5 Famous Baseball Card Errors
If you’re an avid collector of anything, cards or otherwise, you know that errors made during the production process can actually work in your favor, making them rarer and boosting the value of the cards in the process. Learning more about some of the cards that have been produced with various errors may help you identify cards in your collection that could be worth far more than you anticipate. To help you do this, we’ve compiled a list of misprint baseball cards that are well-known. Here are the five famous baseball card errors that you should be watching out for!
1. 1990 Topps #414 Frank Thomas No Name on Front
The 1990 Topps #414 Frank Thomas No Name on Front or NNOF is one of the most well-known baseball card errors, and it’s one that affected only a few hundred cards (with 10 different types of player cards being affected by printing errors at the time that this error card came out). As the name suggests, these misprint baseball cards didn’t feature Frank’s name on the front. Because this card is so widely-known and popular among collectors, you can find it selling on the market for as much as $20,000!
2. 1989 Fleer #616 Billy Ripken F**k Face Card
While explicit, this card is actually a very interesting baseball card error that adds to the hilarity and popularity of the card itself. We won’t say the words here, but the censored words in the title of this baseball card were on the bottom of the bat Bill Ripken was holding in his card’s picture (and he claims that it was someone else’s bat he was holding at the time of the photo). For subsequent releases, these misprint baseball cards were amended with black boxes, Wite-Out, and scribbles to make sure that they didn’t show the bottom of the bat. These ones aren’t as expensive, but they’re still fun for some collectors to get their hands on.
3. The 2006 #297 Topps Alex Gordon Rookie
Some famous baseball card errors are more recent, as is the case with the 2006 #297 Topps Alex Gordon Rookie card. This card was released in 2006, a whole one year before Alex Gordon actually debuted with the Royals. It’s speculated that someone anticipated Alex Gordon would debut in 2006 and released the cards accidentally. Because of this, these misprint baseball cards have become popular error cards for collectors to get their hands on.
4. The 1987 Donruss Opening Day #163 Barry Bonds
So far, we’ve covered a lot of errors that have focused on issues with the cards themselves, as misprints are often the most common errors out there. However, there are some errors that are so stunning that it’s hard to believe they were ever released in the first place. This is where the 1987 Donruss Opening Day #163 Barry Bonds card comes in. The 1987 Donruss Opening Day #163 Barry Bonds is meant to highlight Barry Bonds, but the actual card shows an image of Johnny Ray. If you have any of these in your collection, you may be able to fetch a few thousand for them!
5. The 1909-1911 T206 Piedmont Sherry Magee
Another one of the most famous misprint baseball cards is the 1909-1911 T206 Piedmont Sherry Magee. These vintage cards featured the spelling “Magie” on the face of the card, and the American Tobacco Company worked quickly to take care of this error, pumping out revised cards in much greater quantities in comparison to the error card. Because this is one of the most famous baseball card errors and because of the age and rarity of the card itself, you can expect this card to fetch a great price as well!
Errors Happen, but You’ll Only Increase Your Chances of Getting One by Collecting!
Misprint baseball cards can be exciting as you own a piece of sports history that’s entirely unique in comparison to the many other cards that are in production. That being said, while there are numerous older misprints out there, you never know when the next one will appear. This is why it’s important to keep collecting sports cards over time, and you can keep building your collection with the support of Giant Sports Cards!
Our hobby boxes and cases make it easy to get your hands on all the newest rookies and legendary players alike in base set cards, unique inserts, and autographed pieces. If there’s any chance to get new misprint baseball cards, it starts here with our extensive collection of the newest releases at the lowest prices! Discover new sports cards now (and get $10 off of your first order when you sign up for our newsletter) or take advantage of our great customer service to ask us any questions about the products we have in our store!