New York Yankees great Willie Mays has partnered with the non-profit Say Hey Foundation to create a digital baseball card of his personal diploma. The card will be on sale for $10,000 through an auction held by Heritage Auctions next month.
Willie Mays is a legendary baseball player who was born on April 30, 1931. He is known for his speed and power. His first NFT to feature a diploma, benefit Say Hey Foundation.
Willie Mays is still one of the greatest baseball players of all time, seventy years after making his big league debut: the most stunning combination of power, speed, and defense the game has ever seen.
Despite this, when he graduated from Fairfield Industrial High School in Fairfield, Alabama, in 1950, his diploma said that he would be assigned to the department of “cleaning, dyeing, and pressing,” which he had finished his studies in.
Mays, however, did not become a dry cleaner, which was a blow to that sector. Instead, he became “the ideal baseball player,” as Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench put it.
Mays’ diploma will be issued for the first time in the 90-year-first old’s NFT (nonfungible token), which will be distributed on Sunday. On the marketplace Nifty Gateway, Mays’ 90th Birthday Celebrity Drop is live, with Oct. 24 being a tribute to Mays’ jersey number.
“At first, I had no idea how these computer tokens operated,” Mays told ESPN. “They had to be explained to me. I’m accustomed to holding tokens in my hands. However, I suppose they are collected in the same manner as trading cards are. And those cards are now quite valuable. And I feel that anything that people may enjoy while also helping me support the kids is worthwhile.”
Mays’ Say Hey Foundation, which establishes baseball programs for underprivileged youth in Alabama, as well as the restoration of youth baseball facilities at Rickwood Field, the home of the Negro Leagues’ Birmingham Barons, for whom Mays played from 1948 to 1950, will receive 100% of the proceeds from the release.
Mays said, “I know I wouldn’t have had the life I’ve had if it weren’t for other people.” “When I was a youngster just starting out, there were adults who kept an eye out for me. People who taught me and believed in me. As well as teammates. Everyone needs the assistance of a group. I just want to ensure that young children are assigned to a team so that they have the opportunity to live this sort of life — that they eat well, have wonderful instructors, and have a safe space to play and study. That, I believe, is the finest thing I can do for them. Simply do what others have done for me.”
In the 90-year-first old’s NFT, Willie Mays’ diploma is made public for the first time. Mike Campau is a writer who lives in Canada.
The NFT art work comprises the following memorabilia pieces, as well as narration by Bob Costas:
• Mays’ high school diploma, which includes his chosen career. In segregated Alabama, white students were free to choose their own professions, but black students were not.
• One of Mays’ high school report cards; he was regarded as the state’s top baseball player, point guard, and quarterback, yet he scored a B in gym class (he did get an A in sportsmanship).
• A scouting report on Mays, who is referred to as a “colored kid,” as were all Black players before to Jackie Robinson’s 1947 color-blind breakthrough. Mays “has the finest reflexes and coordination I’ve seen in a long time,” according to the scout. Mays would be deemed a “franchise player” if he were white, according to the article.
• The $250-per-month deal Mays signed with the Birmingham Barons.
• The Western Union telegraph informing the Barons that the New York Giants had bought Mays’ contract for $10,000 and that he would be transferred to the Minneapolis Millers minor league squad.
• Mays had a chance to become “a dusky Joe DiMaggio,” according to a newspaper story.
• The 660 baseballs on the floor of the digital art work represent the amount of home runs he hit in his big league career.
The image is part of the Costacos Collection’s first drop, which was formed by sports poster artist John Costacos, CEO Justin Moorad, and digital art pioneer Mike Campau. And it was only possible because Mays chose to forego his allocated vocation — despite the fact that he claims he could have succeeded at it as well.
“I believe you give it your all in whatever you do. I took cleaning and pressing very seriously, and I became very adept at it “Mays said. “I just want every child to have the opportunity to perform their best in whatever they want to pursue. I made the decision to play baseball.”
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