The 1990 Topps baseball card set featured several notable printing errors that have made certain cards highly sought after by collectors over the years. Errors in sets from the late 1980s and early 90s are particularly valuable to collectors due to the relatively small print runs during that time period compared to modern sets.
One of the standout errors from the 1990 Topps release was the Dave Johnson card, which was accidentally printed backward. Johnson was a relief pitcher who played for the San Diego Padres and Cincinnati Reds from 1988-1992. On his card, the standard information boxes featuring his stats and career details were printed on the reverse side of the card stock while the photo was on the “front.” Clearly, someone made a mistake during the printing process that caused Johnson’s card sheet to be inserted into the presses backwards.
Only a small number of the miscut Dave Johnson cards are believed to have survived to present day in mint condition. They often fetch prices well over $1,000 when they pop up for auction. Given the intriguing mistake and relative obscurity of the player, it’s become one of the most recognizable and desirable errors from the entire 1980s/early 90s era.
Another major flaw came in the form of “upside-down printing” on a handful of cards. Due to an error in the printing plates, a small subset of cards had their images printed completely upside-down. Those affected included Dodgers outfielder Kal Daniels, Cubs starting pitcher Les Lancaster, and Cardinals relief pitcher Todd Burns. Like the Dave Johnson card, only a minuscule number of these upside-down printed cards are believed to exist in high grades today since they would not have been as identifiable at the time without the correct orientation.
In online auctions, mint condition examples of the upside-down Burns, Lancaster, or Daniels cards in a PSA/BGS slab often sell for $500-1000 or more. Even heavily played copies still attract bids in the $100-200 range from collectors looking to add some layer of printing anomaly to their sets or player collections. The scarcity and novelty factor make them attractive acquisitions.
Another popular error subset involves missorts between the front and back of certain cards during the assembly process. These resulted in players being pictured on the back of the card while stats/info appeared on the front, similar to the Dave Johnson debacle. Those affected in 1990 Topps include Yankees ace Andy Hawkins and eventual Hall of Famer Rickey Henderson of the A’s. Even in lower grades, complete examples with both card fronts/backs still sell briskly for $50-150.
Beyond specific player cards, there was also a manufacturer defect where the very edge of some card sheets were left untrimmed and uncut during processing. This created “fringed” or “uncentered” borders around certain cards that ended up oversized in the final packaged product. Examples among the affected are Dodgers hurler Tim Belcher and Cardinals slugger Pedro Guerrero. As charming relics of the printing flaws, the fringed 90 Topps cards are a reasonably priced target for most collectors at $10-30 each.
Taken together, the assorted errors and anomalies that occurred during production of the 1990 Topps baseball card set have cemented its reputation as a outlier amongst collectors. The rarity, variety, and visual intrigue associated with the flaws make these error cards disproportionately appealing and profitable compared to their standard issue counterparts over 30 years later. For anyone curating a vintage set or specializing in oddball collectibles, 1990 Topps is a gold mine still offering surprises.
