Major League Baseball will begin releasing a series of new NFTs in July, beginning with a digital collectible commemorating Lou Gehrig’s “Luckiest Man” speech on July 4, 1939.
An exclusive auction for the NFT of Gehrig’s famous speech will be held on July 4.
The release of Gehrig’s NFT will be the first of many nonfungible tokens sold by MLB in its deal with Candy Digital. While MLB currently has a deal with Topps to distribute NFT trading cards, the deal with Candy Digital is “expected to include a far broader suite of products,” per ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
“From trading cards to autographed balls, baseball fans have demonstrated their passion for the sport and its players through collectibles for decades,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “In working with Candy Digital to offer NFTs to MLB fans, we’re delivering an exciting new addition to the robust baseball collectible market.”
Wednesday will mark MLB’s inaugural “Lou Gehrig Day” as teams across baseball honor the former Yankees legend. All players and managers will wear uniform patches to celebrate Gehrig as well as red “4-ALS” wristbands.
Gehrig was diagnosed with ALS in June 1939. The original Lou Gehrig Day was held at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1939 as Gehrig delivered one of the most famous speeches in sports history.
“For the past two weeks, you have been reading about a bad break,” Gehrig said. “Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
