1989 Fleer Randy Johnson #381 Marlboro Errors - 30 Years Later

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

Going through some of my Johnson inventory...

Here are two different "green tint" versions. The one is hard to pick up, but its more shoddy camera work & lighting than anything.

The one thing I noticed. In the one, the M in Marlboro is visible...in the other, it isnt. I will try to get a better picture.

Originally Posted by jacksoncoupage

To add to the insanity, I’m convinced that a new variation of the green “scribble” card exists with a very bright, almost neon green “tint” over the white area of the sign. Almost all green scribble cards (and I’ve noted two very distinct shapes of scribble) have a darker green tint/masking to them.

You are both correct. There are two versions of “green scribbles”. We ended up calling them “fish” because of the red tinting around the letters in Marlboro has a fish shape. Both versions have lightly tinted cards all the way to up to cards so heavily tinted they look like other “box” versions. I put 37 cards of one of the “fish” versions together into an album on Flickr. I sorted them as best as I could from lightest to darkest(it’s hard). I don’t have it exactly correct, but you can watch the cards via slide show on there that go from one card to the next and progressively get darker and more tinting. What do you think?


https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmarl...57675341931257

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

You are both correct. There are two versions of “green scribbles”. We ended up calling them “fish” because of the red tinting around the letters in Marlboro has a fish shape. Both versions have lightly tinted cards all the way to up to cards so heavily tinted they look like other “box” versions. I put 37 cards of one of the “fish” versions together into an album on Flickr. I sorted them as best as I could from lightest to darkest(it’s hard). I don’t have it exactly correct, but you can watch the cards via slide show on there that go from one card to the next and progressively get darker and more tinting. What do you think?


https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmarl...57675341931257

Thank you the link. And scanning all of these!

Do you have a link for the other green scribble version? The 36 pics show variations in darkness, as you mentioned, but all seem to be the same “shape” of blackout ( top of LB visible ). There is another shape, more like a deflated pyramid that includes the top of the LB in Marlboro as a sort of peak to the black coverup shape.

[Statfreak101]

Originally Posted by jacksoncoupage

Thank you the link. And scanning all of these!

Do you have a link for the other green scribble version? The 36 pics show variations in darkness, as you mentioned, but all seem to be the same “shape” of blackout ( top of LB visible ). There is another shape, more like a deflated pyramid that includes the top of the LB in Marlboro as a sort of peak to the black coverup shape.

Any chance you are referring to the below version?

https://ibb.co/68nQfkF
https://ibb.co/MP28XWF

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Statfreak101

Any chance you are referring to the below version?

https://ibb.co/68nQfkF
https://ibb.co/MP28XWF

My pics/scans all turn out like those and I can't see them very well.

There are at least 3 versions I own. There is the blob version that covers everything on Marlboro. Then there is the squiggly bar version that you can see the tops of the L and B. Then there is a version with both the blob in a lighter black with the squiggly bar in a darker black.

I have not looked at them any closer than those 3 main versions.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by jacksoncoupage

Thank you the link. And scanning all of these!

Do you have a link for the other green scribble version? The 36 pics show variations in darkness, as you mentioned, but all seem to be the same “shape” of blackout ( top of LB visible ). There is another shape, more like a deflated pyramid that includes the top of the LB in Marlboro as a sort of peak to the black coverup shape.

Yeah that was just the album for the red circle version of the fish. I’ll try to get the no red circle version posted soon that you’re referring to. I haven’t worked on the cards for a little while, but I think I have most of the images of the other fish version already mostly sorted and I’ll just need to upload them. It will still take me a little while as I have to crop the images on Flickr.

Just looking at the first few images of some of the non red circle versions of the fish, I think I found some of the cards you mentioned last night. The red scribbling around the letters in Marlboro is vibrant red and the green tinting is very light and an almost neon color mixed with the white background of the ad. You can see the rope in the Marlboro Man’s hand the green tinting is so light in one of the cards. I’ll post a link on here when it’s up.

[Hatorade]

35 images in the No RC Album. I definitely have a few lined up in the wrong order of the sequence. I’m also not convinced these cards are only one version either, but these are the other fish shape that doesn’t have the red circle. This version of the fish also has lighter to darker spectrum situation occurring to them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmarl...57714668577038

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

35 images in the No RC Album. I definitely have a few lined up in the wrong order of the sequence. I’m also not convinced these cards are only one version either, but these are the other fish shape that doesn’t have the red circle. This version of the fish also has lighter to darker spectrum situation occurring to them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmarl...57714668577038

Great green scribble cards. I remember when there were considered extremely rare. Even on eBay you could only find one listed about once a month at the most.

[Hatorade]

Originally Posted by bnorth

Great green scribble cards. I remember when there were considered extremely rare. Even on eBay you could only find one listed about once a month at the most.

Thanks Ben. They do seem to be a little more prevalent than once considered, but overall I would say they are still pretty rare, even amongst the different Marlboro versions. You still can’t find them in much volume these days.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Thanks Ben. They do seem to be a little more prevalent than once considered, but overall I would say they are still pretty rare, even amongst the different Marlboro versions. You still can’t find them in much volume these days.

Knowing that this card went through all of the changes that it did, arguably 12, minimum, all within 5-6 weeks of production time (January cases have the FF Ripken and full correction Randy), tells me that some versions must be even more limited than others. I stand by the bright green/scribble version and the visible Marlboro with green tint as two examples of rarer types.

[bnorth]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

Thanks Ben. They do seem to be a little more prevalent than once considered, but overall I would say they are still pretty rare, even amongst the different Marlboro versions. You still can’t find them in much volume these days.

That is because a few of us own most of them.

[jacksoncoupage]

Originally Posted by Hatorade

35 images in the No RC Album. I definitely have a few lined up in the wrong order of the sequence. I’m also not convinced these cards are only one version either, but these are the other fish shape that doesn’t have the red circle. This version of the fish also has lighter to darker spectrum situation occurring to them.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/rjmarl...57714668577038

Yes, the ones at the beginning of this album are exactly what I was referring to. Some are quite vibrant! And I agree, I think there may be variations to the blacked out area/shape, kind of looks like here are different peaks and bumps along the top.