'89 Fleer Ripken F-Face
 

Thanks Leon for the new sub-board. My collection leans to the pre-war stuff now, but my devotion to the '89 Fleer Ripken card will live forever!

http://www.billripken.com

(outdated website - needs work)

If anyone wants to contribute information, stories or cards ;), please contact me anytime - or post on this thread. This card brought me back into collecting while in H.S. It keeps the kid in me going strong.

The error itself isn't rare, but a few of the corrections are. Dozens of corrections - that is where the story is.

Haha! The classic error card that should of never made it to the market.

Wonder how many young kids were scarred for life by the Bill Ripkin F*** Face card. I can just imagine the faces of parents when their kid pulled that Bill Ripken from their newly obtained pack of baseball cards! Then Fleer tries to correct it by putting a black box over the bottom of the bat haha.

Wonder what Cal Ripken thought of this........

I had several 'variations' that had a small sticker over the end of the bat. Turns out they were the rarest of the bunch! (original, scratch out, black box)

A sticker? A manually-applied-by-hand sticker? Sounds labor-intensive to me, and if indeed those are the rarest versions of the variety it seems to me - at this point I should say I've never seen one, so take what I'm about to say with however many grains of salt as you wish - that it can easily be faked. Anyone can add a sticker.

I too have never seen a version where there was a manually added sticker on the butt of the back. I got to agree with jp....it sounds easy to fake.

That error caused tons of workers at Fleer to be fired and the President of the company stepped down because he was so upset.

Ripken
 

Zach---are there any articles or documentation of such a purge. I would have thought instead it would have resulted in some bonus money somewhere,even if under the table.

I would sure like to see a sticker version, faked or not. The "cut" version, if a true variation , was also easy to fake. So was the "white out" version. Actually though, there were so many fakes, that they themselves may qualify as modern collectibles.

I have a bunch of these, and a bunch of the Randy Johnson Marlborough cards.

JP---very nice and informative web site. I have used it often

"Sticker" cards
 

As far as I remember, these showed up shortly after the FF came to light. I believe it was the first attempt to obscure the offending part, basically trying to fix existing, unpackaged stock. I can not remember if they were in packs or vending boxes, but I do know that they showed up either at the Philly Civic Center or Willow Grove Show. The reason they may not be around?: At the time the FF was a hot card and people would just peel off the dot to show the prize. I sold a few "as is" as I never had much in the way of fingernails, and noone cared because the other 'fixes' hadn't started showing up yet.

Thanks everyone for the replies. Not sure what the 'sticker' version/variation is.... Pictures?

There were a few odd variates that came directly from Fleer employees - smuggled in bras and pants. Weird stuff.

This craze was before the internet. Sharing of pictures and info was different. Fakes are everywhere - beware.

Thanks also to those that have posted & emailed info. Always a pleasure.

I got that info from Dave Jamison's book "Mint Condition"

Mint Condition
 

Thanks, Zach. I have that book and read it. But us old guys have poor retention

No problem, I just hope my statement is correct too, I tend to forget lines in books too :o

How many official versions of this card are there? Like how many does Beckett or the Grading companies such as PSA or SGC recognize?

TPG companies
 

PSA: 5 (FF, Black Box, Fleer Glossy Black Box, Black Scribble and "Whited out vulgarity".
SGC: pretty much the same. Nothing set in stone. The white scribble - I've seen "airbrushed", "scribble" and "whiteout". They also correctly labeled my progressive proofs.
BGS: 6. They list them #616A-E (FF, Whiteout, White Scribble, Black Scribble, Black Box) plus the Glossy edition.
GAI: they were the only one to do custom labels for each special version. Different black scribbles, sawcuts etc.

http://www.billripken.com

Many true different variations.

For those that requested it:
http://i732.photobucket.com/albums/w.../ffknobs02.jpg
Not everything, but a basic list:
FF, FF w/ Black Doubled, FF w/ Red Doubled, FF w/ Blue Doubled, White Scribble, Black Box w/ Rounded left corner, Circle Scribble, Scribble w/ F, Scribble with 'loop or partial F, Scribble w/o F, Black Box w/ square edges, Whiteout.
Some are easy to locate, others take a long time. Circle Scribbles "semi-airbrushed" can be found in a few levels of darkness/coverage. Glossy "Collector's Tin" version is the rounded edge Black Box only. The "Test-Run" cards that pop up on eBay from time to time are all FAKE. Saw-Cut or factory cut examples can be found on nearly every version leading up to the Black Boxes. I even have one of those cut!
Thanks to those that have emailed etc. :)

Don't forget this one...
 

The "Fish Face" variation! D'oh!

I found a "saw cut white out" Ripken, contacted the owner of one of the Ripken sites and they gave me the e-mail of a guy who bought it for $100 the next day.... Found this card for $1 in a Scottsdale collection... (I think it may have been you)

On second thought it may have been white scribble, whoever I spoke to said it was roughly the 10th found.

Take a giant step back and literally F*** YOUR OWN FACE!

http://photos.imageevent.com/exhibit...s-grossman.jpg

I updated the Ripken website last week. Needed a facelift.

That 'Dipkin' card is neat. 2 versions - both from '94. One was inserted in Simpson comic books. Sells for about $5. The other was special promo. Pretty rare. Most sell for $100+.

Thanks to all that have contacted via the website! Keep the leads / info coming!

Bump for Spring!

Summertime Bump :)