The Curious Case of 1972 Harmon Killebrew...

[JollyElm]

Originally Posted by Mark17

This assumes the sheets were cut vertically into long columns first, then cut into individual cards horizontally. Doesn't it seem more logical the sheets would have been cut horizontally first, then the rows cut vertically to make the individual cards?

But in either case, if the cards were miscut, in other words, not completely rectangular, then holding a stack of cards with a Killebrew included would make the Killebrew stick out. Since I don't believe that is the case, the answer must be what another poster said: the Killebrew image itself was tilted on the sheet, and the card was cut correctly.

I was sort of using the vertical cuts as a stand-in for either vertical or horizontal cuts, but you're right, I should have specified both possibilities. It's funny, because the more and more I look at the card abutting Killebrew, Cleon Jones IA (one of my favorite Mets from childhood), it seems that a much higher percentage of them are tilted than I originally thought. But (and it's a big BUT), the card occupying the spot on the other side of Killer, Billy Martin IA, is always, always, always O/C, but 'rarely' ever found with any sort of tilt to it. That just deepens the mystery of whatever was going on back then even more. There could possibly be some other sort of basic explanation to all of this. For instance (highly unlikely), perhaps Topps' quality control people actually did their jobs and tossed out multitudes of overly-tilted cards, but an inordinate number of Cleons and Harmons squeaked through? I doubt it, but who knows? Personally, it's tough for me to imagine that Topps laid out the sheets and somehow misaligned the Killebrew card. Certainly something to consider, but I would think the chances of that being the case must be pretty remote.