When it comes to flipping cards, it’s well known that you want rarer cards—that way the card usually carries a premium because it’s hard to find!
That’s why pop reports are bibles to many collectors, and we’re always on the search for rookies, RPAs, serial-numbered cards, and more!
However, one type of card that might be a little lesser known is called an SP card.
SP stands for short print. These cards usually have a specific, limited print run, the quantity of which isn’t generally known to collectors (i.e., there isn’t a stamped number on the card, like a 1/75 or 3/100). They often come in the form of a photo variation on the regular base set.
What is an SP Sports Card?
Let me dive a bit deeper on this because there’s not much clarity even among card collectors! The worst is among eBay listings—anything that’s not base seems to get “sp” in the title of it.
The most common and standard use of SP is referring to a photo variation of the base set. Topps is famous for this. Here’s a base version:
Now here’s the photo variation:
In fact, I’m shocked that the base card even sold at $2.99. The SP photo variation selling at $69 seems about standard for a star up-and-comer like Gunnar.
So that’s the obvious use of “SP”…what about other are cards? Are they considered SPs as well?
Serial-Numbered Cards
Technically, a serial-numbered card is short-printed. However, in the parlance of hobbyists…no one actually calls those short prints. They call them “serial numbered” or just “numbered” cards.
I put together a more in-depth article about serial-numbered cards called What Do Numbers on Sports Cards Mean?
Color Parallels
Color parallels are versions of the base card that have a different color border or finish to them. I wrote much more about parallels in this blog post if you’d like a quick primer.
A lot of hardcore collectors will likely tell you that these aren’t SP…they’re just parallels. However, they are rarer, so they are technically shorter printed than the base card!
So once again…while you might technically be correct, no one really calls these SP except for eBay sellers trying to get more eyeballs on their card.
Rare Inserts
This one’s a little trickier to me and I’m not sure how to answer it. I’ve seen it go both ways—some insist that these are SP cards while others don’t.
My understanding is that SP cards have a specific, limited print run. Like they only make 100 or 200 of them but don’t stamp the card with the serial number.
From that perspective, something like the popular Kaboom! Inserts wouldn’t be considered short printed because they come 1 per case. As many cases as Panini made, they’re not as short printed as many other SP cards.
But…they are still rare cards! So many people call them SP…and honestly it doesn’t make that big of a difference.
How to Identify a Short Print
When opening up a pack of cards, the short print cards (I’m talking about the traditional “photo variation” definition of short print) are easy to pass by because they look just like the base cards!
I’ve definitely flipped past one, only to find another variation of that same player so I knew to look it up.
So how do you tell?
Different Image – Like we’ve been talking about, the picture is different on these. If you’re familiar with the set, you’ll be able to pick them out.
Different Code – For example, in 2021 Topps Series 1, take a look at the code at the back-bottom of the card. All the base numbers have a 213 as the final 3 numbers. If you’ve got a 230-232, then that’s an SP, SSP (Super Variations), or SSSP (Ultra Variations). A quick Google search can help you with different sets with their codes.
Look It Up – I do most of my research on eBay. There’s so much volume of cards being sold that it’s unlikely everyone’s got it wrong. Warning though… I have seen someone get a card wrong and then seen others copy the headline! But if you can find a whole page worth of titles and pics showing that yours is an SP…well it likely is.
Backwards – It’s becoming more common nowadays (especially with Topps) to put SP cards into packs backwards.
Card Says it’s Short-Printed – It’s infuriating that discovering an SP card can be this difficult. I wonder how many are sitting in people’s commons box.
But thankfully, mercifully, Topps is changing this. Check out the back of this Trent Grisham card from 2023 Topps Series 1:
See that huge “SSP” at the top? This is how it should have been all along, and thankfully they’re getting easier to spot.
What are SSP or SSSP?
I mentioned it above that Topps has SSP and SSSP cards! Among most collectors, they’ll call this “super short print.”
However, that’s not accurate—at least in Topps’ sets.
They call the SSP “Super Variations” and the SSSP “Ultra Variations.”
Doesn’t really matter…all this means is that they are even rarer than the SP.
You can identify them the same way, by looking them up online, on eBay, or (with newer sets) looking at the back of the card.
How to Tell How Many SPs Were Printed
Companies don’t tell us how many short prints they’re releasing in a set. I think they like that people have no idea. It just makes them different from serial-numbered cards.
However, there is one way that often works pretty well…
Packs or boxes sometimes have the odds of pulling certain cards. If they tell you the odds for a numbered card, you can have an idea how many they are printing!
For example, if there’s a parallel for every base card that’s out of /100, and the odds say that you have a 1:50 chance of pulling one, and there are 300 base cards… well, you can figure out there are 1,500,000 packs made.
Then if your short-print says 1:100 packs, you can assume they made 50 of them (because they would be twice as rare as /100 cards).
Final Thoughts
The short of it is that most hardcore collectors only refer to photo variations as short prints. While parallels, serial numbered cards, and rare inserts are technically SP cards, most people won’t refer to them as such.
Now that you know how to identify an SP, go ahead and look some up on eBay! They’re really fun to collect and they’re usually pretty valuable!
