Amazing 1989 Fleer Bill Ripken find

[steve B]

It's a very strange card. Hopefully now there's 1500 more I'll be able to get one.

I had the chance to examine one from Jon up close a few years ago, and it really is a strange thing.
There are many points as Ben has pointed out that would indicate a fake.
But there are also points that to me point away from a fake.
The vast majority of fakes start with a real card and simply do color separations off that card. That's not horrible, as it keeps the image the same, but it is also at the same time horrible lazy work because they make the solid black an easily spotted halftone.

The mystery card isn't simply cropped smaller as you might think at first, but is slightly enlarged in relation to the borders. The head sitting slightly higher while the other three edges of the image appear "trimmed" is the tip off on that.
To me that looks more like someone had access to the original image and made their own version. It's not a simple "photograph the card through filters as halftones" like most fakes.

There are similar things going on with the reverse, especially with the yellow, where in at least one spot yellow was added in places no other 89 fleer has it.

There are differences in the black layer, and ones that look like a second generation negative except for the MLB logo being too different to be a direct copy from an existing card.
When I went looking to see how consistent some other things were on 89 fleer, I bought a small batch of regular 89 B Ripkens that had the copyright line in slightly different places on a couple cards.

Overall, I'm not positive what it is. It's probably a very ambitious fake, that wasn't necessarily sold in large quantities. (Also a bit odd for fakes)
Maybe an inside job by a Fleer employee?
The possibility I like better is that it was printed specifically for an outfit like shop at home. I have at least one card that came from them, but "wasn't made" It's actually a set that wasn't sold as a set, plus a signed card that wouldn't ordinarily be signed - all sold as a package by one of the TV shopping places.
Plus a couple other items that were not released but ended up in the hobby when the company closed and their stuff was auctioned off.

Either way it's an interesting card.