It may be hard to believe that an error made in a popular food issue set has gone undiscovered for over 40 years, but collector Phil Garrou reports on a significant variation of the Carl Yastrzemski card in the 1975 Hostess set that collectors should know about.
Most Price guides like the Standard Catalog of Baseball Cards list three errors/variations what was the debut set in a five-year run for Hostess baseball cards in the 1970s. Spotted immediately and well-known to those who collect the set are the Doug “Radar/Rader”, the “Bert/Burt Hooten/Hooton” and the Bill Madlock “Pitcher/Infielder” error.
What until recently had slipped past just about everyone is that there is a forth, which Garrou believes was first mentioned last year in a ’75 Hostess discussion on the Net 54 message board by collector “Zack Wheat.” This one involves a Hall of Fame player.
Carl Yastrzemski’s card originally listed him as “Outfield” but since he had been playing first base more regularly, the card was corrected to “Infield” sometime later in the press run. The “Infield” version is much more difficult to find, but according to those who’ve been investigating, it doesn’t appear to be as rare as the corrected versions of the Hooton and Rader cards.
Collector Garrou now has both Yaz variations graded by PSA although the company won’t recognize the variation until it is published by one of the major card catalogs.
You can see 1975 Hostess variations listed on eBay here.
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