Desert Shield

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by 4reals

I've looked into it quite extensively myself. As a Dodgers collector I have particular interest in the Valenzuela #80 card. I will say this...DO NOT trust the PSA pop report. Based on it there are many err/corr variations within the DS set and all I've seen are cards with mislabeled slabs. Aside from the Fernando card, the McGwire correct variation (.618) has been notoriously subject to this.

Joe,

Are you suggesting you have not seen "any" or "many" error cards with the corresponding corrections? I believe you are stating you have only seen either the error or corrected card, but not both. If that is the case, I tend to agree with you. I have gone through approx. 2,000 Desert Shield cards and have not been able to confirm any of the noted error cards AND the corrected cards. I am not saying they don't exist - just that if they exist, they must be rare.

The only card I have been able to find with an error /corrected version is card #685 (Doug Drabek) - which actually is more of a printing variation than an error. The card (see below) has a "black" border and a "gray" border. Further the card has a different shade of gray banner behind the "Pirates" name on the front of the card. The differences are significant when you compare the card side-by-side.

Additionally, I was able to acquire 11 uncut full sheets of Desert Shield cards showing sheets A-F, with 2 copies of most sheets. Sheet F has the checklists - which believe it or not - has checklists without foil stamped logo's. The checklists were in the middle of the sheet, bottom row. Two of the checklists (#131 & #656) are consistent with the other cards I have checked and show only the Bradley & Polacios variations. I was surprised to find actual unstamped checklists on the actual sheets. I always thought checklists were just normal 1991 Topps cards replete with error & corrected information. If anyone is interested I will post pics of the sheets.

I will also post a list of the known variations identified in the 1991 set (excluding printer's mistakes) that I have checked in the next post, which were compiled from several sources.

[ALR-bishop]

Looking forward to your list Zach. I think I have more variant cards with my 1991 set than any other of my Topps sets, but I admit most are what I view as print defects

[Zach Wheat]

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Good info Zach. It had been my impression the majority of the DS cards never made it over seas, and that many did not even make it into the military supply chain. But I have no personal knowledge or hard fact about that.

There are of course a good many DS fakes out there too and it would seem if any variations are found one would have to be sure it is an actual DS card.

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Looking forward to your list Zach. I think I have more variant cards with my 1991 set than any other of my Topps sets, but I admit most are what I view as print defects

Al/Joe,

I have finished going over almost 8,000 1991 Topps Desert Shield cards and I am now convinced you are correct. I did not find any of the variations found in abundance in the 1991 Topps regular issue. I did not find stat corrections or variations on any card. That doesn't mean they don't exist - but if they do they must be rare. And I suspect if you find any variations it would exist only on the 6 cards listed below that were printed on sheet E/F. However, there are no known errors/variations for these cards.

Here is how I came to these conclusions. I was also able to compare the known variations list with the DS cards I had on hand - including sheets of cards - and found a few surprising items:

There were no duplicates on the printers sheets - all 792 cards were printed on 6 sheets, probably in 1 print run in equal number.

Print run designations were detailed on the reverse of the cards. For instance a card with an A* on the bottom of the reverse of each card near the copyright logo indicated the card was printed on sheet "A". There were 6 sheets used and each card correlates to a corresponding sheet code A-F. Every single card inspected had only 1 sheet code designation - except for 6 cards following. All of the cards that were printed on multiple sheets came from sheet F.

Cards #9 (Darrin Fletcher), # 87 (Tracy Jones), #233 (Al Leiter), #676 (Scott Chiamparino) and #696 (Steve Olin) had a Printer Sheet code of E*F*. However, I examined full uncut printer's sheets of Sheet F and all of these cards and every other cards inspected had the exact same sheet code designation. These 6 cards did not come with a print sheet code of either E or F - only E*F*. This was consistent with every duplicate card inspected as well.

Every card inspected for Card #5 (Cal Ripken) did not have a sheet code designation. However, inspection of the uncut Sheet F indicates this card also came from the same sheet - Sheet F. For what it is worth - the 5 cards noted above were all located adjacent to each other in a row.

The checklists for Desert Shield sets were also the "uncorrected' version over their 1991 Topps counterparts. The 6 checklists were printed on Sheet F - and the 3 checklists which have errors (#31, #366 & #527) were all uncorrected (see list in previous post for errors) on the uncut sheet.

