Visit our storeThe scan depicted was produced back in April of 2012 before I upgraded my scanner and watermark. This particular image was originally put together to share on the forum before it was archived. Here we are some 11 years later to the month and it’s being put to use here on the blog. In case you’re wondering, the scanner I used to produce this image was the Canon CanoScan LiDE 100. This model has since been updated but I’m pretty sure it still produces bright vibrant images for flat cards such as those in 1990 Donruss.
1990 Donruss is the perfect example of a junk wax era set: bight colors, Saved By The Bell design features, sweet player roster, elusive sample cards, Diamond Kings, and a run of excellent error cards of which there are a ton. Below is the complete checklist of said error cards. All are relatively easy to locate and given the volume printed, they’re also very affordable.
What’s Not Included in this Checklist:
- Uncorrected Errors (UERs): These include minor typos on card backs and/or fronts. Since these cards were never corrected, they’re just the standard cards in the set.
- Blank/Wrong Fronts/Backs: Examples beyond what’s stated are manufacturing scrap and weren’t intended to be issued.
- Period/No Period after INC: Card backs have the INC statement. Some feature a period after INC and some don’t. These variations are found in most Donruss/Leaf sets from the junk wax era. It’s likely these are the result of different runs approved by different groups of people in the manufacturing facility. Despite what people say, these aren’t rare; they’re likely produced in similar/same quantities. They’re also not errors but subtle variations. They’re fun to collect but values are no different between them.
Errors Checklist:
| Card # | Player | Error |
|---|---|---|
| 3A | Ruben Sierra DK | No black strip along top back border |
| 10A | Brian Downing DK | Reverse Negative (batting left-handed) |
| 33A | Juan Gonzalez RC | Reverse Negative (batting left-handed) |
| 100A | Checklist | Depicts cards 28-129 |
| 113A | Kelly Gruber | Born February 22 |
| 168A | Dale Murphy | Black line crossing ‘D’ in Dale on front |
| 170A | Kirk McCaskill | Born April 19 |
| 200A | Checklist | Depicts cards 130-231 |
| 217A | Scott Garrelts | Born October 20 |
| 300A | Checklist | Depicts cards 232-333 |
| 400A | Checklist | Depicts cards 334-435 |
| 405A | Sergio Valdez | Black line crossing ‘S’ in Sergio on front |
| 500A | Checklist | Depicts cards 436-537 |
| 523A | Andy Nezelek | Born October 24, 1985 |
| 583A | Kevin Hickey | Black line crossing ‘K’ in Kevin on front |
| 600A | Checklist | Depicts cards 538-639 |
| 637A | Terry Steinbach AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 639A | Jack Morris | Black line crossing ‘J’ in Jack on front |
| 650A | Bo Jackson AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 654A | Howard Johnson | Recent Major League Performance |
| 659A | Nolan Ryan | King of Kings front; 5000 K’s back |
| 660A | Harold Baines AS | Recent Major League Performance; Black line through star on front |
| 660B | Harold Baines AS | All-Star Game Performance; Black line through star on front |
| 660C | Harold Baines AS | Recent Major League Performance; Black line behind star on front |
| 663A | Rick Reuschel AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 665A | Nolan Ryan | 5000 K’s front; King of Kings back |
| 665C | Nolan Ryan | King of Kings w/ No Card Number (factory set) |
| 673A | Ruben Sierra AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 674A | Pedro Guerrero AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 676A | Cal Ripken Jr. AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 683A | Kirby Puckett AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 692A | Ryne Sandberg AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 695A | Eric Davis AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 697A | Mark McGwire AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 700A | Checklist | Depicts cards 640-715 and BC1-BC26 |
| 700C | Checklist | Depicts cards 618-716 |
| 701A | Julio Franco AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 703A | Dave Stewart AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 705A | Tony Gwynn AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 707A | Will Clark AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 708A | Benito Santiago AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 710A | Ozzie Smith AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 712A | Wade Boggs AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 715A | Kevin Mitchell AS | Recent Major League Performance |
| 4 | Mark McGwire GS | No black strip on right side of back border |
| 4 | Mark McGwire GS | Break in second black bar below Donruss logo |
| 8 | Todd Benzinger GS | Red Star |
| BC-12A | John Smoltz MVP | Photo is Tom Glavine |
I have a donruss 1990 geronimo berroa Braves card with a blank back. I cannot find this error on anyone’s list. Have you heard of this error?
Hi Lee,
Thanks for the comment. Blank backs were pretty common in manufacturing in the late 1980s to early 1990s. If you look around, you’ll find all manner of cards from the main brands with this manufacturing flaw. They aren’t included on checklists because they’re manufacturing scrap.
Why are these considered manufacturing scrap. I recently pulled 81 blank backs out of 4 boxes. I also have 3 factory sealed packs with blank back cards on the back, clearly visible through the wrapper. These are legitimately disturbed error cards and should be recognized as such.
Hi Tim,
Thanks for the comment. Even though you see them in packs, they ultimately weren’t meant for public consumption. Those that made it through the pack-out process were issued by mistake.
What is the recent major league performance error? Not sure what u you mean but that or where it’s located
Above the stat box on the bock is a statement, which states either All-Star Game Performance (correct), or Recent Major League Performance (error).
I have stumbled into a large amount of cards like bo Jackson as card 650 and alot more .any idea if worth anything
Hi Robert,
Thanks for the comment. We actually don’t provide value estimates but we do recommend checking eBay sold listings. Good luck!
I have a few of the Todd Benzinger Grand Slammer “Red Star” cards. Are they an error card?
