Error Card - Printing Errors

Printing Errors

The Topps 1962 baseball set saw the 'grandaddy' of all error situations. The set's entire second series (the 87 cards numbered 110 through 196) was first printed and distributed without the proper amount of ink for the photographs; the result has been known ever since as the "Green Tint" series, for the sky and dirt in the backgrounds of some cards are decidedly green, rather than blue or brown. All the photos were somewhat out of focus, and card number 159 (Yankees Pitcher Hal Reniff) was incorrectly numbered as 139.

The entire series was re-printed and re-distributed, with the photo inks in proper proportion and with eight photos replaced with different poses (Reniff's among them). All remaining photos were re-cropped for the re-printing (e.g., some photos were moved a bit to one side, and others moved up or down), thus giving every card in the series an error card. The Reniff card's number was still incorrect in this second printing, so a third, corrected one of his was produced, resulting in one 'true' Reniff card and 2 errors (each error card with a different photograph).

The "wrongback" error occurs when the sheet is mated with a back which is upside down or reversed. Most wrongbacks have the backs off center. It is possible to find a centered back and off center front.

The blankback or blankfront error is a type of error where the back or front of the card is blank. Most likely however, these are first run proofs from the company not intended for distribution. In addition, misspelled words/names, print blotches, missing border sections, and different colored backgrounds (like the 1973 manager cards) are all considered errors although relatively few of these are corrected.