The Curious Case of 1972 Harmon Killebrew...

[Mark17]

I don't want to pursue this further so this will be my last on this topic.

If the card was correctly aligned on the sheet, and if the final card was perfectly rectangular, but tilted due to miscut, it would mean:

Whichever cut was made first, vertically down the whole sheet or horizontally across the whole sheet, the problem you initially described would result in quite a lot of significant miscuts. The second cut, likewise, would create the same tilting on every other card on the sheet.

If the initial cut was clean, so as not to negatively impact the other cards, but the other cut created the tilt, then the card would not be square.

Think of it this way. Impose a grid over an uncut sheet, make the Killebrew tilted, and, as your diagram shows, every other card on the sheet gets goofed up too, many resulting in bad miscuts. There is no way Topps would've cut that much scrap (waste) without correcting the problem, and quickly.

Best explanation is that the cutting equipment worked properly, every card on the sheet was cut square and the Killebrew image, at least one of them, was a little off.