The Topps NOW limited-edition baseball trading card featuring Anthony Fauci shattered an all-time sales record run for the company in selling 51,512 cards in the span of just 24 hours, according to Topps.
“We’re excited by the popularity of Dr. Fauci’s Topps NOW card,” Topps communications manager Emily Klass told USA Today. “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.”
The card featured Fauci’s first pitch on Major League Baseball’s opening night in Washington on July 23.
“Dr. Anthony Fauci, longtime Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and ardent Washington Nationals fan, signaled the official start of the 2020 MLB regular season by throwing out the first pitch before the Nationals took on the Yankees on Thursday evening,” the card reads.
NEW. RECORD. 💥
Dr. Anthony Fauci’s #ToppsNOW card sets an all-time high print run record, clocking in at 51,512 cards! pic.twitter.com/sbZtdVX6MC
— Topps (@Topps) July 27, 2020
Fauci, 79, a key member of the White House coronavirus task force and the government’s top infectious disease expert, was given the honor of throwing out the first pitch for the league’s abbreviated season.
The pitch didn’t reach home plate and wasn’t thrown in a straight line, either.
A New York Times report later revealed Fauci had practiced from a distance of 40 feet at a local high school field instead of the requisite 60 feet, 6 inches that marks the distance from the rubber to home plate.
“I completely miscalculated the distance from the mound,” he said.
The previous record was 19,396 cards sold for a card of Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr.
The Fauci card sells for $9.99.