This is a Proof from the 2000 Crown Royale set. I am not sure how these got out on the secondary market, but I bought the card about five or six years ago on EBay for next to nothing. I am actually guessing that Pacific dumped these after they went out of business, but I cannot find anything for sure on when they were put out. The card is actually a thin piece of translucent material and measures a quarter inch larger, all the way around, then the standard baseball card.
This set was actually featured die-cut cards. The Ankiel in the set looks like this.....
The bottom of the proof is interesting since it is different than the front of the baseball card. Usually proofs are identical to the card that they are used to produce. I had thought that maybe Pacific made a proof for the front and the backs of the cards, but I cannot find anything that shows that to be the case. In fact if you flip the proof card over onto the back there is a reverse photo of Ankiel.
Notice Ankiel, a left-handed pitcher, is now a right-hander on the reverse side of the card. In some ways this card reminds me a bit of the Topps Acetate cards which have been put out as a parallel by Topps the past two years. Another curiosity about the proof is the card number shown on the front and back of the card. The card is label number 28 in the set, but the actual Ankiel card in the set was card 114 and was a short print.
Given that Pacific is long gone, and they left little behind, I am not sure if I will ever figure out some of my questions about this card, but in the meantime, it's a cool inexpensive card that features one of my favorite late 90s Cardinals stars.
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