A Topps NOW limited edition baseball card featuring Dr. Anthony Fauci's opening day pitch only went on sale for 24 hours, but it has eclipsed company records for special cards, and he says he's "humbled" by the numbers.
Fauci's card set an all-time print record run last week for Topps, which sold 51,512 of the $9.99 cards and shattered the record for a limited edition card featuring the first hit by Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., USA Today reported Monday. The Guerrero card sold 19,396 copies.
"I feel a little embarrassed and humbled," Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CNN Monday night about the card sales. "I hope that Yogi Berra and Mickey Mantle are not looking up at me saying, ‘What the heck is going on here?’ "
Topps communications manager Emily Kless commented in an email that the company was excited by the popularity of the Fauci card.
"Topps prides itself on capturing the unique moments of the MLB season, one baseball card at a time, and Dr. Fauci’s inclusion in this year’s Topps NOW cards is just one way in which we are highlighting the uniqueness of the 2020 season," she said.
In the card, Fauci is shown throwing out the first pitch during the July 23 Major League Baseball season opener between last year's World Series champion Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees.
The picture is shot from behind home plate and shows Fauci, whose pitch famously went short and the left of home plate. In the shot, Fauci is wearing a Nationals jersey, hat, and face mask.
On the back of the card, Fauci is described as an "ardent Washington Nationals fan" and noted his pitch was the "official start of the 2020 MLB season."
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Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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