Topps 99 and 00 Error??

ROCKETMAN

I have contacted Topps on this issue and they say they do not have any information beyond the production year.

I have a 1999(date on reverse bottom of card) Topps 20th Century Best #472 Roger Clemens.
I also have the identical card with the date 2000(date on reverse bottom of card) Topps 20th Century Best #472 Roger Clemens.
I also have Roger Clemens card #232 Topps 20th Century Best.
Then of course there are the Topps Chrome & Refractor cards of Clemens.

They also produced a Limited Edition card(gold stamped on front). This is not listed in the Beckett.

My question is; has anyone else come across this problem or NOTICED that there are to identical cards for 99 & 00. They are listed in the Beckett as year 2000.

Any help would be appreciated!!!

Thanks, Rich

jeffcbay

Got scans?

EAsports

Is it possible that one is from packs, and one is from the factory set?

I would imagine that packs were out early in 2000, but the set didn't come out until later in the season.

ROCKETMAN

Sorry, having trouble uploading file. Not very good at scanning/posting/etc pictures/cards.

What do you need to know? Cards are identical except for the years. Since collecting Clemens the last 25years, this is a first! I guess they could be a one of a kind card! Problem being, there could be 24 different cards!!!!!!!!! And not cheap!!!! There are 3 cards in the set. Not including, Chrome, Chrome Refractors and Limited Edition!
Just trying to figure out exactly what was printed. Thanks, Rich

ROCKETMAN

Thats a thought! However, wouldn't this be a recurring issue from yr. to yr? Also, that would mean there was 2 different printings to be acknowledge by Topps. That would be to there benefit if true because there would be an additional 15 Clemens cards to be purchased. Thanks, Rich

jeffcbay

The only thing I can suggest is to look up the back scans on COMC, they have a few different versions on there. They all appear to say 2000 on the back. There are so many versions of that card, who knows what they all say.

jeffcbay

Having done a little more research about this, it appears you might have cards from the "Home Team Advantage" sets. The 20th Century Best cards didn't have the stamps on the front to differentiate these from the base set.

Here is an excerpt from BaseballCardPedia:

The HTA Factory set was (as the name suggests) exclusive to Hobby stores participating in the Home Team Advantage program. Each HTA factory set included all 478 base cards plus one Hank Aaron Chrome reprint. All of the base cards within Home Team Advantage factory sets were stamped with a special "HTA" gold foil logo on the card front. Oddly, cards 222-228 (Divisional Playoffs), 229-235 (20th Century's Best), 461-467 (League Leaders) and 468-474 (20th Century Best) did NOT feature the gold-foil HTA tag.

I couldn't find enough examples from the Clemens card, but here are four versions of the Luis Gonzalez card from the following sets:

Regular (1999):


Opening Day (2000):


Limited (1999):


Home Team Advantage (1999):


Long story short... I don't think you have what would be considered an "error", you just have to figure out what set that particular card came from.

ROCKETMAN

Thanks for the info! Wasn't aware of that (COMC) site! Good to have! Yea, it doesn't show the 1999! Nor does it list the 20th Century Best on the 1999 listing. Wish Topps could give me an answer!

BunchOBull

Well, the difference in cards number 232 and 472 is that one is for wins and one for stikeouts.

Card 232 was part of series 1 and would have been produced at the end of '99, hence the date. Card 472 was part of series 2 and should have the date of 2000.

So the 472 with the date of 1999 is the oddball, as it wasn't produced until 2000.

The Limited Parallels were just regular base sets later stamped with foil, and will likely have the same dates as their base counterparts.

ROCKETMAN

Thanks for the info! That does make sense and it is listed in the Beckett as Series 1 & 2. So, that means there is a 235 (1999) Chrome card also and the Refractor!. I remember over the years collecting the Rocket (25+yrs) seeing other issue like this. I know because when filing a card in my Alblum under the (Beckett) yr I've noticed the yr on the back of the card different than the one listed in Beckett!!! Not even going to research what year or cards those were!!! Just remember it being very confusing! You can realize the difficulty for one that is attemting to collect "every" Clemens card out there! Thanks for the input! Rich