1970 Topps Baseball Forum

The 1970 Topps #1 Mets Team card has been around for over 50 years now.  Until now, 5 different front/ back combinations have been identified, unknown to collectors of Mets memorabilia, to Weaver and Nolan Ryan collectors, and to the professional grading community.  A 6th 1970 Topps #1 Mets Team variant might exist, but as of Feb 2021, random market card sampling hasn't yielded a "white border" front with a Variant 1 (yellow) colored reverse.  If there is such a Variant out there, please email me.   

To date the "Yokai" variants include: 1) 1970 #1 Mets Team with bright yellow back (V1), 2) 1970 #1 Mets Team with mustard colored back (V2), 3) 1970 Mets Team #1 with black line on right front w/ (V1) reverse, 4) 1970 Mets Team #1 with black line front w/ (V2) reverse and 5) 1970 Mets Team #1 with white line on right front w/ (V2) reverse.  

Likewise, (5) variants, similar in nature to the 1970 Topps baseball #1 Mets Team card are known to exist with card #198 "Mets Celebrate".  No line, black line, white line fronts exist with (V1) and (V2) back combinations.

Only (2) variants have been discovered for the #1970 Topps baseball #197 " Ryan Saves the Day" card.  (V1) and (V2) reverses exist.

Canadian O Pee Chee cards have been shown to have similar Variants with no line, black line, and white line fronts.  All reverses on the Canadian OPCs are (V2) mustard color.

The white line and black line are caused by poorly aligned cuts.

The variation of coloration on back is due to both the ink levels that were used at the time and the fact that the cards are now over 50 years old and differnt storage methods will cause preservation of the colors or cause fading.

None of these are variations that would be allowed to be listed here.

Agreed the lines on the fronts are caused by misaligned cuts as you suggest.  How do you account for the variations in color for the front border lines?  Black vs white?  This suggests different colored masters were used to print the card sheets.  One Master sheet had black border cards, another Master sheet had white border cards.  This suggests variatons to me.   Furthermore, the different colors on the reverse are not as you might suggest, just fading.  Two different colored backs were used on the 1970s cards.  Bright yellow and a mustard color.  There is plenty of proof on the backs.  I intend to submit my findings to both Beckett and PSA for their review and input. Thanks for weighing in however. Cheers.

There's no way that the "back" variations wouldn't have been discovered sooner if it was anything other than what vroomed mentioned since the 1970 set is quite popular amongst set builders and team/player collectors alike 

There were multople printings back in 1970. The card was probably on multiple sheets. Some had a white line showing what to cut off while the other (or others) had a black line. All the best in your submissions to PSA and Beckett.

Images?

that would make sense but it's likely 3 of the 5 cards are simply mis cuts and the other 2 were stored very differently so the ink isn't as faded or discolored on the bright one