By Rafael Canton
When Fanatics agreed to exclusive licensing deals for trading cards with the MLB, MLBPA, NBA, NBAPA, and NFLPA, the deals opened the company up to a breadth of opportunities to create new sports trading cards and collectible products.
When it acquired sports trading card company Topps soon after, it cemented the company’s focus on taking over the category.
With the Major League Baseball season starting today, Fanatics’s trading card division, Fanatics Collectibles, and Topps are debuting a new memorabilia patch created specifically for trading cards from MLB rookies making their debuts.
Created in partnership with the MLB and MLB Players Inc.—the business arm of the Major League Baseball Players Association—the cards are 1-of-1. When an MLB rookie makes their live action debut, a patch will be placed on an incoming player’s jersey sleeve. After the game, the patch will be removed, secured, authenticated, and included in a future Topps product.
“Fanatics is doing everything in service of the sports fan,” Fanatics Collectibles’s CEO Mike Mahan told Fast Company. “Fanatics Collectibles lives in service of the sports card collector. And so, when you think about what that means, we want to bring collectors closer to athletes and we want to bring collectors closer to moments that matter.”
This will be a continuing process that exists beyond opening day. As incoming rookies and prospects are called up and make debuts, the patch will be included in a rookie card for each player.
The moments that matter in the sports trading card sphere are rookie cards. They usually hold the most value in the trading card market.
“For a player there is no bigger moment than the first time they step onto a field for their Major League debut,” said Tony Clark, executive director of MLBPA, in a statement. “The debut patches are one way to capture the timeless nature of this moment and provide fans the opportunity to be part of it by collecting a player-worn item.”
The global sports trading market is valued at $44 billion and is expected to approach $100 billion in 2027, and Fanatics Collectibles sees opportunities to add new ideas to the traditional sports trading card category.
The idea is a part of what Mahan—who was named CEO of in June of last year—says is a Fanatics Collectibles’s focus on trying to be modern and innovative through unique product releases and subsequent marketing strategies.
Mahan says Topps created a set of social media followback redemption cards that are set to be released. Participants who find the redemption cards can be followed on Instagram by players like Mike Trout or Aaron Judge.
To promote its flagship Topps base baseball trading card set, Fanatics Collectibles teamed up with Seattle Mariners star Julio Rodriguez on a series of ads promoting the new series.
“We want to make the best products that are going to matter to collectors, Mahan says. “We really wanted to think about that across the spectrum.”
Fanatics also entered the commerce space with Commerce Live, a new Fanatics division that specializes in live content-based commerce. Mahan says the livestream component will exist with the new products, such as the jersey patch cards, where packs can be opened on the livestream.
“We do think that Fanatics Live will be a big platform to consume cards and invariably, some of these big debut patch cards will be opened on the Fanatics Live platform and that will be exciting,” he says.
This post has been updated to correct a misattributed quote in the eighth paragraph, which appeared in the story due to a press release error.
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