I am guessing what this means is that we won't find any stat variations or error variations. Since we find 5 cards with EF print sheet designation and none of these cards had a single E or F sheet designation - I am guessing these the DS set was printed after corrections were made on the first 5 sheets (A-E) and sheet F was corrected after the DS print run ended.

As you are aware, 1991 Topps checklists do not have the DS logo. Even on the uncut printer's sheets. I suspect - but can't conclusively prove - that only the checklists that are "uncorrected" are true DS checklists.


Z Wheat

[4reals]

I suspect you are right Zach. The print code variations for the base 91 topps set would confirm your theory. The 5 cards you mentioned with an E*F* code can be found with F* codes but they are significantly more scarce compared to the other sheets that made the same type of sheet code corrections. This would support that the first 5 sheets were corrected much earlier in the run than sheet F and that other subsets like DS were printed in between these corrections.

[Zach Wheat]

Following is a list of the Desert Shield variations which I have compiled from my own cards and several other sources. It is interesting to note some DS cards have correct stats while other DS cards have incorrect stats. For the most part, it seems as if most of the corrections were made prior to starting the DS print run. However, to date I have not found the error & corresponding corrected version of the card - just 1 or the other. In fact, the only variation which I have been able to confirm is the Drabek gray/black border variation previously noted.

It is also interesting to note that based on a small sample size the checklists are consistent as well. Perhaps if other printer sheets turn up, this information is a means to determine whether Desert Shield checklists are actually from the set or from the 1991 Topps regular issue set - since they are identical, other than the corrections.

Again many thanks to KeyMan Collectibles, JunkWaxGems, Beckett, PSA, CU and numerous other sources from which this information was compiled. Here are the variations I have checked against the 1991 Topps regular issue set but not found both versions of the same card:

• Card #21 Joe Morgan MGR – “87” hits; DS set has the corrected version which is “187 hits”.

• Card #22 Storm Davis – (Front) Copyright logo in Upper left corner above Topps in white border area; 1991 Topps regular issue has both. DS cards do not have the copyright logo.

• Card #42 Chris Hoiles – (Front) Black Border white or Gray border (DS cards have gray border).

• Card #48 – Dennis Boyd – 3 Variations –left wrist covers 40th Anniv logo; airbrushed pink to blend in with logo, no black box on banner underneath “40”; DS cards have 40th Anniversary logo which covers wrist fully with black border and it appears as if the wrist is behind the border.

• Card 49A Pat Borders (DS cards have 1986 – “40 steals in Kinston”) 49B (0 Steal in Kinston)

• Card 80A Fernando Valenzuela (DS cards have In 1990 104 ER in '90 Tied League Lead “◊” Present in line)) 80B (Led League)

• Card #83 Daryl Boston (Front) Line through his position, left side of card in the top portion of “OF”;

• Card #97A Brady Anderson Box at bottom, (DS cards “In Sept 2 RBI and 3 Hits”) 97B (Set, 3 RBI and 14 Hits)

• Card #100A Don Mattingly (DS cards 10 hits in 1990) 100B (101 hits in 1990)

• Card #124 Randy Bush – No print code on back of card, bottom, to the left of 1991 Topps copyright. DS cards are corrected and have a D* Print Code.

• Card #130 (Checklist) – no Foil Shield – consistent with both DS and 1991 issue

• Card 131A Checklist 1 (DS cards have #727 Phil Bradley) 131B (#727 Mookie Wilson); Card #727 is Mookie Wilson in actual set

• Card #153 Bryan Harvey – has A*B* print code on reverse to the left of Topps Copyright; Original DS card has A* Print Code.

• Card 155A Dwight Evans (DS cards have “In 1982, Led league w/162 games in 1982”) 155B (tied for lead.....)

• Card 167A Randy Tomlin (DS cards have 1989 & 1990 Club is “Harriburg”) 167B (Harrisburg)

• Card #189 Daryl Irvine (Back) 1988 GS has a “*” or blob; DS cards are corrected and have 14 for GS in 1988.

