The 1990 Donruss baseball card set is mostly remembered for the infamous “blank back” error that affected a portion of the cards printed that year. There were several other noteworthy errors and variations that occurred in the 1990 Donruss production run. Let’s take an in-depth look at some of the key mistakes and anomalies found in the 1990 Donruss baseball card set.
One of the more common errors seen in 1990 Donruss involves swapped photograph prints on cards. In at least a handful of cases, a player’s photo was mistakenly printed on the wrong card. The most well-known example of this is the Bryn Smith card, where his photo was accidentally used on the Brett Butler card instead. Several other swapped photo errors have been reported over the years as well, though they are far less documented than the Butler/Smith mix-up.
In addition to swapped photos, there were also a few instances where the completely wrong photo was used. Perhaps the strangest example is the Fred Lynn card, where an unidentified player is pictured instead of Lynn. The facial features and uniform do not match Lynn at all, making this a truly bizarre printing mistake. A couple other cards are thought to have similarly wrong photos but they have never been conclusively identified.
Speaking of photos, some 1990 Donruss cards had printing defects that caused parts of the picture to be omitted. The most noticeable instance is the Darren Daulton card, where the upper right corner of his photo is clipped off. A small piece is also missing from the lower left on the Juan Guzman card. These photo cropping errors are very minor but stand out compared to properly printed examples.
Card stock quality control was an issue in 1990 as well. Some cards had noticeable white flecks or spots embedded in the stock. The fibers were not properly blended or the paper had debris that was not filtered out before printing. Areas like the portraits were mostly unaffected but white dots could be seen in the solid color backgrounds on a sparse number of cards.
The infamous “blank back” error from 1990 Donruss does not actually leave the back completely blank. Upon very close examination, ghosted remnants of the original back design and text can vaguely be seen. The ink simply did not sufficiently adhere to cause a clear print. The backs have more of a cloudy white appearance versus a true blank. This anomaly created a modern modern error card phenomenon.
Even the card fronts sometimes had faults beyond just photo or cropping mistakes. Very rarely, parts of the design or fonts would be missing or incomplete. The numbers, for example, on a small handful of cards did not fully render. Sections are cut off or pieces are blank where the ink failed to fully strike the surface. These defects affected an infinitesimally small portion of the several hundred cards in the base set.
In at least one case, the card stock itself was defective. The Nolan Ryan card is known to have an example where the surface is severely scratched post-printing, almost resembling a nail or other implement was drug across it. This caused parts of the photo and design to be obliterated. It is thought to have occurred during the manufacturing process rather than afterwards.
One final noteworthy error involves cards with the wrong back design completely. A select few 1990 Donruss cards had the design from the rookie card subset mistakenly affixed. The Robinson Cano and David Wells rookies were among those found with the standard base card back rather than the special RC marking. Since the backs differentiated the regulars from the coveted rookies, this abnormality has collector interest.
While printing and production flaws existed, the 1990 Donruss baseball card set maintained a very high quality level considering the enormous undertaking of manufacturing such a large multi-part release. The errors are remarkably infrequent when you consider the hundreds of millions of individual cards created that year. Conditions were not perfect so a few anomalies were perhaps inevitable, leaving today’s enthusiasts with some truly one-of-a-kind accidental variants to seek out.