Hi Ken,
Thanks for the comment. Yes, that’s a legitimate error.
Thanks! I bought a whole box at a show and the packs were all Grand Slammer cards. Seven of them were the Benzinger red star. Trying to figure out if there is a market for them since I can’t find much info on them.
Hi Ken,
Yea, Beckett doesn’t recognize this particular error. There’s a market albeit a small one. If you’re willing to part with one example, we’d be interested if offered at the right price. If you’d like to discuss further, please send us a message via our Contact Us page.
I have a lot of 1990 Donruss error cards…
Where can I find a buyer… lots of good stuff
I know collectors would love
eBay
I would love to hear from you, Mr. Reyes!
I have many of these error cards as they were distributed first in our area.. These dards in ryan, Bo jackson, puckett, gwynn, sandberg, sanders, henderson, ozzie smith, bonds, etc.Still interested in any and all of them?
Hi Leslie,
If you’d like to send us a price via our Contact Us page, we’ll have a look. Thank you.
Which cards are rarer between line through and not variations?
Hi Jimmy,
Thanks for the comment. If you’re referring to the Harold Baines card, in my experience the line through the star in either variety are rarer.
So how rare would you say from your understanding the Nolan Ryan “King of Kings” with no # is?
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. The King of Kings w/o the number is available but in my experience, much less abundant. However, I have no idea if the quantities are the same or even similar; I just see them a lot less.
I have a Dion Sanders with the giant white spot on the upper right of the front of the card. For the life of me, I cannot find anything like it on eBay♂️
Hi Seth,
What you have sounds like a print defect, which were common occurrences during this era.
Is there a source to visually see these errors in one place? So many variations can get confusing without visual aids to confirm things. Everyone thinks the missing “.” on the back makes the card worth thousands so it would be nice to see a reliable example of true errors.
Hello StormVoy,
Thanks for the comment. If you search around online in the various common places, you’ll likely find most if not all of them. All are very affordable as even the errors were printed in large quantities.
I have a Kirby Puckett #683 with 3 errors on the card. Is it considered rare?
What are the errors?
Just found a Donruss 91 Sammy Sosa with no period after INC and the wrong birthday. I’m no where near a card person and have no idea if it’s worth anything or not. Any idea???
Hi Wayne,
Thanks for the comment. The wrong birth date on the 1990 Donruss Sammy Sosa is an uncorrected error, which means they’re all like that. As for the no period after INC, if you grab a stack of the same card, there will likely be a roughly even distribution of period/no period variations among them. Neither variation carries more value than the other. As far as value, they’re often found in $0.10-0.25 bins all over the country. I hope this helps.
How do I know if my bo Jackson has errors it says 650 on back
Hi Michael,
Look at the back of the card to find the line above the stats. If it says, “All-Star Game Performance” it’s the correct version. If it says, “Recent Major League Performance” it’s the error.
It also has the TM missing from the All Star Logo on the front. I believe they are only on the American League
Yea, the TM is missing from a variety of the All-Star cards, but the cards were never corrected, which makes them uncorrected errors (UERs).
Hello I have 3 different 1990q donruss cards with a player on front of card and a different player on the back, are these errors?
That’s 2 different pictures of 2 different players on 1 card.
Hi Steven,
Thanks for the comments. What you have sounds like a 1990 Donruss Prototype. Examples of 1990 Donruss cards were made with card fronts on both sides of a card. These cards usually feature different colors than the standard orange used on these cards i.e., blue or white. They’re quite rare and depending on the players depicted can be quite valuable.
Hi Patrick I have a 1990 Alfredo Griffin Donruss 1990 card 195 wrong birth month March October is right. Julio Franco 1990 Donruss card 701 wrong year 1961 the right is 1958. Jose Uribe Donruss 1990 card 335 Wrong year 1960 right 1959. Felix Jose Donruss 1989 card 38 Wrong day May 8 right is May 2. This one caught my attention two birth errors. Tony Fernandez Topps card 290 1988. Wrong month August 8, 1962 right June 30 1962. Omar Vizquel Topps 698 wrong month and date May 15 1967 right April 24 1967. Luis Polonia month and date Donruss 1989 card 386 wrong October 12 1964 right December 10 1963.
Hi John,
Thanks for the comment. Those are all uncorrected errors (UERs), which means that while they are in fact errors, they were never corrected and hence are just the standard cards in the set.
Hi Patrick The Kirk Gibson Donruss1990 card 368 has wrong brithday. 5-25-57. Kirk Gibson 1990 Topps 150 has the right birthday 5-28-57. I found out that the Omar Vizquel Topps 698 wrong birthday was 5-15-67. The 1994 Topps 593 has the right birthday 4-24-67. Felix Jose 1989 Donruss Rated Rookie card has wrong birthday 5-8-65. The right is on a 1993 Topps 67 card 5-2-65. Jose Uribe Donruss 1990 card has the wrong the birth year 1960. A 1990 Topps 472 has the right year 1959. I have over 2,000 cards. Topps , Pacific, Ultra fleer Fleer, O-pee-chee Score , Leaf and Circa. Five cards on are on your list. John Smoltz Donruss 90 B-12, Kirk McCaskill Donruss 90 168 Jack Morris Donruss 90 639. Juan Gonzales Donruss 90 33 and Brain Downing Donruss Diamond Kings 90.
Hi John,
Some of those are UERs, while others have been covered here, and further others aren’t associated with the content discussed in this article. If you’re going to post comments, please respect their association to the content covered in the article. Thank you.