This image, created by Brazilian illustrator Andre Maciel, known as Black Mother, provided by Leighton Communications, Inc., features a copy of one of the nine non-fungible symbolic books of the famous Ted Williams base, to be auctioned during April 19-24, 2021. Non-fungible tokens can be works of art, videos or even tweets or news articles related to a digital record – or blockchain – that allows the collector to prove ownership. (Leighton Communications, Inc. via AP)
This image, created by Brazilian illustrator Andre Maciel, known as Black Madre, provided by Leighton Communications, Inc., features a copy of one of the nine nonfungable symbolic books of the famous Ted Williams base, which will be auctioned in April 19-24, 2021. Non-fungible chips can be works of art, videos or even tweets or news articles related to a digital recording – or blockchain – that allows the collector to prove ownership. (Leighton Communications, Inc. via AP)
BOSTON (AP) – Teddy Ballgame is about to become Teddy Blockchain.
Hall of Famer, Ted Williams, comes to the digital memorabilia market with a launch of nine different books following his career no. 9, from a weak rookie to a member of the Cooperstown team. The collectibles provided by Williams’ daughter are hand-drawn by Brazilian illustrator Andre Maciel, known as Black Madre, who created the unbreakable tokens for football star Rob Gronkowski that sold for $ 1.6 million last month.
“I wrote him. I told him who I was. I said, “My father is Ted Williams.” I said, “Here’s what I want to do,” said Claudia Williams, adding that she doesn’t know if Maciel will be familiar with the baseball star.
“For all he knows, I’m just a person who says, ‘Hey, could you do me some NFTs?’ “She said. “Just the respect he showed for art, I know he knows who Ted Williams is.”
Eight books come in limited editions numbered 1 through 9, with the ninth – titled “Splendid Splinter” – a unique version that comes with an autographed bat, three autographed images and an Airbnb stay at a house that Williams has lived in Vermont. Each of the 73 cards includes the Red Sox slugger’s digital autograph, which remains the last major leaguer to hit .400, hitting .406 in 1941.
The collection also recognizes Williams’ accomplishments as a famer fishing hall and a fighter pilot who missed parts of five seasons to serve in World War II and the Korean War. Claudia Williams wrote the text on the back of each book.
The auction starts on Monday and runs until Saturday.
“The purpose of my life is to keep my father as relevant and inspirational as ever,” Claudia Williams said last week in a telephone interview from her Florida home. “I want to leave his legacy behind when his last surviving child disappears.”
Non-fungible chips can be works of art, videos or even tweets or news articles related to a digital recording – or blockchain – that allows the collector to prove ownership. The NBA has entered the NFTs by creating a market called Top Shot, which has over 800,000 users and at least $ 500 million in sales.
Williams said that if the auction is successful, she will donate some of the proceeds to Jimmy Fund, a children’s cancer charity that has been a Red Sox favorite since her father’s play days.
“It’s about inspiring and honoring my father,” she said. “I’m very much my father’s daughter: I don’t squat if I don’t feel passionate about it.”
Williams played 19 years – all for the Red Sox – lacking time for the two wars before retiring at the age of 41 in 1960, averaging .344, 521 at home and 1,839 RBIs. He was 19 times All-Star, twice AL MVP and twice triple crown winner.
Williams was also a notorious curmudgeon who mocked reporters as the “Knights of the Keyboard” and refused to return his fan hat. But he was one of the few white players to support the inclusion of Black League players in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Claudia Williams said her father was not an early adopter of NFTs, but encouraged her children to keep up with the latest technology. His book “The Science of Hitting” was ahead of its time. (Williams, who died in 2002, was frozen in liquid nitrogen at a cryonics unit in Arizona, hoping that medical advances would one day allow him to be brought back to life.)
“Daddy was so interesting,” she said. “When she found out about something new, she hugged him. He might say, “… I don’t know the first thing about this NFT, but I think it’s great. “But she would learn about him and like him.”
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