Hobby shops were slated to receive their shipments in time for Wednesday’s official release day but enough blaster boxes have been opened to piece together a 2016 Topps First Pitch checklist for Series One.
First Pitch made its debut last year and earned plenty of media attention for its inclusion of celebrities from the world of entertainment and others deemed special enough to get their own trading card. While Topps had announced the checklist of ’16 Topps last week, there was still no word on who was included in the 20-card First Pitch set.
Sports Figures
The headliners are probably 2015 Masters and U.S. Open champ Justin Spieth, who has few trading cards despite his success and Knicks rookie Kristaps Porzingis who tossed out a pitch after being drafted by New York last June.
Retired commissioner Bud Selig gets a card as does retiring soccer star Abby Wambach, skateboard legend Tony Hawk, Little Leaguer Mo’ne Davis, colorful hockey announcer Don Cherry and Triple Crown jockey Victor Espinoza.
Crooners and Actors
Singers Bill Withers and James Taylor are in the set and so is Steve Aoki, described as an “electro house musician and record producer known for throwing cake into the crowd”. Actors Johnny Knoxville, Carrie Brownstein and IronE Singleton appear too.
Based on what’s been posted so far on eBay, the checklist looks like this:
Abby Wambach
Gabby Giffords
Don Cherry
Mo’ne Davis
Evelyn Jones (oldest to toss a first pitch)
Bree Morse
Jordan Spieth
Kristaps Porzingis
Victor Espinoza
Johnny Knoxville
James Taylor
Bud Selig
Carrie Brownstein
Haylee Atwell
Bill Withers
Steve Aoki
LeVar Burton
Rebekah Gregory
Tony Hawk
IronE Singleton
You can see what’s been posted on eBay here.