The card can be setup slightly off center compared to other cards on the sheet. Then when they're cut even if the cutting is perfect that one will be off center.
Another thing that can happen is if the entire sheet is slightly off. If the spacing is off by 1/100th of an inch, once you've made eleven cuts the error is nearly an eighth of an inch, but the width can still be 2.5 inches.
Similarly, an error in width will also move the centering as more cuts are done.
That's one reason why cutting into strips is not a good practice. But Topps probably did it that way. The 79s with 78 backs were originally found as strips If I remember it right. (They were sold as strips, but may have been found as complete sheets.)
Steve B
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