For those of us that love collecting cards, it’s always interesting to learn a little more about the history of baseball cards. One of the events that we should all know about is the error card craze. This started in 1980 when Fleer had an antitrust suit against Topps to gain the right to sell baseball cards in competition with Topps, saying that Topps and the Major League Baseball Players Association have unlawfully restrained trade in baseball cards. After winning the case, both Fleer and Donruss became major manufacturers of baseball cards.
Since it was already late in the season, both Fleer and Donruss rushed to put their products on the market. Fleer manufactured and released their first sets within a couple of months. Due to the rushed planning, the cards came with many problems. Fleer’s cards tended to warp, and Donruss’ cards were controversial because they were printed on bible pages. In addition, both companies packaged their cards with gum, which sometimes ruined the front of the card.
Many sports card buyers in NJ started to notice that a lot of their other cards had errors as well, but the one that made the biggest impact was the 1981 Fleer Graig Nettles error card. Instead of saying “Graig”, the back of the card said “Craig.” Although Fleer quickly corrected the mistake, collectors quickly became more interested in the error card. This sparked the error card craze, where collectors began to search for cards with errors.
To this day, sports card buyers in NJ are usually willing to pay more for cards that have manufacturing errors, as they are rarer and more valuable. At American Legends, we also value rare cards. If you have any error cards that you’re interested in selling, give us a call.
