It’s peak 2020 when one of the hottest pieces of sports memorabilia centers around a health professional and pictures him wearing a mask inside an empty baseball stadium. His “first pitch” to kick off the abbreviated Major League Baseball season may not have been pretty, but Dr. Anthony Fauci’s Topps baseball card is outselling all of the players.
Released as part of the NOW on-demand platform by Topps, the Fauci card sold over 51,000 copies, easily the most of any other release in the multi-year history of the NOW program. Available for only 24 hours at $9.99 (cheaper in quantity), it took longer than that for word to spread beyond the sports card collecting community and when the rest of America found out, it was too late. With that many purchased, however, many have found their way to the secondary market.
The card features a photo of Fauci throwing out the first pitch prior to the Opening Day game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees. A long-time sport fan, Fauci is wearing a Nationals jersey and hat and a mask that commemorates the D.C. team’s 2019 World Series Championship. There’s a description of the moment on the back of the card, which is number 2 in the season-long set that captures moments and milestones from the 2020 MLB season.
The best place to find the Dr. Fauci trading card is on eBay. Demand has pushed prices well beyond the $20-$30 they had been selling for immediately after the initial Topps window closed but there are plenty available via this link (we’ve filtered out all of the homemade cards, etc.). Shopping around for the best price is always your best option. As the days go by, it’s possible prices will fall, but the interest in the Fauci baseball card stretches well beyond typical baseball cards so those 51,000 cards may be snapped up before long.
The Fauci card is popular enough at this point that they’re showing up inside the list of the most watched baseball card auctions as well.
Dr. Fauci was also featured on a bobblehead in April.