What is the origin of Barry Bonds Open.Day ERR?

[bobsbbcards]

I probably don’t know any more about the card than the next guy. I remember the first raw one I ever saw at a National, and I sort of became obsessed with the sucker. I bought my first in a two-card auction lot—a PSA 9 Bonds error and (surprisingly relevant) a 1990 Frank Thomas NNOF PSA 9. I’m pretty sure the hammer price was $2,400 for the pair. After that, I bought every PSA 9 Bonds that came up for sale for around $700-$900 apiece. I owned over half the 9’s at one time (Al will call me a hoarder again).

[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

That's quite a way to get into the 80s error game. I believe you're well established in vintage on the registry, so that must've been a departure for you. What a neat way to hear about how you got started since the digital footprint for these cards begins and ends with you, at least on the message boards. I was trying to learn as much as possible about these cards in preparation for landing one for myself, which I ultimately did.

Anyways, a hoarder is exactly who I need to talk to in order to take a census on the Bonds errors. Would you be willing to show off your stash? I'd like to try to track down every PSA 9 and 10 if possible and that would be a nice dent in the project. And maybe even establish a ranking for the PSA registry since the Dmitri Young should definitely be atop the list...

Originally Posted by bobsbbcards

I probably don’t know any more about the card than the next guy. I remember the first raw one I ever saw at a National, and I sort of became obsessed with the sucker. I bought my first in a two-card auction lot—a PSA 9 Bonds error and (surprisingly relevant) a 1990 Frank Thomas NNOF PSA 9. I’m pretty sure the hammer price was $2,400 for the pair. After that, I bought every PSA 9 Bonds that came up for sale for around $700-$900 apiece. I owned over half the 9’s at one time (Al will call me a hoarder again).

[ALR-bishop]

Having been in Bob's basement I doubt he could find where he stashed his stash. He is also the go to guy for the 1978 Topps Zest Soap set.

[bobsbbcards]

[bobsbbcards]

Originally Posted by RiceBondsMntna2Young

That's quite a way to get into the 80s error game. I believe you're well established in vintage on the registry, so that must've been a departure for you.

Not really a departure, since my collection goes through 1991—it was simply a departure in the graded area. My 1980-91 sets are ungraded with a few exceptions: 1980-Present HOF Rookies, 1985 Topps Mini, 1990 Donruss Aqueous Test, 1987 All-State Insurance, and 1991 Topps Desert Shield.

[RiceBondsMntna2Young]

Originally Posted by bobsbbcards

Freaking. Amazing. Are any of these worthy of 10s do you think? Any worth sending back to PSA for a second look, I mean?

Originally Posted by ALR-bishop

Having been in Bob's basement I doubt he could find where he stashed his stash. He is also the go to guy for the 1978 Topps Zest Soap set.

Lol this comment was so over my head, I had to research it first. Thought maybe you were going with the underground bunker take like, "this guy has the most impressive set of 1982 Irish Spring reserves this side of the Mississippi." I was wrong.

Originally Posted by bobsbbcards

Not really a departure, since my collection goes through 1991—it was simply a departure in the graded area. My 1980-91 sets are ungraded with a few exceptions: 1980-Present HOF Rookies, 1985 Topps Mini, 1990 Donruss Aqueous Test, 1987 All-State Insurance, and 1991 Topps Desert Shield.

I'm learning a little bit more every day about the oddballs and errors in this hobby. As you can see from above.

[ALR-bishop]

Many of the hobby's oddest balls can be found right here

[bobsbbcards]

Originally Posted by RiceBondsMntna2Young

Any worth sending back to PSA for a second look, I mean?

Nope.

[steve B]

I suspect the origin went a bit like this...

Guy messes up and puts the wrong rookie on Bonds card.
Presses roll, cards get printed, rookies get a few sets for themselves.

a short time later
Boss - Hey X (Inset employee name)
X - Yeah?
Boss- You got the wrong picture on one of those cards, and that Bonds kid is PISSED!
X - man, tell him I'm really sorry.
Boss- Yeah, we did. Still mad, the kids a bit of a tool. Said his godfather is Mays, and if we don't change it right away heads will roll.
X - Damn, I guess I'm staying late tonight.

Card gets fixed, Barry is calmed for a while, and collectors get a pretty tough card to chase.

[Mark17]

I was a full time dealer back then and remember breaking 600 sets of those things. I found one Bonds error in 600 sets. But here's the thing - the set also had the regular variation too, and the regular one was in the proper sequence (sorting these sets was easy - they were always in the same order.)

So, my assumption was that it was intentional, and every so often one was added to a factory set just to create hype and spur sales - which it did.