The following 1991 Topps cards are presently known to be available with the A*B* print designation, although it is possible that other cards from the A* sheet are also available with the A*B* designation:
1991 Topps A*B* Sheet Code Variations: Ongoing Checklist
28 Oct1991 Topps Baseball Errors & Variations: Building A Master Set (Checklist)
26 Jun1991 Topps is probably the most difficult Topps master set to build. Part of the reason for that is due to the vast amount of supplemental items that could be included in one and the incredible difficulty in obtaining some of them. This page will not only serve as an ongoing checklist (since new discoveries are semi frequent) but also an information source for several elements of what could be considered a master set. Let’s take a look:
Base Set:
All cards in the base set can be found in two distinct varieties:
Glow/UV Reactive Ink On Back & Non-Glow/Non-reactive Ink On Back
Variations:
2a George Brett RB incomplete circle around registration symbol on back
2b George Brett RB complete circle around registration symbol on back, touching text area
2c George Brett RB complete circle around registration symbol on back, away from text area
3a Carlton Fisk RB incomplete circle around registration symbol on back
3b Carlton Fisk RB complete circle around registration symbol on back
4a Kevin Maas RB incomplete circle around registration symbol on back
4b Kevin Maas RB complete circle around registration symbol on back
5a Cal Ripken Jr. RB E*F* print code
5b Cal Ripken Jr. RB F* print code
6a Nolan Ryan RB incomplete circle around registration symbol on back
6b Nolan Ryan RB complete circle around registration symbol on back
9a Darrin Fletcher missing print code on back
9b Darrin Fletcher F* print code on back
21a Joe Morgan MGR with 87 hits for Wade Boggs on back
21b Joe Morgan MGR with 187 hits on back, 1 printed higher than 87
21c Joe Morgan MGR with 187 hits on back, 1 printed lower than 87
21d Joe Morgan MGR with 187 hits on back, 187 aligned
22a Storm Davis with registration symbol above Topps logo on front
22b Storm Davis with partial registration symbol above Topps logo on front
22c Storm Davis with registration symbol removed from front
26a Luis Sojo large gap between BLUE JAYS and registration symbol in team banner
26b Luis Sojo small gap between BLUE JAYS and registration symbol in team banner
36a Donnie Hill incomplete/obscured “COMPANY” in copyright line
36b Donnie Hill correctly printed copyright line
42a Chris Hoiles white inner photo frame
42b Chris Hoiles black inner photo frame
42c Chris Hoiles black inner photo frame, small white notch at top left of frame
48a Oil Can Boyd with hand over 40th anniversary flag
48b Oil Can Boyd with hand airbrushed pink to match 40th anniversary flag
48c Oil Can Boyd with hand airbrushed pink to match 40th anniversary flag, black border around flag tip
49a Pat Borders 86 Kingston SB totals: 40
49b Pat Borders 86 Kingston SB totals: 0
80a Fernando Valenzuela missing diamond after 104 runs in 1990*
80b Fernando Valenzuela diamond after 104 runs in 1990
*Sometimes found with a blue border – (recurring printing flaw)
83a Daryl Boston A*B* print code
83b Daryl Boston A* print code
97a Brady Anderson 3 hits, 2 RBI in scoreboard
97b Brady Anderson 14 hits, 3 RBI in scoreboard
100a Don Mattingly 10 hits in 1990
100b Don Mattingly 101 hits in 1990
101a Rob Ducey registration symbol printed close to BLUE JAYS in team banner
101b Rob Ducey registration symbol printed away from BLUE JAYS in team banner
119a Carl Nichols copyright printed high
119b Carl Nichols copyright printed low
Quick Look: 1991 Topps Robin Ventura #461 – 3 Different Variations
13 JunWell technically, it’s 6 different but we won’t get into back variations for this one. My favorite player of all-time is the focus of this ‘Quick Look,’ and also, it’s no coincidence that the card comes from the most error-packed issue in Topps’ history, the 1991 40th Anniversary set!
Rockin’ Robin’s card, #461, can be found in 3 different left border varieties: One, with a solid red left border. Two, with a red-with-gray overprinted left-hand border. Three, with a solid gray left border.
Recent Error Discoveries in the 1991 Topps 40th Anniversary Set
15 MarThanks to the sharp eye of cincykid75 at the collector’s universe sports cards forum, there has been a lot of activity in the 1991 Topps Errors thread. Cincykid75 discovered a variation in Bert Blyleven’s card #615, a pretty major variation, actually. One version has MAJ. LEA. TOTALS in a larger font on back and another versions saw it shrunk down to match the font size of the statistics and other type on back.
This awesome find had me digging through my surplus of 1991 Topps commons and errors boxes. In the error box, I followed the logic behind the Blyleven card and looked at the bottom left corner of the back of nearly 5000 cards and was stopped dead when I noticed that Frank Tanana’s card #236 (already affected by an error) has a similar variation in the “269 with diamond” variety.
This leads me to believe that there are many more varieties on the backs of 1991 Topps cards. Though back-errors are usually less popular than front-errors, I think that the reputation the 1991 Topps set holds for variation collectors, makes it a very interesting challenge to uncover the others out there.
I sorted through almost 10,000 1991 Topps commons (or non-variation affected cards) and found a few surprises:
Mark Davidson’s card #678 can be found with the year digits in his stats “clipped” off at the left or with them fully printed. I’ve only found 2 copies of the fixed version to my 8 clipped ones.
Mickey Morandini’s card #342 can be found with a green Phillies team logo on front or with it’s correct burgundy logo. A very strange-looking variation when viewed in person.
And Rex Hudler’s card #228 seems to have originally been printed with a black line on front at lower right of the photo. It looks as though Topps made a few different attempts to airbrush and remove the offending bar, as varying degrees of it’s correction have surfaced.
I’m sure there are plenty more discoveries on their way soon. I’ll post the new stuff once it gets uncovered!
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