A Trip Down Error Memory Lane

I was hunting down a 1990 Topps card on my Griffey want list and I came across another card that actually was the first “Monster” card that I remember hearing about when I returned to the hobby in 1992.

At the time Griffey was young and tearing up the league and both his 1989 Upper Deck #1 and 1990 Leaf #245 were hot but it was an error card of some kid from Auburn that really set the fire on Beckett’s pages.

The card… 1990 Topps Frank Thomas No Name On Front (or NNO) card. The card was selling for hundreds in the early 1990s but after a Hall of Fame career that included multiple MVP Awards, a .301 lifetime batting average and 521 homeruns the card is selling for big bucks, a BGS 9 sold for nearly $4000 recently. Even raw copies are topping $800 and what surprises me is that the 2010 Topps NNO reprint is selling for $15 and up, more than the corrected base 1990 Topps version which can be picked up for under $5 shipped.