‘68 Topps McCormick White Letter Variation Question

[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.