1993 Studio Promo

Promo/Prototype #139

Issued Card #139
Not currently recognized by either of the major guides.*
This promo may or may not be considered rare. I say that because while I personally had a difficult time locating an example for my collection - it's possible that the difficulty is due to the fact that the promo is easily confused for the regularly issued Card #139. They're quite similar and would be indistinguishable to the average collector or dealer. I'm hoping to hear from other Frank collectors regarding their experiences on this issue to better gauge how rare (or not) this promo actually is.

*Update: Not recognized by Beckett only. Ha, now there's a shocker. <rolling eyeballs back into head>

Here are the differences:

Card Fronts:

• The Promo's facsimile signature is larger than the regularly issued version (about 20% bigger)
• Notice the end swash of the promo signature crosses into the bottom part of the "X" in 'Sox', but in the issued card the swash barely touches the outside portion of the gray area of the patch.
• The color of the Promo is significantly more brown-ish than the issued card; the issued card is more white-ish. I admit this is a very subtle difference - but it's there so I feel compelled to point it out. Please note that I did not photo-enhance the scans to make the difference more obvious. The two cards are as they exist in my collection.

The biggest and most noticeable differences are found on the card backs:

Card Backs:

• The Promo has a hyphenated word in the text copy, "listen-ing" which is part of this line: "Up Close: Hobbies are golf and listen- ing to music...", which are on two separate lines on the promo. That same word is not hyphenated on the regularly issued card.
• The Promo's photo of Frank has been cropped very differently from the issued card. On the Promo you can clearly see Frank's hair. On the regular issued card it's cropped so that you might think that Studio was Nostradamus-like by about 7 years. (Frank today now sports a clean shaven noggin' and didn't start doing that until the 2000 season)
• That same cropping can be seen when comparing the three logos (MLB, Copyright, MLBPA). On the Promo the MLB and a third of the Copyright can be found inside the black background. On the regularly issued card those same logos are all inside Frank's white jersey.
• And speaking of the cropped photo (sans hair) of the issued card - you'll notice that in order to accomplish this they had to make Frank's mug even bigger on the regular issued card. It's quite startling once you know what to look for. His face on the issued card almost takes up the entire card back, but on the Promo it's smaller and off to the right.

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