Variations/Errors of Frank Thomas Cards
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1990 Topps
Along with other cards in the 1990 Topps set Frank Thomas is partially missing the black printing on the front of the card. This led to him having his name missing on the front of his card.
1991 Arena Holograms Silver Autograph
There are 1250 silver hologram and 1250 gold hologram autographs (a total of 2500 signed like the other big names). All silver autographs should be signed without number 35 and all gold autographs are signed with number 35 next to his name. The first variation is the silver is serial numbered and non-numbered. The silver also has been signed with the number 35 next to the autograph. The gold variations are that the serial numbering is done in either blue or black ink. There is also a non-serial number variation.
1991 Donruss
There are 3 variations of this card printing. The first 2 variations have the same front but on the back are printed with either a missing period after the INC in the Leaf copyright or has a ".". The third variation is from the factory set and is printed with a different front border.
1991 Fleer
There are 2 versions of Thomas' 1991 Fleer card. The difference between the two cards is on one version the statistics and write-up lower on the back of the card compaired to the other version.
1991 Stadium Club
y
1991 Topps
y
1991 Upper Deck
y
1992 Donruss McDonalds
y
1992 Score
y
1992 Leaf
As like the 1991 Donruss and 1992 Leaf Gold this issue has either a period or no period after the INC in the Leaf copyright.
1992 Leaf Gold
As like the 1991 Donruss and 1992 Leaf this issue has either a period or no period after the INC in the Leaf copyright.
1992 Stadium Club
y
1992 Stadium Club Masters Club
y
1993 Leaf
The difference can be found on both the card front and back. On the front the "promo" card has the Franklin Logo on Thomas' glove and wristband, the regular issue doe not. The cropping of both cards is also slightly different. On the back of the cards the placement of the foil Sox logo is found on the far upper left corner on the "promo" whereas on the regular card it is more toward the center of the card. The cropping of Thomas on the backs of the cards is also different.
1993 Studio
Card Fronts:
• The Promo's facsimile signature is larger than the regularly issued version (about 20% bigger)
• Notice the end swash of the promo signature crosses into the bottom part of the "X" in 'Sox', but in the issued card the swash barely touches the outside portion of the gray area of the patch.
• The color of the Promo is significantly more brown-ish than the issued card; the issued card is more white-ish. I admit this is a very subtle difference - but it's there so I feel compelled to point it out. Please note that I did not photo-enhance the scans to make the difference more obvious. The two cards are as they exist in my collection.
The biggest and most noticeable differences are found on the card backs:
Card Backs:
• The Promo has a hyphenated word in the text copy, "listen-ing" which is part of this line: "Up Close: Hobbies are golf and listen- ing to music...", which are on two separate lines on the promo. That same word is not hyphenated on the regularly issued card.
• The Promo's photo of Frank has been cropped very differently from the issued card. On the Promo you can clearly see Frank's hair. On the regular issued card it's cropped so that you might think that Studio was Nostradamus-like by about 7 years. (Frank today now sports a clean shaven noggin' and didn't start doing that until the 2000 season)
• That same cropping can be seen when comparing the three logos (MLB, Copyright, MLBPA). On the Promo the MLB and a third of the Copyright can be found inside the black background. On the regularly issued card those same logos are all inside Frank's white jersey.
• And speaking of the cropped photo (sans hair) of the issued card - you'll notice that in order to accomplish this they had to make Frank's mug even bigger on the regular issued card. It's quite startling once you know what to look for. His face on the issued card almost takes up the entire card back, but on the Promo it's smaller and off to the right.
1994 Leaf Limited
The first difference of both cards is the surface quality. The "promo" card has a smooth, matte finish, light silver cardstock whereas the regular card is printed on highly reflective silver foil. On the cards back the "promo" is card #1 and the regular issue is card #24.
The promo lists the Total Bases Category (TB) whereas the regular displays Slugging Percentage Category (SLG). Finally, the cropping of Thomas' picture on both card backs are slighty different.
1994 Leaf Limited Gold
Issued with either prismatic or gold foiling on the back of card. Seems the higher numbered cards have the gold foiling. Other cards besides Thomas also have this variation with their higher numbered cards.
1995 Bowmans Best Refractor
y
1995 Pinnacle Team Pinnacle
y
1995 SP
y
1995 SP Silver
