1969 back stock color variations
 

Can anyone shed some light on these? I have about 2500 cards from 1969 that i have gotten from multiple sources, and there are two very distinct back colorations: one is very "hot pink" with bright white background to the stats box, and the other is more of a mauve/orange with a greyer background to the stats box. Both say mfg by t c g. so its not an opc issue.

I haven't checked for sure (and i'm at work so no scans) but i seem to have more of the pinkish ones in the lower series.

Can anyone elaborate on this? are all 564 cards available in both variations?

My [limited] understanding from specialists in the late 1960s Topps issues is that there are two or three different card stocks that were out there for some issues, depending on whether the cards were in wax, vending, racks or cellos. I know that is the case for 1968 baseball [the false Milton Bradley cards come from the stock variation] and football, and suspect it carried over into the 1969 baseball issue.

The more I read and research about how cards of this era were printed, the more obvious it becomes that a printer would use any stock available to finish off a print run. That's why there are smaller pops of some types in some runs. I have not heard too much about the theory that Adam puts forth above but it does seem possible.

'70 Topps is similar in that it seems to have white backs and cream backs, perhaps using some card stock left over from an opeechee run.

thanks for the input.