Collectible baseball cards have been around since the 19th Century, gaining popularity in the pre-war period as corporations like the American Tobacco Company produced their own baseball cards to promote their products. By the 1950s, companies like Topps and Bowman had made baseball card collecting a staple of any boy’s childhood, and appealed to many adults too. This week baseball cards are being brought firmly into the 21st Century as an exciting new partnership offers a collectible and tradeable baseball token.
The new initiative is the result of a collaboration between Seattle start-up Player Tokens and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). The crypto collectibles will feature the photo and signature of a Major League Baseball player and will be available in mixed packs, in much the same way as traditional baseball cards. But that’s where the similarities end, as the tokens will be individually marked with a unique ID enabling ownership to be tracked. In addition, information relating to the mint date and any previous ownership is recorded, all using state-of-the-art blockchain technology.
The tokens come in five levels of scarcity: Common, Uncommon, Rare, Epic and Legendary. A standard mixed pack contain five tokens, with at least one which is “Uncommon” or rarer on the scarcity scale. Standard packs cost $5.99, with packs of the rarer tokens available for a premium. The tokens can be bought with a conventional credit or debit card.
CEO and founder of Player Tokens Kush Parikh says the collectible assets will “build more engagement between the fans and players through the digital experience” and that there’s a “scarcity aspect that will make it fun from a collectibles perspective.” And this is just the beginning – Player Tokens are already in discussions with other sports leagues to expand their range of sporting crypto collectibles.
