Pretty neat stuff Ted.
I've been studying the first series a bit trying to figure out the order of what to me looks like three printings, or maybe three sets of plates with some transitional cards using elements of two different groups. Having the major variations in some sort of order is huge.
The stuff I'm, looking at.
Pink vs Red and background differences like backgrounds extending along the players body or bat or not.
And not only pink vs red, but dark blue vs light blue and similar background issues.
I've suspected for a while that pink and those extensions of the background were earlier, pink changed because the target market would probably very much prefer red, and the little extensions removed to cut a bit of cost. Not saving much ink per card, but over a big press run it would add up.
There's other changes that are less obvious and that I don't have good scans for like shading on hats or not.
A fun set that I like, and one I like all the more for that complexity. I'll probably complete the basic regular cards someday, probably not the SPs.
Steve B