-unproduced variations would bring today. What’s also interesting is that the cards in Reggie Jackson’s hand appear to be printed with their positions.

1990 Score Rookie & Traded Errors & Variations Checklist

1T Dave Winfield (promo)

1T Dave Winfield (set issue)

2T Kevin Bass (missing F in RF on front)

2T Kevin Bass (correct)

100T Eric Lindros (yellow front – no orange) **UNVERIFIED**

100T Eric Lindros (correct)

109T Terry Shumpert (promo)

109T Terry Shumpert (set issue)

110T Steve Avery (promo)

110T Steve Avery (set issue)

800 copies of 1990 Upper Deck Mike Witt #702 Discovered!

A card previously believed to be quite rare, with under 50 copies estimated in circulation has now jumped to closer to 1000 known copies with the recent discovery of an 800 count box filled with 1990 Upper Deck card 702, featuring Mike Witt. The cards were believed to have been pulled from production and destroyed, however, it appears that at least one box made their way out of the factory.

A collector named Gilbert claims to have found the box at a flea market in California. After corresponding privately with collectors he found via commenting on this blog, he took to posting at FreedomCardboard.com for more information on the Witt card. Here is a link to that discussion, which provides so very interesting information: Mike Witt 800ct Discovery Freedom Cardboard Forums Discussion

Below is the initial emails I received upon their discovery:

Hey guys,

I have a guy looking for my help. I have been assisting him. He opened a factory set and instead of the high numbered set being included there were 100 Mike Witt Black Box’s inside.

He found in California, and my thought is that it is a employee box that was filled with them.

Have either of you guys found any counterfiets of these ?

More importantly, how can you tell counterfiet UD like the griffey to help him out…..

Olbermann told me he had 12 and would buy any more from me…….

and I knew of another 15 out there…..so I know there were appx 30 out there I know of…..

What do you think this will do to the price….I told him the first one will sell for 400 and each one after less and less

 And a follow up.

May 31 at 8:28 AM

scratch that….the Whole 800 were all mike witt black box!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A very interesting situation which is certain to bring down the value of the Witt tremendously. While the card is still a great oddball piece of collecting history, the value on them has steadily decreased over the years with the last 10-20 copies discovered being offered for sale. 800 new copies entering the market will certainly see a major drop off after 50 or so have sold. Another question that comes of this is: how many of these boxes of Witts are out there? With UD’s reputation for manufactured errors, extra “executive” print runs of hot cards and back door removal of hot cards in their early years, I would guess that this will not be the only find.

UPDATE: July 12, 2016 post on FCB from the owner of nearly 800 Mike Witt errors:

Gilbert writes:

“Hey Guys,just wanted to update everyone on these cards,ive sold a total of 10 cards so far,some less then $100,my intentions was and will try to get them out to all collectors who would want one for their collection,I’ve made a lot more money from these then I can imagine for something I spend $10 on,talked to a lot of cool people from all over the U.S…made some friends and had a few who tried to take advantage,lol..but it has been an experience,its gotten me into the collection world,the guy I got them from continues to have a huge collection and I’m there every Saturday and Sunday looking thru them,And my “Gem Mint 10″ is now on eBay,so I’m excited about that,i just want that card to be sold for a little higher then the most expensive one sold for(1300)…only time will tell,after that,i might sell a total of maybe 10 after that,but I won’t give them away,lol…so after that,the will be put away…there might be over 800 cards,but not a lot out in the market,what hopefully they keep some value…I admire all you guys,maybe some day I can be a master collector like you all…have a great day people!��”

1990 Topps Jeff King “No White On Back” and Why it Doesn’t Belong in the Big Books!

For less than a decade now, the Sports Collectors Digest has listed a major variation within the 1990 Topps set. Just recently, it’s catalog price has jumped up near Frank Thomas NNOF range, funny, considering zero copies have ever come up for sale! In fact, only one or two copies have been confirmed to even exist. Rare right?

I’m talking about card number 454 Jeff King. Yeah, the former #1 overall pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates and later, Kansas City Royals fame. Jeff’s card can be found with a solid, yellow and black cardback, meaning the cardboard colored areas (bio, border design, etc) typical on the reverses of 1990 Topps are inked over in yellow. Below is the only-known pic out there (as of today!) and the only confirmed copy I know of, however, Bob Lemke of SCD stands by them having recieved more than one submitted to them while editor of the big book.

This card, rather it’s catalog-worthy status is irksome to say the least. Collectors, especially those with error and variation focused collections as well as the powers-that-be of the industry, Beckett and SCD, have long held the “rule” that most printing flaws, especially ink-run types, are not considered true variations. This rule of course, has it’s many, many exceptions (Frank Thomas NNOF or 1986 Topps Roger Clemens “Blue Streak” for fresh examples), which is frustrating enough because by cataloging these entries as variations, they become must-have for the completists out there. These books lend a lot of legitimacy to which variations they decide to recognize.

The Mysterious 1990 Topps Debut ‘X’ Cards

I’ve been meaning to post about this bizarre card for a couple years now but couldn’t locate the scans I saved. In fact, these images are the only I’ve ever seen and were poached from a message board in 2009. Since I am in the mood to do a little bit of detective work, I feel now is the time to shed some light on this very unusual card:

 

 

Not much is known about this card, in fact, I’ve yet to hear any mention of it since it was posted in the legendary Frank Thomas NNOF thread on the Collectors Universe boards.

Here is what we do know:

• Pulled from a 20-set case of 1990 Topps Debut ’89 sets.
• 1990 Topps Debut ’89 features 152 subjects.
• Topps likes to print cards in multiples of 11 (33 Glossy All-Stars, 132 O-Pee-Chees, 792 base set, etc…)

Here is what I think:

152 subjects doesn’t work with Topps’ multiples of 11 sheet orientation, however, 154 does. This leads me to believe that on a single uncut 154 card sheet, you will find all 152 cards plus two of these “corner” cards. Obviously, the same formula can be applied to a theoretical 77 card sheet, but one X card per.

I believe that these cards were intended to be thrown out as printer’s waste but some, apparently very few, made their way into sets.

I do not believe that the X cards were intended to depict a player. Although I did not do the research, Topps claims that this set features every major league debut of the 1989 season, which would explain it’s unusual subject number (152) , which varied each of the subsequent years lending some truth to the claim.

What’s especially odd is that given Topps’ high production run during this era, those two “wasted” spots would seem like something of loss financially. Given how often Topps put advertisements and offer cards in products, why didn’t they use those spots for something useful? Food for thought.

Obviously, all of this could be simply explained with an image of an uncut sheet but until I get a hold of one, where’s the fun in that?

Quick Look: 1990 Score R/T Dave Winfield Unmarked Promo Variation

Take a look at this freshly-discovered promo variation from the 1990 Score Rookie & Traded set. This was discovered just weeks ago in a discussion on 1990s promo cards over at Freedomcardboard.com. A longtime dealer posted an image of Dave Winfield’s card number 1 in the set that by all appearances, seems like the regular issue card (below). Another forum member posted a pic (2nd) of the set-issue showing a difference in photo cropping, something fairly common with early 90s Score issues: