The collectors’ items offered by Williams’ daughter are hand drawn by Brazilian illustrator Andre Maciel, known as Black Madre, who created the non-fungible tokens for football star Rob Gronkowski that sold out last month for $1.6 million.
I said, ‘My dad is Ted Williams.’ I said, ‘Here’s what I want to do,’” Claudia Williams said, adding that she didn’t know whether Maciel would be familiar with the baseball star.
Eight cards come in limited editions numbered 1-9, with the ninth — titled “The Splendid Splinter” — a one-of-a-kind release that comes with an autographed bat, three autographed pictures and an Airbnb stay at a house Williams lived in in Vermont.
Non-fungible tokens can be works of art, video clips or even tweets or news articles tied to a digital record — or blockchain — that allows the collector to prove ownership.
Williams played 19 years — all for the Red Sox — missing time for the two wars before retiring at the age of 41 in 1960 with a .344 average, 521 home runs and 1,839 RBIs.
“Daddy was so about cutting edge,” she said.