Bart’s card a home run
SOCIAL MEDIA darling Bartolo Colon didn’t just swing himself into fans’ hearts and baseball’s record books with his home run in San Diego over the weekend.
He busted a baseball-card sales mark, too.
A card of Bart’s big cut snapped sales records for Topps Now, a new program by the Topps trading card company that commemorates baseball’s big moments. Fans have a chance to buy Topps Now cards for 24 hours after an event and Colon outsold every other one made this season, including one for Jake Arrieta’s no-hitter and an earlier Colon card.
“Colon’s home run in the biggest selling by a mile,” says Jeff Heckman, Topps’ director of product development and e-commerce. “Nothing has really come close to it so far. The program is in its infancy, but it’s like nothing we’ve seen so far.”
Topps Now sold 8,828 Colon cards at $9.99 each, Heckman said. Arrieta’s no-no card is next at 1,808. ESPN’s Darren Rovell first reported that Colon’s card was a recordbreaker for Topps.
“I attribute it to the fan following and how beloved he is,” Heckman said. “He’d never hit a home run, took awhile to run around the bases. The whole spectacle. And it works that he’s on a big-market team, the Mets, that’s playing well.
“He’s quite the cult and mythical figure.”
Colon even outsold himself — Topps Now made a card when Colon passed Pedro Martinez for second-place all-time in wins for Dominican Republic-born pitchers. That feat sold 298 cards.
Other Mets have had Topps Now cards this year, too. When Neil Walker tied the club’s April homer record with his ninth, a card commemorating the feat sold 289 units. A card noting a big game for Curtis Granderson was good for 294 in sales.
Colon’s homer cards are no longer available on Topps’ website, Heckman said — sales ended at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
“It’s ‘Topps Now,’” Heckman explained. “This is the only way to do it timely. It’s just 24 hours only. The people who have it, the ones that are out there, they are the only time it’ll be produced.”
But there were some already listed on eBay early Monday afternoon, ranging in price from $15 to $49.99.
Colon homered Saturday off Padres’ pitcher James Shields, creating an Internet frenzy. At 42, he’s the oldest player in Major League Baseball history to hit his first career home run. MLB.com’s Statcast measured the blast at 365 feet and Colon’s home-run trot at 30.6 seconds.
Topps Now started this season and looks to “chronicle every big moment, unique play” during the year, Heckman said. It’ll continue through the postseason, he added.