That's what makes the variations difficult to nail down sometimes.
This could have happened a few ways.
They could have blocked off the 90 when setting up the mask. (most likely)
The 90 could have been blocked on the mask by mistake after it was made.(not likely)
Something could have gotten in between the mask and plate when exposing the plate. (Not likely, but considering that it happened a few times at Topps with the 1990 Thomas etc being the best known maybe not as uncommon as it seems. Unlikely, because it doesn't seem to affect any of the other magenta on the card)
The press operator could have stoned off the 90 for some reason. (Unlikely, but the pointing hands on the 81 Fleer seem deliberate to me. Pretty easy to scratch them into the plates. )
There could have been a bit of debris stuck on the plate that wouldn't take ink. (Possible, but ink usually gets jammed in around the edges and leaves marks. )
That bit of debris could be on the offset blanket (Somewhat likely)
The offset blanket could be damaged. (Not all that likely.)
It could be fading, but that's also not really likely, even though it should be possible to make one.
When you get right down to it, many variations are fixes to mistakes. Some are easily identified, like having trade notices or not. Some, like this card it's a little harder to tell.
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