Brooks Robinson and the Baltimore Orioles

[BaltOrioles]

Originally Posted by Mark70Z

Alan,

So at least there's a Lausanne then a Lausanne: A and there's a Geneva: B . Is that it or are there more possibilities?

Mark,

The short answer is yes, there are probably more variations of the Brooks Robinson card. After doing some research, here are the Orioles cards I can confirm. All of these say "Printed in Italy" and are the US versions.

Brooks Robinson #16-07 - 1977 Lausanne, 1977 Lausanne A, 1979 Geneva B

Earl Weaver (Lingo II) #18-16 - 1978 Lausanne

Jim Palmer #26-15 - 1978 Lausanne, 1979 Geneva A, 1979 Geneva B, 1979 Geneva C

Memorial Stadium #58-12 - 1979 Lausanne

Frank Robinson #59-20 - 1979 Lausanne, 1979 Geneva A

Mike Flanagan #102-01 - 1979 Geneva, 1979 Geneva A

Here's the long answer...
These are some of my thoughts, but without any concrete facts to back them up. My guess is that as new subscribers came on, after the first printings of earlier cards, they were given the opportunity to purchase earlier sets (causing several print runs A, B, C). This would explain the Brooks Robinson with 1977 & 1979 dating, as well as the fact that the earlier cards seem to have more variations. It also looks like the early print runs are Lausanne and at some point in 1979 were switched to Geneva.

Supposedly, there were also cards issued for distribution in England and perhaps other countries. Also, "Printed in Japan" cards.

Hope this helps. I'll update as I come across any additional info. Anyone with corrections/additions feel free to reply.


Here are some excerpts taken from an earlier Net54 thread, from 2014-2015, that I based some of my thoughts on.

It's been a really fun set to work on but I fear that going any further in terms of collecting variations may be difficult. Part of the problem with this set is that because there is so little info out there regarding the variations available even the most detail oriented collectors may not realize that they have a particular version or variation of a card, meaning that happens to be a feature which is neglected when selling and trading. Just hop onto ebay for some evidence of this--relatively few listings identify simple information such as the series and card number, let alone if they are a 'A, B, C' or 'Japan, Lausanne, Geneva' variation or if the card in the listing is from the US or UK set. Heck, some of the listings aren't even using the term 'Sportscaster', complicating matters even further.

I don't have a complete set yet, but I've been tracking variations for each series as a long-term project. I've found a lot so far in the different printings - A, B, C, blank.

As you might guess, the higher numbered series tend to be tougher to find...series 1-55 are the most readily available but also, in my experience, seem to be the series with the greatest number of variations. Series 80 and above tend to be the toughest but also appear to have the fewest number of variations.