1987 Donruss Baseball Forum

https://www.tcdb.com/ViewCollection.cfm/sid/112?CollectionID=1

This is the Donruss 1987 Baseball set and the variation states: 

I don't know what it's referring to though in terms of what is matching and the cards look identical to me whether they are from a pack or from the box set - in the images anyways here on TCDb

It has to do with back orientation. You won't see the difference on the site.

Factory set version: back bottom (the bottom of the card when looking at the back, horizontally) matches with the front left (the left edge of the card when looking at the front, vertically).

This is also noted in the Release Notes: Please note the card backs are available in two different orientations. Cards from wax packs have their numbers in the upper right corner when the card is flipped on its left edge, while cards from factory sets have their numbers in the lower left corner instead. (The backs look the same -- each printing just changed their orientation.)

Wait a second, does this have to do with printing orientation? I get it now...

thanks so much for this! super helpful and i appreciate it

hmmm i still don't get it..  maybe it's late but. we are supposed to look up at the light?

It has to do with the relationship of the orientation of the sides. It totally confused me at first as well. The site can't show the variation in the scans because it can't show the relationship of the sides.. It means that the left side of the front is the same edge of the card as the bottom of the back.

To see this physically take a card in your hand and flip it over. If you flip it using the horizontal axis (so that the top and bottom of the card are switching places) the bottom of the back side will be on your left. If you flip it vertically (so the left and right switch places) the bottom of the back will be on your right.

If you display your cards in binders with one card per pocket (not double stuffed) then looking at the backs of the cards the bottom would be on the right so you would have to turn your binder clockwise to see the backs right side up. I think that is the orientation that I prefer while viewing cards in albums.

It drives me batty when the back orientation is not consistant within a set.

Think of being able to see through a card.