‘68 Topps McCormick White Letter Variation Question

[YazFenway08]

I picked up a really nice near ‘68 set in a recent Collectors Connection auction (great cards as usual, thanks Scott!)

It has this McCormick white team letters variation. In all the ‘68 sets I have put together, I had never seen one in the wild.

It isn’t like the other color variations in the set in that it isn’t a Milton Bradley variation (at least I think it’s not)

Does anyone know the history of this one? Was at an early or late print run variation? Only available in certain packaging?

I can find info that says it is a tougher variation, but nothing about why it’s so tough.

Thanks!
Mike

[LuckyLarry]

Such a great find. It's definitely not a Milton Bradley as Mike was not included in that set. According to past auction listings, it's the toughest of the variations in the 1968 set, and certainly recognized by the Standard Catalog and the grading companies as well. Here is what AI had to say about "why white letters" on this card:

The 1968 Topps Mike McCormick card with white letters is a rare and valuable printing error, not a standard design. A normal McCormick card has the team name "GIANTS" in yellow letters. The white letter variation was caused by an error in the printing process that left the yellow ink off a small portion of the production run.

The player's photograph was printed using a four-color process known as CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/black).
A final layer of ink, in this case yellow, was applied to fill in the "GIANTS" lettering.

For the few sheets that produced the variation, the machine either ran out of yellow ink or a plate failed, resulting in the "white letter" error.

Hope this helps!

[jmoran19]

Have a fading memory but I thought these variations like the 69 mantle white letters came out of rak packs

[YazFenway08]

Thanks guys for the input! Only being in a certain type of pack from a certain time of year/release makes some sense.


I know exactly zero about printing processes, so ….


I looked at “Giants” under magnification. I just doesn’t seem like it simply missed a color pass. If that were the case, wouldn’t the other colors on the front have been impacted?

[deweyinthehall]

Interesting discussion.

A few years ago there was another similar discussion on the white letter McCormick on these boards that I think I started.

As I build master sets I include variations which were the result of a design change, not variations which were printing flaws. So, I do collect the '74 Washingtons but not the 1990 NNOF Thomas.

I was under the impression from that earlier discussion that the McCormick white lettering was a design flaw - i.e. the cards went to press with Giants supposed to print in white, but someone noticed and then changed it to yellow.

If the prevailing wisdom is that it is actually a problem with the yellow color pass on a few sheets, then it would come off my list of needs.

I do it this way because if I started to include printing variations, I'd go down a rabbit hole with no bottom.

So, the white letter McCormick - printing flaw or design change?

Not to stray from the topic, but same question for the 1969 white letters...

[swarmee]

Since the rest of the card seems to have a complete yellow color pass, I still believe it's a design change.

[YazFenway08]

I agree. Nothing else about this card front screams that it missed a color pass or was the result of a printing defect. I think the error was caught early and they made the color change. This isn’t a high number…so when Topps moved on to the next series, did they ever go back and print more of a preceding series? Just not sure how the quality control would have worked. I guess it got out into some version of packs, QC or a customer noticed it was different than other giants cards and all subsequent printings fixed it.

[deweyinthehall]

*sigh*

Back on the "need" list....

[YazFenway08]

Don’t fret…I am now back wading in these troubled variation waters with you.

Now I need a “regular” McCormick and the Milton Bradley/yellow letter variations or I won’t be able to sleep.

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by YazFenway08

Don’t fret…I am now back wading in these troubled variation waters with you.

Now I need a “regular” McCormick and the Milton Bradley/yellow letter variations or I won’t be able to sleep.

Tell you what - I'll trade you my regular yellow letter McCormick for your white letter McCormick, straight up - it'd be a win/win for both of us!

[YazFenway08]

I will have to solicit feedback from myriad Facebook groups to see if everyone thinks that is a fair trade. Seems a little light to me. Maybe if you throw in one of those ugly ‘69 mantles with the off-putting white letters?

[deweyinthehall]

Originally Posted by YazFenway08

I will have to solicit feedback from myriad Facebook groups to see if everyone thinks that is a fair trade. Seems a little light to me. Maybe if you throw in one of those ugly ‘69 mantles with the off-putting white letters?

Can't help with the Mantle, but I do have this crappy Frank Thomas that doesn't even has his name on the front...