Error and Variations Guide Book

[banjar]

I found this website while searching for info on recognized variations for 1991 Fleer (of all things). It's a comprehensive guide to known variations, from the 40's to the 90's. Not just baseball but also other sports.

https://baseballcardvariationsguidebookvol2.wordpress.com/
If you're an obsessive player collector like me, or just demented enough to have have interest in this sort of thing, it is worth a look. These guys are even still selling the original paperback spiral-bound book from 1989! I'm thinking about buying a copy, just because it's obviously a labor of love for these guys, and a reminder of how things used to be before we just googled everything.

For my own collection, two things caught my eye as I perused the set listings.

First thing is a 1996 Pacific Crown Collection unmarked promo for Robbie Alomar. The main difference is that on the 1995 stats listed, the pack-issued card lists 130 games (which is correct) while the promo lists 128 games. I didn't have the promo already, but found one on COMC for $2.

Second thing is mention of 1992 Pinnacle Promos. Apparently these unmarked promos have slight photo cropping variations, or variations in the colored name bars on the front. I haven't spotted this yet on any of my duplicates or online, but will keep looking. Players appearing on promos are Alomar, Thomas, Fielder, Lankford, Mussina, Strawberry, Sandberg, Sierra.

 

[thelesquad]

Thanks for the info. Never knew about the 1992 Pinnacle Promo. I checked all available Sandbergs on COMC and couldn't find any differences.

 

[mrmopar]

I am pretty sure I have one of the original printed guides, that I got in a nice lot of other guides I purchased a while back. I'm not a huge fan of the hoards of very minor versions outside of any possible Steve Garvey variants, but definitely a useful guide.

 

[banjar]

You have one of those books? That's gnarly, I'm impressed.

I'm also not into collecting minor variations on the whole. I am absolutely interested to know that 1989 Donruss has variations like INC. and INC - that's a little piece of baseball card obscura that I enjoy. But as far as collecting them, I am only interested in the context of my Alomar PC. All part of a conscious effort to keep my focus narrow, for financial reasons.

 

[banjar]

Let me know if you find one. This catalog has a tremendous amount of work behind it that I could never replicate, but I did find a small handful of errors and incomplete listings. Nothing is perfect. So if you find a Sandberg that would give me more confidence that entire promo set exists.

Thanks for the info. Never knew about the 1992 Pinnacle Promo. I checked all available Sandbergs on COMC and couldn't find any differences.

 

[thelesquad]

I'm just hoping to come across a photo of any of the players. I was hoping this page would have the Thomas but to no avail - http://frankthomaspromos.com/1992.html.

 

[mrmopar]

Well, my book is quite old (1980), looks to be a 2nd edition of the original work by Nozaki.

Not great for modern errors, but a nice documentation of the early stuff.

 

[sabrgeek]

BTW -- for those who may not know or remember me, I was the E&V guy at Beckett back in the day. After a few years out of the hobby, I've been at COMC for nearly 4 years now and whenever time permits I do work on adding E&V's to our data base. I added the Alomar a couple of minutes ago. But if you have anything you want added let me know but I can assure you this is an never-ending process but one I truly enjoy. You can always DM me here; reach me via email to work or personal or whatever non-phone way your prefer

 

[BunchOBull]

I'll post some '92 Pinnacle Promo images later today.

Edit: Scratch that...these are individual cards, not panels...hmmmm.

 

[banjar]

I thought the same thing - maybe these are 1992 Pinnacle cards cut from the 4-card promo panels. But they're definitely not. Robbie is on one of the Score/Pinnacle promo panels, but he's shown on one of the Score cards.

My interest in finding one of these is ratcheting up. I haven't quite brought myself to a COMC/Ebay search of all 8 players listed as being in the promo set, scanning every one for minute variations, but I'm getting close.

I'll post some '92 Pinnacle Promo images later today.

Edit: Scratch that...these are individual cards, not panels...hmmmm.

 

[banjar]

Hey, thanks for adding that Alomar. I am happy for the hobby to recognize this little oddity...after I've secured my copy I've got a couple other unmarked promos I can scan and send your way. I'm getting into errors and variations more and more these days.

By the way....do you know anything about those alleged, mystical 1992 Pinnacle unmarked promos?

BTW -- for those who may not know or remember me, I was the E&V guy at Beckett back in the day. After a few years out of the hobby, I've been at COMC for nearly 4 years now and whenever time permits I do work on adding E&V's to our data base. I added the Alomar a couple of minutes ago. But if you have anything you want added let me know but I can assure you this is an never-ending process but one I truly enjoy. You can always DM me here; reach me via email to work or personal or whatever non-phone way your prefer

 

[sabrgeek]

I know in football they existed and Dan Hitt, who was our FB guy could always tell the difference. I would suspect the same thing existed in baseball.

BTW -- I have ZERO problems if someone acquires a variation on COMC and then lets me know. Knowledge is king and I'm also in favor of someone using their knowledge to their advantage. I did that for years way back in my 1980's dealing days when I knew the tougher cards before they were listed as such.

 

[banjar]

For what it's worth, here's a little writeup about unmarked 90's Alomar promos that I'd forgotten about.

https://www.freedomcardboard.com/forum/threads/roberto-alomar-collectors-thread.152878/page-9
Re-reading it, I realized I was wrong about the 1996 Pacific Prisms card. So I edited it a bit and added another photo.

 

[jacksoncoupage]

I had never seen the 1992 promos until an eBay auction for a large lot of dealer promo/order materials sold on eBay a few weeks back. I simply missed the end of the auction or I would’ve grabbed the lot. Sold very cheap and the same seller sold lots for hockey and football as well.

He has an image of the 1992 Promos in their 9-pocket sheet and I thoroughly scrutinized each of them as best as the image would allow. The only difference I was able to ascertain was the ratio of green-to-White in the stripe on back. IIRC, not all players had a noticeable difference.

 

[banjar]

Nice find. Wish I had seen that auction.

So they do exist, and they are the same 8 players as listed in the E&V guide book. So are the promos any different? I looked at the pics from that auction too, and didn't see any definite differences. Would love to have a few in-hand to compare up close though.

 

[jacksoncoupage]

Nice find. Wish I had seen that auction.

So they do exist, and they are the same 8 players as listed in the E&V guide book. So are the promos any different? I looked at the pics from that auction too, and didn't see any definite differences. Would love to have a few in-hand to compare up close though.

I noticed a color bar variance between the pack issue and promos pictured in the auction.

I was the high bidder on these lots much of the way but was not smart enough to set a reminder! The paperwork alone would’ve made for great blog content and more than paid for itself, a true steal for whoever landed that stuff.

 

[DonnieBaseball]

Could someone post the link to the auction. Would like to see what these cards look like. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

 

[thelesquad]

I noticed a color bar variance between the pack issue and promos pictured in the auction.

I was the high bidder on these lots much of the way but was not smart enough to set a reminder! The paperwork alone would’ve made for great blog content and more than paid for itself, a true steal for whoever landed that stuff.

Can you elaborate more on the differences you are seeing? I really suck at those "find the differences" games cause I cannot see them.

 

[jacksoncoupage]

Can you elaborate more on the differences you are seeing? I really suck at those "find the differences" games cause I cannot see them.

Scroll up to post #14

 

[jacksoncoupage]

Could someone post the link to the auction. Would like to see what these cards look like. Thanks


Sent from my iPhone using Freedom Card Board mobile app

I’m not sure I know how to search it out, it no longer appears in my eBay “didn’t win” section.