PSA announced some administrative changes on Wednesday.
Kevin Lenane, who became the company’s president a year ago, is now the Vice-President of Sales and will work on the east coast.
Ryan Hoge, who also joined the company in 2021, becomes president. The former Microsoft exec will move from Seattle to Southern California for his new role.
Erice Horne will lead PSA’s production unit.
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The Los Angeles Lakers retired Hall of Famer George Mikan’s jersey Sunday night in a pregame ceremony.
Big George’s collection is at home in David Kohler’s Lakers Shrine.
Lakers public address announcer Lawrence Tanter recently stopped in for a tour of Mikan’s number 99 jersey, his trademark glasses and other memorabilia. You can check out the short video here.
Mikan is the 11th player in Los Angeles Lakers history to earn the distinction, joining Kobe Bryant (8 & 24), Wilt Chamberlain (13), Elgin Baylor (22), Gail Goodrich (25), Earvin “Magic” Johnson (32), Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (33), Shaquille O’Neal (34), James Worthy (42), Jerry West (44) and Jamaal Wilkes (52).
The 1948 National Basketball League MVP and four-time All-Star helped lead the then-Minneapolis Lakers to five championships (1949, 1950, 1952, 1953, 1954) and was elected to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959.
Donning a Lakers uniform, Mikan led the league in scoring in three consecutive seasons (1948-51) and was the league’s leading rebounder in back-to-back campaigns (1951-53).
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Wonder what Josh Gibson might have done in an at-bat against Sandy Koufax? A new collectible undertaking from Strat-o-Matic and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum will help facilitate it.
They’re planning a project to release in February 2023 that will have both collectable and interactive elements.
At the centerpiece are NFTs that feature a short audio commentary on each player’s legacy, contribution to baseball, and their lasting impact. A photo montage of many never-before-seen images related to each player will accompany the voiceover. In addition, there will be an NFT-powered at-bat simulation using Strat-O-Matic’s proprietary statistical game engine. This will allow for the simulation of at-bats of each player against figures from throughout baseball history. Players to be included in the initial set will be announced at a later date.
Both the NLBM and the families of the depicted players will receive a portion of the profits from the offering, which may also include a collection of traditional limited edition printed cards.
Rewards and experiences will be tied to participation, including potential opportunities to collect exclusive player NFTs with varying tiers of rarity, various opponents to simulate at-bats against, physical collectibles, and more.
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eBay says 63 million trading cards were sold on its marketplace last year and in the first quarter of 2021, three cards were listed on the platform every second of every day.
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There won’t be many tickets from Wednesday night’s combined World Series no-hitter to collect.
The Phillies–like a lot of teams these days–opted for digital tickets only. One of our Twitter followers shared a picture of a ticket from Wednesday night’s game that he had somehow acquired but it’s safe to say they will be virtually non-existent.
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