They say a picture is worth 1,000 words ... but sometimes those words come from a different book.
When Carlos Beltran was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday night, collectors might have started searching for his key rookie cards.
Here's the problem: One of those cards, Beltran's 1995 Topps Traded rookie features a photo that is not the eventual Hall of Fame outfielder, but instead is a picture of a teammate who never climbed higher than Class AA.
But Beltran isn't alone with this photo error — in fact, he's not even the first Hall of Famer to have an image of someone else pictured on his card.
Here are seven baseball cards featuring an unfortunate case of mistaken identity.
1995 Topps Traded Carlos Beltran
Beltran was elected to Cooperstown with 84% of the vote, but anyone hunting for his flagship rookie card will likely be disappointed.
Included in 1995 Topps Traded, the front of Beltran’s rookie with the Kansas City Royals actually shows teammate Juan LeBron, an outfielder who would play 12 seasons of professional baseball, but never reached higher than AA in the United States.
According to GemRate, Beltran’s mistaken rookie is by far his most graded card with more than 2,400 authenticated by PSA. PSA adds a designation reading “UER: Juan LeBron Pictured” to each.
The public record for the card, according to data tool Card Ladder, is the $1,138 paid for a BGS 10 Pristine example on eBay in 2005.
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1988 Topps Al Leiter
Though Leiter would eventually become a two-time All-Star and three-time World Series champion, he wasn’t exactly a recognizable face during rookie camp.
According to Leiter, he was confused for teammate Steve George by photographers when they mistakenly read the “SG” written on George’s glove as Leiter’s No. 56 jersey.
The error was eventually discovered when Leiter was asked to sign a copy for a kid at a Little League banquet in New Jersey.
“Kid came up and said ‘Mr. Leiter, Topps just came out with the ‘88 set, and I have your card, would you sign it?’” Leiter told MLB Network in 2021.
“Yeah, of course, kid. He runs over to his table, he comes back, and he plops this in front of me. Immediately I look, and I’m like, ‘This isn’t me.’”
PSA differentiates the error and the corrected card with “No ‘NY’ On Shirt” (George) and “‘NY’ On Shirt” (Leiter) variations after an updated photograph of Leiter was added with a team logo on his jersey.
To date, PSA has graded 184 copies of the card featuring George and 175 corrected examples with Leiter.
In 2023, a 1988 Topps Tiffany PSA 10 variation of the error card sold for $449 on eBay.
1987 Donruss Opening Day Barry Bonds
One of Barry Bonds’ earliest cards is an unfortunate example that just simply isn’t him.
Bonds would finish his career with 762 home runs, 14 All-Star appearances and a staggering seven MVPs, but back in 1987 he was mistaken for teammate Johnny Ray, an infielder who finished his career with 53 homers and zero All-Star selections.
To date, PSA has graded 177 examples of the Ray error and more than 3,100 copies of the corrected card, which features Bonds in a white jersey with a bat over his shoulder.
According to Card Ladder, the public record for the error card is the $33,000 paid for a BGS 10 Pristine example at PWCC in 2021.
The record for the corrected card featuring Bonds appears to be the $2,000 paid for signed copy on eBay in August 2025.
2021 Bowman Draft Jackson Merrill
A hobby darling at one point, Merrill discovered his first error card when attempting to sign autographs for an upcoming Topps product.
According to The Athletic, Merrill received 3,000 cards from Topps to sign for 2021 Bowman Draft, a prospect product that features players photoshopped into MLB jerseys.
The prospect shown on the card ended up being Isaac Frye, a player mistakenly photographed at a travel ball tournament when Merrill was announced as the hitter and listed in the box score.
That mistake led to Frye being misidentified in photographs and eventually used instead of Merrill in 2021 Bowman Draft.
“All the stats were right, name right, everything right. And then the picture wasn’t me,” Merrill told The Athletic.
Despite the error, PSA has graded more than 4,000 examples of Merrill’s 2021 Bowman Draft card, including parallels and variations.
According to Card Ladder, the record for any variation of the card is the $12,999 paid for the Padparadscha 1/1 on eBay in 2024.
2006 Topps Heritage Jerry Snyder Real One Autograph
Collectors have long coveted Topps’ on-card “Real One” autographs, and few are better than Jerry Snyder’s from 2006 Topps Heritage.
Snyder played just seven seasons for the Washington Nationals from 1952 to 1958, but the inscriptions he delivered nearly roughly 20 years ago punch well above his lifetime .230 batting average.
When signing cards for the set, Snyder added “This isn’t me” inscriptions alongside his signature.
Snyder’s ink from the set has sold for as much as $175 on the secondary market, according to Card Ladder, but has fetched $75 or less in recent sales.
1985 Topps Gary Pettis
Collectors hunting for the next breakout Angels outfielder in 1985 Topps got a Pettis card — it just wasn’t the right Pettis.
Gary Pettis was supposed to appear on the card, but it ended up being his younger brother, Lynn, in the photograph.
According to Gary, Lynn would sometimes dress up in a uniform at the ballpark and shag fly balls. Normally harmless, Lynn ended up in front of the camera and didn’t do much to correct the situation.
"He posed for the picture. I'm sure he had no idea it was going to end up on a baseball card,” Gary told MLB.com in 2018. “And then I think sometime during that offseason, a friend of mine said, 'Hey, you look really young on your baseball card.' I didn't think anything of it. ... Lo and behold, when I finally saw the baseball card later that year I couldn't help but laugh and go, 'Yeah, I do look pretty young because it's not me. It's my brother.'"
Though Pettis told MLB.com he believes it’s a cool story, he refuses to sign autographs on the card.
PSA has graded 49 copies of the card to date.
1988 Donruss Rookies Edgar Martinez
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2019, Martinez had a great career after an inauspicious introduction to the hobby.
Seattle signed Martinez in 1982, but he didn’t land on a trading card until 1988 — and it wasn’t even him.
Instead of placing Martinez on the front of the card, Donruss used a photograph of teammate Edwin Nuñez, a pitcher entering his seventh season with the team.
For many trading card mixups, you can see how mistakes can be made with a quick glance. For this card, Nunez and Martinez look nothing alike, resulting in a brutal error from Donruss.
PSA has graded more than 600 copies of the card to date.
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Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture. He was previously the collectibles editor at Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on X and Instagram @benmburrows.