1978 Topps Trammell/Molitor rookie printing issues?

[Hollywood42]

I've recently begun shopping around for a copy of the '78 Topps Trammell/Molitor rookie card, and I've noticed what seems to be a really common issue of the bottom of the card around the red outline above "rookie shortstops" being pretty noticeably unclean. I've pulled a few pictures from eBay listings as examples below. Each of the 3 images I used were PSA graded copies, and had gotten grades up to a 7, so it doesn't seem like it's something that severely limits the grade potential

Some examples of this almost look like residue from the gum that was in these packs? But I'm kind of thinking this is more an ink bleed or wet ink dripping issue from printing imperfections. I'm curious if anyone knows the source of this, because it looks to be very common with this card

[brad31]

Interested to hear what some of the knowledgeable people on here say. The card is plagued with print issues - the red bleeds, the black bleeds, the ink smears, it is definitely a tough card. I have no idea why and am interested to learn. The other 4 player rookies don’t have this as far as I know.

[JollyElm]

Just thought I'd add this for some giggles...

290. Klutts/Washington Extrapolation
The huge increase in value that a 1978 Topps Rookie Shortstops #707 card will surely attain if another one of the players pictured on it finds his way into the Hall of Fame.

[D. Bergin]

When all other forms of finger-pointing fail...blame it on the Klutts.

[Mike D.]

Do we know where on the printing plate these were? My guess would be "at a spot that gets hit pretty hard with a roller after inking"

[Hollywood42]

I did just a little poking around at a few other key cards from the set, and didn't seem to find a huge pattern of this. It's kinda strange

Originally Posted by brad31

Interested to hear what some of the knowledgeable people on here say. The card is plagued with print issues - the red bleeds, the black bleeds, the ink smears, it is definitely a tough card. I have no idea why and am interested to learn. The other 4 player rookies don’t have this as far as I know.

It's not too late for Washington to add 60 career WAR, right??

Originally Posted by JollyElm

Just thought I'd add this for some giggles...

290. Klutts/Washington Extrapolation
The huge increase in value that a 1978 Topps Rookie Shortstops #707 card will surely attain if another one of the players pictured on it finds his way into the Hall of Fame.

That could explain it. If that is the case, I'd be interested to know what the cards on either side of this one on the printing sheet were to see if those suffer similar issues

Originally Posted by Mike D.

Do we know where on the printing plate these were? My guess would be "at a spot that gets hit pretty hard with a roller after inking"