1973 Topps BB sheets

[Kevvyg1026]

In going through some images of slit patterns, I noticed that there are different configurations for the various slits. Now, each series had 132 cards, so there were 12 different rows of 11 cards printed twice across the full sheet of 264 cards.

I have an image of a full slit (half-sheet of 132 cards) having 132 different cards while another has 66 diffremnt cards printed 2x on the slit.

This would mean that one print configuartion had identical A & B slits with a pattern of: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L for each slit.

Then, a second sheet configuration would be:
Slit A: A, B, C, D, E, F, A, B, C, D, E, F
Slit B: G, H, I, J, K, L, G, H, I, J, K, L

As an example, for series 1, the header cards are:
A - All time HR leader
B - Sizemore
C - Watson
D - Fingers
E - Hernandez
F - Checklist 1
G - Dodgers team
H - Stanton
I - White
J - Griffin
K - Cubs Coaches
L - Kingman

Here are images of two different slits, plus miscuts of the Dodger team that clearly show it at both the top of a slit and underneath Kingman.

Anyone have knowledge or information about when or why these different sheets exist?

I would guess, but it is only speculation, that the 6x2 configuration would have happened first, and then the 12x1 was put in place when Topps decided to release the cards all at once.

1973B 1 A.jpg

1973_91_alt_slit_config.jpg

1973_91_top_slit.jpg

1973B 1.jpg