Topps is turning some of baseball’s daily moments into (almost) instant baseball cards.
The company has announced plans to create print-to-order cards depicting “the greatest moments and milestones from the 2016 Major League Baseball season almost as soon as they happen.”
These aren’t digital cards. Each day, Topps will decide if there were any on-field moments worth turning into cards. The physical cards, called TOPPS NOW, will be available for purchase the next day through Topps.com, but for just 24 hours, and will not be available for purchase again.
The first two cards were made available Monday and featured the Kansas City Royals’ 2015 World Series trophy being displayed before their game with the Mets and Pirates’ pitcher Francisco Liriano who matched an Opening Day franchise record with 10 strikeouts and also drove in the season’s first run.
“TOPPS NOW was inspired by input from our passionate baseball fans,” said Clay Luraschi, Topps ’Vice President of Product Development. “Magical moments will be captured on baseball cards the very next day, giving fans everywhere a chance to own a piece of history almost immediately.”
TOPPS NOW cards will depict great achievements and performances throughout the 2016 season. If a player hits four home runs in a game or has a walk-off home run, baseball fans can expect to see those cards in the TOPPS NOW set the next day.
At the end of each card’s selling window, Topps will announce the number of cards that will be printed for each card. The print run for the Royals card was 356 while Topps sold 266 of the Liriano cards.
The concept isn’t unlike the former eTopps program, in which special cards were created and made available for shipping but quantities were announced ahead of time and made available until the product sold out. Customers could keep their orders in a digital portfolio or ask to have the physical cards shipped. The program shut down a few years ago.
Fans can also let Topps know every night what they think should be on a TOPPS NOW card through Topps’ social media accounts utilizing the hashtag #TOPPS NOW.