Manufacturers make mistakes; it happens. But in the sports card hobby, when those mistakes get corrected, and both variants end up in collectors’ hands, there’s increased demand and high prices for those error cards. Error cards give collectors something else to chase. When those errors are on superstar players’ cards, values can be astronomically high in comparison, since you have both set and player collectors trying to complete master sets. Here are six high-priced cards with both an error and a corrected version in the postwar card market.
1967 Topps #45 Roger Maris
Roger Maris was traded to the Cardinals from the Yankees before the 1967 baseball season, in December 1966. But Topps had already printed proofs of a card with him on the Yankees. Woody Gelman was an art director for Topps, and he had a small quantity of these blank-back cards that he cut from sheets and offered to collectors; they were never released in packs. As a result, the majority of the proof cards are poorly centered. The regular issue Roger Maris card from the 1967 Topps set features the Cardinals.
The Yankees proof version has a PSA population of 60 (up from 44 in August 2020) compared to 2645 (up from 1574 in August 2020) for the Cardinals variant. The last sale of a proof card was for $2,000 on eBay in January 2025; I think the highest sale of one has been >$7k. PSA 8s of the regular variant sell for a little over $150.
1969 Topps #500 Mickey Mantle
23 cards in the 1969 Topps have White Letter variations. Usually, the last name is in yellow on these cards. When one of those cards is Mickey Mantle, and it’s known as his last card, you know the error price is going to be quite high. No one knows for sure why these errors exist, but it’s thought that Topps began using multiple printing presses since the white letter variants seemed to be issued in certain parts of the country.
The total population of the Last Name in Yellow Mantle variant is 12,968 (a huge jump from 6865 in August 2020) compared to just 1,595 (up from 1032 in August 2020) Last Name in White variant. The more common PSA 8 yellow letter examples sell for ~$3k, and PSA 8 white letter examples go for $~69k (up from $15k-20k in August 2020). Since Mickey Mantle’s cards prices go up a lot in high grade, it’s important to look at the price disparity for mid-grade variants. A PSA 6 Yellow Mantle sells for ~$500 compared to ~$2,600 for a PSA 6 Last Name in White variant.
1952 Topps Johnny Sain & Joe Page Errors
1952 Topps is one of the most iconic baseball card sets ever, and it initially contained error cards. The biographies of Johnny Sain and Joe Page were initially mixed up and put on the wrong card. Sain had a stronger career, so his cards are a bit more valuable and sought after.
Joe Page Correct Bio – PSA Population of 472 – PSA 5 $55
Joe Page Correct Bio Black Back Population of 355 – PSA 5 $130
Joe Page with Sain Bio Population of 156 – PSA 5 $515
Joe page with Sain Bio Black Back Population of 243 – PSA 5 >$1,200
Johnny Sain Correct Bio Population of 583 – PSA 5 $90
Johnny Sain Correct Bio Black Back Population of 350 – PSA 5 $125
Johnny Sain with Page Bio Population of 73 – PSA 5 $1,000+
Johnny Sain with Page Bio Black Back Population of 298 – PSA 5 $850+
1952 Topps #307 Frank Campos Variations
Another printing variation in the 1952 Topps set is on card #307. The back of Frank Campos has a rare variant with a black star instead of the regular red star. It was so unique that until about 2006, people didn’t know the overprint existed.
The Red Star corrected variant has a PSA graded population of 700, and PSA 6 variants sell for ~$150. The rarer black star variants have a population of 143, and a PSA 6 is probably around $4,500 today.
1948 Leaf #102 Gene Hermanski
The 1948 Leaf #102 Gene Hermanski card can be found with his last name correctly spelled and with the ‘i’ in his last name missing. 1948 Leaf cards already had poor printing quality, so high-grade examples of the error are hard to find, making it one of the rarest postwar error cards.
The Gene Hermansk (incorrect spelling) has a PSA population of 119, and PSA 7s sell for ~$1,700. The corrected variant has a little more than double the population at 291 but sells for about 9% of the error, $150.
1958 Topps #433 Pancho Herrera (Herrer) 433
The 1958 Topps Pancho Herrer error card must have been the result of something getting in the way of the printing press and its ability to print the ‘a’ on Pancho Herrera’s last name. Very few of these errors exist, which means someone must have corrected the mistake early in print.
The 1958 Topps #433 Pancho Herrera card has a PSA population of 536, and PSA 8 variants sell for ~$27. The Pancho Herrer error card is far less available, with a population of 72 (up from 48 5 years ago), and the last PSA 8 sold for >$18,000, heck, a PSA 2.5 went for $2,340 in the summer of 2023. I’d say the price isn’t proportionate to the population. There are 10x as many regular cards as errors, but the errors sell for far more than 10x as much as the correct versions.
Error cards are really popular with collectors, and their prices don’t always match how many are out there. It’s the uniqueness that makes them stand out; there’s a lot of nostalgia behind them, and collectors are willing to pay up for that.
Happy collecting!
