1978 Topps Trammell/Molitor rookie printing issues?

[D. Bergin]

When all other forms of finger-pointing fail...blame it on the Klutts.

[Mike D.]

Do we know where on the printing plate these were? My guess would be "at a spot that gets hit pretty hard with a roller after inking"

[Hollywood42]

I did just a little poking around at a few other key cards from the set, and didn't seem to find a huge pattern of this. It's kinda strange

Originally Posted by brad31

Interested to hear what some of the knowledgeable people on here say. The card is plagued with print issues - the red bleeds, the black bleeds, the ink smears, it is definitely a tough card. I have no idea why and am interested to learn. The other 4 player rookies don’t have this as far as I know.

It's not too late for Washington to add 60 career WAR, right??

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Just thought I'd add this for some giggles...

290. Klutts/Washington Extrapolation
The huge increase in value that a 1978 Topps Rookie Shortstops #707 card will surely attain if another one of the players pictured on it finds his way into the Hall of Fame.

That could explain it. If that is the case, I'd be interested to know what the cards on either side of this one on the printing sheet were to see if those suffer similar issues

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Do we know where on the printing plate these were? My guess would be "at a spot that gets hit pretty hard with a roller after inking"

[D. Bergin]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

It's not too late for Washington to add 60 career WAR, right??

U.L. may never get into the HOF, but his toothpick might.

https://sports.yahoo.com/column-dust...124500810.html

[insidethewrapper]

This Trammell/Moitor duel Rookie HOF card does often appear with these smudge marks. This card was at the bottom ( last line) of the printing sheet. On the left of this card was # 415 Ray Fosse and to the right was # 537 Bruce Bochte. See sheets at Robert Edwards Auctions Archives.

[Hollywood42]

Great sleuthing. Interestingly, after an initial pass on eBay listings of the Fosse and Bochte, it does not appear that either of those have the smudging type issue that the Trammell/Molitor has. I have no new findings to report other than that, but hopefully someone can help continue to fill in the blanks

Originally Posted by insidethewrapper

This Trammell/Moitor duel Rookie HOF card does often appear with these smudge marks. This card was at the bottom ( last line) of the printing sheet. On the left of this card was # 415 Ray Fosse and to the right was # 537 Bruce Bochte. See sheets at Robert Edwards Auctions Archives.

[Zach Wheat]

The initial printing error came from a fingerprint that was left on the original printing mask. Topps apparently tried to correct the fingerprint which led to a lot of successive smudged cards. Most cards have some sort of smudged failed clean up attempt and a few will actually have the fingerprint. I have several Trammel / Molitor rookies...will try to find a fingerprint example. It is very difficult to find a perfectly clean example