#Dr. Fauci’s limited-edition Topps baseball card is instant best-seller

Dr. Anthony Fauci’s first pitch at the Washington Nationals’ season opener immortalized as a best-selling trading card.
Topps

The card featuring the nation’s top infectious expert tossing out a flattened curve as the ceremonial first pitch at Major League Baseball’s opening game on Thursday between the Yankees and the Nationals is now an all-time limited edition best seller.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci’s #ToppsNOW card set an all-time high print run record, clocking in at 51,512 cards,” the company tweeted Monday.

Fauci’s card, which had been offered for $9.99, was listed as “sold out” on the Topps NOW website as of Wednesday.

The limited-edition Topps NOW card — which are available for only 24 hours on the company’s website — features the Brooklyn-born Fauci mid-pitch while wearing a Washington National face mask. It also features some of his career highlights on the back.

“Dr. Anthony Fauci, longtime Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and ardent Washington Nationals fan, signaled the official start of the 2020 MLB regular season by throwing out the first pitch before the Nationals took on the Yankees on Thursday evening,” the card reads.

While Fauci’s pitch nearly hit photographers standing nearby, the card was kinder on his ceremonial throw, saying he “fired a strong effort” to the plate before his beloved Nats took the field.

“It went in the wrong direction,:” Fauci told the Washington Post Friday. “I joked around after and said I used to be a shortstop when I played ball as a young boy and I thought I was supposed to throw to first base.”

The new record smashes the previous Topps NOW record of 19,396 cards sold in honor of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s debut hit for the Toronto Blue Jays last year, NBC Sports Washington reports.