1974 Washington Variations

PaulMaul

Anyone know why some cards have Washington variations and others don't? Given that the set was released all at the same time, seems like they all would. I guess the cards must have still been created in numerical order, since the Washington variations mostly occur at the beginning of the set. But then there's the Dave Freisleben rookie card toward the end.

Anyone have any facts or theories?

SDSportsFan

Basically, by the time Ray Kroc bought the Padres and vowed to keep them in San Diego, Topps had already begun printing the first three series with the Washington NL cards.

Once it was known the Padres would not be moving, Topps was able to change the artwork on the cards, and print them with the San Diego caption.

Thing is, when the captions were changed to say San Diego, the Freisleben was missed, since it was a multi-player rookie. Whoever was responsible for changing the cards, only looked at the Washington/San Diego cards, and neglected to check for any Padre rookies. So, it wasn't changed until late in the print run, once it was discovered that it hadn't been corrected.

An interesting point about the Freisleben:

Three variations exist.

1. Washington NL
2. San Diego in large letters
3. San Diego in small letters

Of the three variations, the scarcest, most valuable is the San Diego small print. The Washington NL is the most common, least valuable.


Steve

scotgreb

+1 for Steve's great response -- so many knowledgable collectors on this board.