Hello all. I am actually the person who made this error (worked as baseball editor at Topps in 2001-2). My sincere apologies to Albert, Placido, and collectors everywhere!
Once the error was discovered/reported, I pulled a legit Pujols head shot. I was told that we (Topps) no longer corrected errors like this during a print run, as that could be viewed as creating inserts that went against pack odds (i.e., a way to possibly sell the end/leftovers of a print run - putting rare corrections in the last cases printed). The photo was to be used for variations of the set (Chrome, HTA, etc), just as it was, but not the flagship base card itself.
Thus, I have always avowed that a corrected flagship version doesn't exist.
Now, to be clear, I pulled the correct photo pretty quickly after printing started, and I was not privy to most of the manufacturing process. So it's entirely possible that a corrected version was made. I've seen Rich post that he's seen one, and he obviously knows his shit. But I've never seen one, and I was told they weren't going to make one.
The mystery continues I guess. If it exists, I hope someone comes forward with it.
|