Oops: These 5 Baseball Cards Have Big Mistakes!
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For young collectors, there was nothing like it. Pulling a card of a hot rookie or future Hall of Famer? Nope, that sort of thing happened all the time. And depending how many decades ago it was, even the concept of rookie cards was just not a big deal. The best feeling there was, if it even happened at all, was being first on the school yard to notice a baseball card had a serious goof. This was a fifteen minutes of fame kids took seriously as their finds "went viral" through the neighborhood, conferring them with pre-influencer "influencer status."
1956 Topps Hank Aaron
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Long before the hashtag #HobbyFail came into use, Topps committed an incredible boo boo. On its 1956 Topps card of future Home Run King Hank Aaron, the card giant famously used Willie Mays for the action scene. Back in the day, whichever kid noticed first might not have had the proof to convince friends and classmates of the discovery. However, in today's internet age, the evidence is only a click away.
1959 Topps Lew Burdette
For decades the 1959 the "Lefty Lou" Burdette double-error was among the most famous in the history of the Hobby. Not only did the card show the right-handed Burdette pranking the Topps photographers in a southpaw's pose but Topps also used the spelling "Lou" for a pitcher whose actual name was Selva Lewis Burdette. What most collectors, young or old, were unaware of is that the pitcher himself frequently went by Lou, spelled exactly as Topps had it on his cards from 1958-1967. Still, the card remains a legend of the error card genre.
1979 Topps Bump Wills
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Where most error cards took a keen eye or deep baseball knowledge, the 1979 Topps Bump Wills Blue Jays card jumped out immediately to whichever kid at school was the first to pull it. A Texas Ranger on the Blue Jays? A Blue Jay in a Rangers uniform? Whatever the answer was, the card was absolutely mind-blowing. And unlike the Aaron and Burdette cards, Topps corrected the error, giving young collectors the equally mind-blowing feeling of seeing the two different Wills cards side-by-side.
1981 Fleer Graig Nettles
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The 1981 Fleer set was riddled with errors, so many that the more cynical collectors out there wondered if the company didn't manufacture the slip-ups by design to boost interest in the brand new set. While many of the errors were never corrected and many others were corrected in due time, the famous "C" Nettles, which spelled the Yankee infielder's first name incorrectly on the back, was corrected almost instantly, creating instant rarity for the error version. The result was a card that at times sold for as much as $30 at card shows in 1981, something unthinkable in those barely modern days of the baseball card hobby when any other major "hit" from a pack might sell for $2 at best.
1989 Upper Deck Dale Murphy
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If the 1981 Fleer set had its share of conspiracy theorists, so too did Upper Deck when the company known for its premium quality issued and quickly corrected a card of superstar Dale Murphy with the image reversed. Was this a secret homage to another Braves slugger whose image was reversed in 1957, was it simply to create hype for the Hobby's newest entrant, or was it simply a mistake? Collectors may never know the truth, but either way the card remains one of the few grail cards of the decade.
Jason A. Schwartz is a collectibles expert whose work can be found regularly at SABR Baseball Cards, Hobby News Daily, and 1939Bruins.com. His collection of Hank Aaron baseball cards and memorabilia is currently on exhibit at the Atlanta History Center, and his collectibles-themed artwork is on display at the Honus Wagner Museum and PNC Park.