While the start of the upcoming Major League Baseball (MLB) season is still in jeopardy, trading card company Topps is advancing its baseball-themed non-fungible token (NFT) sale.
The company’s first edition of the “Topps Timeless Series,” a 1952 NFT of New York Yankees slugger Mickey Mantle’s legendary baseball card, sold for 175 ETH (~$471,000) in an OpenSea auction that ends around 19:00 UTC on Friday. ) sold at the price.
The sale is the largest ever in the sports NFT space, surpassing the NBA Top Shot’s top sale of $230,000 and the limited-edition LeBron James collectible of $210,000.
In July, the NFT for Yankees legend Lou Gehrig’s iconic “Luckiest Man” speech was purchased by Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss for $70,000, the largest baseball-related NFT sale at the time.
The ‘The Mick’ collection is officially licensed by MLB and sold in partnership with Mantle Estate, and the winning bidder will also receive a 30-minute interview with Mickey Mantle’s two sons, Danny and David Mantle.
“This card has become part of my father’s 70-year legacy and it’s amazing to see its continued impact on collectors and baseball fans around the world,” Mantle’s sons said in a statement. “We are excited to share this history with Topps in a new and exciting way through NFTs.”
The physical cards on which NFTs are based remain some of the most coveted in the baseball card market, with prices currently ranging from $30,000 to $250,000, depending on their tiered conditions.
Topps has been an active player in NFT gaming since April 2021, when it launched its first collection of digital baseball collectibles on WAX. The trading card company then moved its NFT marketplace to the Avalanche blockchain in August, marked by the launch of its first MLB licensing series, “Inception,” in which NFTs are currently trading at around $2.
Topps was acquired by sports marketing giant Fanatics for $500 million in January. Fanatics, which announced a $1.5 billion funding round Thursday at a $27 billion valuation, is also the owner of baseball NFT marketplace Candy Digital, which advertised the Mantle sale to its users in the weeks leading up to the auction.
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Source of information: Compiled from COINDESK by 0x information.The copyright belongs to the author Eli Tan, and may not be reproduced without permission
