The 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set is considered one of the most significant and valuable sets in the history of the sport for several reasons. Not only did it help revolutionize the baseball card industry by introducing crisp, high-quality photography and card stock not seen before, but it also featured some of the game’s biggest stars from that era like Nolan Ryan, Ozzie Smith, and Roger Clemens. What also makes the 1989 Upper Deck set notable are the various errors that occurred during the printing and production process. Some of these mistakes have led to certain cards within the set gaining significant value among collectors.
One of the most famous and sought-after errors from the 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set involves the Mickey Mantle card. On Mantle’s base card, which is numbered 0007, the photo is actually of Whitey Ford in a Yankees uniform from the 1960s. Mantle had long since retired by that point. It’s believed this error occurred due to Upper Deck mixing up negative sleeves in the darkroom when selecting photos for particular players. Only a small number of cards were printed with the Whitey Ford photo on the Mantle card before the mistake was caught and corrected. As a result, the 1989 Upper Deck Mickey Mantle error card has sold at auction for tens of thousands of dollars and is one of the most valuable mistakes in the history of the hobby.
Another major error involved the #133 card of Steve Sax. On the Sax card, his stats and information on the back are correct, but the photo is actually of fellow second baseman Lou Whitaker of the Detroit Tigers. Like the Mantle error, it’s thought Upper Deck mixed up the photo negative sleeves for these two players when assembling the cards. Only a handful of the Steve Sax/Lou Whitaker hybrid cards were produced before the mistake was caught. Those that exist are considered true oddball errors that fetch high prices on the secondary market.
Besides swapping photos of the wrong players, some 1989 Upper Deck cards had technical mistakes as well. The #249 card of Tim Raines has the name “Rinaldo” misspelled as “Rineldo” on the front. “Rineldo” Raines cards are now valued much higher than the corrected versions. Another technical error saw the #265 card of shortstop Tony Fernandez with his name completely missing from the front. Only a few Fernandez “nameless” cards are reported to exist in collectors’ hands today.
Odd numbering issues occurred with some 1989 Upper Deck cards as well. The #1 card, which was supposed to feature Nolan Ryan, instead had the photo and stats of #2 Barry Bonds. Meanwhile, the actual #2 Barry Bonds card contained the photo and stats of #4 Pete Incaviglia. So in essence, the Nolan Ryan, Barry Bonds, and Pete Incaviglia cards were all mixed up in numbering order due to a manufacturing mistake. The properly numbered Nolan Ryan #1 is extremely rare while the wrongly numbered versions hold significant value.
Beyond photos, names, numbering and spelling, even uniform numbers were botched on a small handful of 1989 Upper Deck cards. Most famously, Oscar Azocar’s uniform #23 on the front of his card actually had a #2 printed instead. The Oscar Azocar #2 error is one of the keys to the entire set for dedicated Upper Deck collectors. Misprinted uniform numbers also occurred with Mike Greenwell (#8 instead of #15), Oddibe McDowell (#20 instead of #23), and Robin Yount (#7 instead of #9).
Perhaps the most bizarre error from the 1989 Upper Deck baseball card set involves the Ken Phelps card. On a small number of Phelps’ cards, what appears to be a partial pornographic image from a magazine was inadvertently included in the bottom photograph. How exactly this happened remains a mystery, though it was likely due to a misplaced negative either in the darkroom or during layout. Regardless of how it occurred, the Ken Phelps “porn photo” error is one of the strangest flukes in the history of the hobby. Examples that have the risqué image printed on the card have sold for over $1,000 before.
In total, it’s estimated several hundred thousand cards from the original 1989 Upper Deck production run contained some sort of mistake whether it involved player photos, names, numbering or other details. While frustrating for the manufacturer at the time, these errors have ironically helped propel the entire set to new heights in terms of collectibility and nostalgia over 30 years later. Select examples could realistically sell at auction for five or even six figures depending on the specific player and nature of the mistake. For dedicated card collectors and enthusiasts of obscure variants, few other releases can match the intrigue and allure of the many legendary errors produced during the inaugural year of Upper Deck’s foray into the sports card world.
