The auction brings the famous Ted Williams to the NFT market

BOSTON (AP) – Teddy Ballgame is about to become Teddy Blockchain.

Famous celebrity Ted Williams hits the digital souvenir market with the release of nine different cards that follow the No. 9 race from the thin novice to the invented Cooperstown. The collectibles offered by Williams’ daughter are hand-drawn by Brazilian illustrator Andre Maciel, known as Black Madre, who created the non-expendable tokens for football star Rob Gronkowski. they sold out last month for $ 1.6 million.

“I wrote to him. I told him who he was. I said, “My dad is Ted Williams.” I said, “That’s what I want to do,” Claudia Williams said, adding that she didn’t know if Maciel would be familiar with the baseball star.

“For all you know, I’m just a person who cares about me saying,‘ Hey, could you do me NFT? “Just the respect he showed in art, I know he knows who Ted Williams is.”

Eight letters are presented in limited editions with 1 to 9, and the ninth, entitled “The Splendid Splendid”, is a unique release that includes an autograph bat, three autographed photographs and an Airbnb stay in a house that goes live Williams. in Vermont. Each of the 73 cards includes the Red Sox slugger’s digital autograph, which remains the last major ligature to hit .400, and reached .406 in 1941.

The collection also recognizes Williams ’achievements as a starving fishing room and fighter pilot who lost parts of five seasons to serve in World War II and the Korean War. Claudia Williams wrote the text on the back of each card.

The auction begins Monday and lasts until Saturday.

“The goal of my life is to keep my dad as relevant and inspiring as ever,” Claudia Williams said last week in a phone interview from her home in Florida. “I want to leave behind his legacy when his last surviving son disappears.”

Non-expendable tokens can be works of art, video clips, or even tweets or news articles linked to a digital record (or blockchain) that allows the collector to prove ownership. The NBA has entered NFT creating a market called Top Shot, which has more than 800,000 users and at least $ 500 million in sales.

Williams said if the auction is successful, it will donate part of the proceeds to the Jimmy Fund, a children’s cancer charity that has been a favorite of the Red Sox since their father’s playing days.

“It’s about inspiring and honoring my father,” he said. “I’m my father’s daughter: I don’t squat if I’m not passionate.”

Williams played for 19 years – all of the Red Sox – losing time for both wars before retiring at age 41 in 1960 with an average of .344, 521 homers and 1,839 RBI. He was 19 times All-Star, twice AL MVP and twice triple crown winner.

Williams was also a famous curmudgeon who mocked journalists as “Keyboard Knights” and refused to tilt the cap on fans. But he was one of the few white players to advocate for Black League players to be included in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Claudia Williams said her father may not have been one of the first to adopt NFT, but she encouraged her children to keep up with the latest technology. His book “The Science of Hitting” was ahead of its time. (Williams, who died in 2002, has been frozen in liquid nitrogen at a Arizona cryonics facility in hopes that one day medical advances will allow him to return to life).

“Dad was such a leader,” he said. “When he met something new, he adopted it. I could say, “… I don’t know the first thing about this NFT, but I think it’s fantastic. ‘But he would learn it and love it.”

___

More AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports