Quick Look: 1991 Score Nolan Ryan No-Hit Club #701 Variations

1991 Score is one of those sets that I typically avoid sorting through in effort to find new varieties. One of the reasons being that there is so much text and stat info on backs that it’s difficult to notice differences between copies. Another reason would be that I was never really impressed by the issue (like most of the Score products), but since a handful of varieties have shown up over the last 5-6 years that feature highly-collected star players, I figured it best to post a few examples of unlisted errors in the set (see also: 1991 Score Bo Jackson posting). This hard-to-find variation features Nolan Ryan:

A. Stat box is WHITE on back (scarce).

B. Stat box is BLUE on back (common).

1990 Bowman Baseball. Shades of Topps Heritage.

To get things started, let’s take a look at the enigmatic, and Topps Heritage-esque, 1990 Bowman Baseball Set:

It took me almost 17 years to notice the approximately 100 different variations found in this set. Many longtime collector’s who own an annual price guide already know about the semi-rare, David Segui #251 with his bio information missing on back. This interesting error is the only one like it in the set and currently lists at $3.50, though I’ve seen them sell for much higher and and a little lower at times. But what many collectors don’t yet know of, is that Bowman issued 2 different versions of several of the subjects in this set. Like today’s Topps Heritage line, some of the players can be seen posed against night backgrounds and daytime backgrounds due to some expert airbrushing. Some players sport both gray and white jerseys on their cards and a handful of players had troublesome light posts and clouds airbrushed away in their backgrounds.

Robin Ventura #311 has had his background and jersey re-touched by Topps’ editors.