Comical Erorrs: Hank Aaron

The 1977 Laughlin Erorrs set (yes the misspelling is intentional) is a 40 card set that is dedicated to errors that appear on baseball cards! It's a great little set with those great Laughlin cartoons, and I thought it would be fun to do a semi-regular series dedicated to the set and errors found within!  

 

When I do these posts, I go into them blind. I don't really know what error on what card is going to be my topic until I go to the set on TCDB and pick the next card listed. It leads to some fun circumstances and call backs. Case in point today's card:

 

 

Once again, we have another card where there is a case of mistaken identity.  Funny enough, this very card was brought up in the comments for the Ewell Blackwell card I did prior.

 

 

Unlike other mistakes, you can almost give Topps a pass on this one. The much more prominent headshot is obviously Hammering Hank. It's that artistically painted action shot. Although the player has a stronger build than Aaron, the blurred facial features could make this easy to miss. Even so, it didn't take long before people realized that this action shot was a repainted Willie Mays.

 

It's not the only time the artists at Topps used some creative licensing in their product. Look at this great catch on Mickey Mantle's 1956 card:

 

Mantle never made that catch. He wasn't even close. Getty Images has the photo it was based on here: https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/yankee-outfielder-mickey-mantle-seemingly-walking-on-air-news-photo/515364894?adppopup=true

 

Back to the Aaron card.  As I said, as far as errors go, this one was easy to miss. The focus on this card is the head shot, not the action pose. You see Hank Aaron's face, you assume it's him elsewhere on the card. In my research I came across another article detailing a similar instance where the person in the background is not the person in the forefront. I present to you this example from the 1970 Topps Posters inserts:

 

 

That guy batting is not Seattle Pilots' Don Mincher. Can you guess the Hall of Famer cameo?  (Obviously you could click on the link, but what fun would that be?)

 

Other Comical Erorrs:

Bob Ueker' 1963 Topps card

Bill Dickey's 1933 Goudey card 

Ewell Blackwell's 1952 Berk Ross card 

Milt Bolling's 1955 Bowman card 

 

Comical Erorrs: Milt Bolling

The 1977 Laughlin Erorrs set (yes the misspelling is intentional) is a 40 card set that is dedicated to errors that appear on baseball cards! It's a great little set with those great Laughlin cartoons, and I thought it would be fun to do a semi-regular series dedicated to the set and errors found within!  

 

 

The last time I did one of these posts, we were once again dealing with a card that supposedly had the wrong back. In that case, the front was actually wrong but I mentioned how I had a hard time finding another instance of a card where the back was consistently printed incorrectly. I guess I just needed to look at the next card in this set, because Milt's card initially had his little brother Frank's information on the back.

 

 

However in later productions, this card was corrected:

 

It's easy to see where someone at Bowman could get confused. Milt and Frank were roughly 14 months apart in age, and both played the middle infield for an American League team. They even looked alike:

 

 

Frank was the more accomplished player, making 4 All-Star teams and winning a Gold Glove. Milt's career on the field was cut short by injuries, but spent over 40 years in the Red Sox organization as a scout and executive assistant.

 

As far as error cards go, that sibling connection is the most noticeable thing about the card. It's also not the last time we get an error card featuring a mistaken identity with someone's brother:

 

 

The story of Gary's brother Lynn appearing on his 1985 Topps card is well known by those of us that grew up in the mid-80's. It remains one of the most recognized error cards of all time.

 

Other Comical Erorrs:

Bob Ueker' 1963 Topps card

Bill Dickey's 1933 Goudey card 

Ewell Blackwell's 1952 Berk Ross card 

 

Comical Erorrs: Ewell Blackwell

The 1977 Laughlin Erorrs set (yes the misspelling is intentional) is a 40 card set that is dedicated to errors that appear on baseball cards! It's a great little set with those great Laughlin cartoons, and I thought it would be fun to do a semi-regular series dedicated to the set and errors found within! 

 

 

Question: When is an error not an error?

 

Today's card features 6x All-Star Ewell Blackwell, a great name if ever there was one.  According to the Laughlin card, the error on his 1952 Berk Ross card involves a case of mistaken identity - the stats on the back of his cards belong to Hall of Famer Nellie Fox!

 

Now, cards with the wrong backs are not uncommon. Most of the time these are not errors. They are simply printing mistakes, and cards with the correct backs are significantly more common. I tried to find other instances of cards where the card truly was printed consistently with the same wrong back, but I did not have much luck. Truth is, I didn't put much effort into finding one. Why? Well, lets take a look at the card:

Notice anything? It's not the back that features Nellie Fox, it's the front! 

 

Which means that the Laughlin Erorrs card is itself an error card! 

 

Cards with the wrong player on the front? Those are much more common! In fact, while I was doing my internet researching, I came across this well-written piece by our own Night Owl! His article contains some of the most famous examples, but I will add a personal favorite of mine here:

 

 

This error card got better over time, as both Tom Glavine and John Smoltz ended up in the Hall of Fame. If anyone knows of any other card where two eventual Hall of Famers got confused, I'd love to know!

 

What's your favorite "wrong guy pictured" card? 

 

Other Comical Erorrs:

Bob Ueker' 1963 Topps card

Bill Dickey's 1933 Goudey card