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Posted By: Dave Hornish

John -Excellent!

Let's call this the A sheet, which matches my schematic. Now, if somebody has the B sheet, we are in business!

As for the A sheet, if we identify rows by the left most player we get:

Pinson
Ferrara
N. League Rookies
Colavito
Checklist
Pinson
Red Sox Rookies
Orioles Rookies
Ferrara
N. League Rookies
Colavito
Checklist

Or 55 DP and 22 SP

Excluding the checklist, which Beckett shows as a DP likely due to it's inclusion on the 6th series sheets (a confirmed method of Topps previewing the next series), both Beckett and SCD essentially show cards in the rows started by Pinson and Red Sox Rookies as DP's (I believe Rich Klein called them "multiple prints" many moons ago). The only difference between the two guides other than the Checklist is that #601 Bryan (a Yankee appearing in the Red Sox Rookies row) is not shown as a DP in the SCD guide I used, which likely an oversight.

Also, SCD identifies Brooks Robinson as a Short Print, which is accepted hobby lore (and I recall an early 80's article in some hobby pub indicating it was noted to be short printed as observed on an uncut sheet) but he is clearly Double Printed on the A sheet.

What follows is theory (and if I have made an obvious blunder, don't be shy; I have a history of missing the obvious when I concentrate on the obscure):

If the Checklist row is short printed on the B sheet to allow for prior observation of the Brooks Robinson card being short printed, as is the row starting with the Orioles Rookies as it was not id'd by Beckett or SCD as containing DP cards (and is a single printed row on the A sheet) and you necessarily presume the other 5 rows must be double printed to allow for 77 cards in the series, then a pattern emerges for each row of 11 cards:

Pinson Quadruple Printed (QP)over 2 sheets
Ferrara QP
N. League Rookies QP
Colavito QP
Checklist Triple Printed (TP) over 2 sheets
Red Sox Rookies TP
Orioles Rookies Double Printed (DP) over 2 sheets

The math works, I believe and it also allows for the Beckett sheet configuration. 24 total rows over 2 sheets=16 rows with the QP's, 6 rows with the TP's and 2 rows with the DP but there remain a couple of questions.
The first question is does the other sheet support this theory? The second question is, does the sheet Beckett used to determine their DP listings then have to be considered a partial (due to Rich's old e-mail comments regarding multiple prints of their DP listings) Of the 77 cards in this series then, 11 could be truly short printed while 22 others are a little easier and the remaining 44 are relatively common. The Seaver rookie is then the key to the set (as it is in the Orioles Rookies row) if my theory is correct and 11 cards are twice as difficult as the Quadruple Prints.

Well, does this all make sense?