• Card #213 has A*B* Print Code on back of card to left of Topps copyright; Original DS card has A* )

• Card 236A Frank Tanana (DS cards have “In 1975, Tied for lead w/269 K’s” with the symbol “◊” Present in text) 236B (Lead League w/269....)

• Card #247 – Jody Reed (Bio is dark red; DS version have lighter red or pinkish box for bio.

• Card 270A Mark McGwire (DS cards have 1987 Slug % 618) 270B (1987 Slug % .618)

• Card 277 Scott Coolbaugh – (Front) DS cards have Streak on left side of hat; streak is airbrushed out.

• Card 279A Jose Gonzalez (Photo Billy Bean) 279B (DS cards have the correct photo)

• Card 306A Lonnie Smith (DS cards have incorrect stats stating In 1990, played in 136 Games) 396B (corrected not found in DS set and was
actually 135 Games in 1990)

• Card 324A Ron Kittle (DS cards have the last line of text @ bottom of card “…set another standard) 324B (“….tied another standard)

• Card 337A Keith Comstock (DS cards have incorrect Cubs logo on front) 337B (Mariners logo on front – Mariners is correct)

• Card 366A Checklist 3 (DS checklist has #19 as Carl Nichols) 366B (#119 Carl Nichols); #19 in Actual set is Jeff Robinson P Yankees

• Card 374 Larry Casian – Pimples on left side of neck can be seen; DS cards are corrected and have pimples airbrushed out.

• Card 378A Wilson Alvarez (89 & 90 minor league stats deleted) 378B (DS cards have minor league stats included)

• Card 454A Kevin Appier (DS cards have in the line for 1990 Omaha Stats deleted) 454B (stats included)

• Card #519 – Sparky Anderson – Back) – Bullseye covesr O in “…Anderson…” at the top of card in name. (1X is corrected); DS cards do not have this printers mark.

• Card 526A Moises Alou (DS cards show incorrect stats in the 1990 Pirates line, 37 runs in 2 games) 526B (0 Runs in 2 games)

• Card 527A Checklist 4 ((Back) DS cards on sheet incorrectly state #105 Keith Miller #719 Kevin McReyolds 527B (#105 Kevin McReyolds #719 Keith Miller). Actual DS set has #105 as McReynolds

• Card #530 Roger Clemens (Back) – Card # is pink. DS cards have not found variation.

• Card #588 Mark Whitten (Front) left hand is over or under border. DS cards have corrected – hand does not extend into white border.

• Card 593A Mike Walker (DS cards have in 1990 Canton Stats deleted 593B (Stats included) Note: Both cards have Colo. Springs Stats

• Card 599A Greg Myers (DS cards have in 1990 Syracuse stats deleted 599B (Stats included)

• Card 603A Wes Chamberlain (DS cards have incorrect photo with Louie Meadows with bat on right shoulder) 603B (correct photo –smiling no bat on shoulder),

• Card #648 Lee Stevens – Back of card; bio is dark red; DS cards have light red bio box.

• Card 656A Checklist 5 (DS checklists have corrected card numbers of #348 Palacios, #381 Lind, #537 Lavalliere) 656B (438 Palacios 537 Lind 665 Lavalliere) 656C (433 Palacios) actual 348 is stottlemeyer, Actual set has #348 is Palacios, #381 is Leyland, #537 is Lind.

• CardA 674 Kevin Gross (DS cards have in 1988 Tied for lead in BB) 674B (1988 Lead league) – looks like he led league

• Card #685 – Doug Drabek – (Front) Corrected – Gray-ish border on left & right side of card. Black broder on left & right side of card. DS cards appear to have both black & gray border, with different color team banners.

• Card 687A John Cerutti (DS cards have 4.46 ERA in 1990) 687B (4.76 ERA in 1990); 4.76 ERA is correct

• Card 692A Efrain Valdez (Born 6/11/66) 692B (DS cards have correct birthdate text stating Born 7/11/66).

• Card 706A Brad Arnsberg (DS cards have incorrect data stating 68.2 IP in 1990) 706B (62.2 IP in 1990)

• Card 780A Randy Myers (DS cards have incorrect stat line for losses - 15 Career losses) 780B (19 Career losses).


Let me know if anyone is able to find the other variation on these cards. Thanks.

ZWheat