Iconic moments and memorabilia from his career will be brought to life and made accessible to fans for the first time in new digital collectible formats
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Candy Digital, the next generation digital collectible company, today announced an expansive multi-year partnership with baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. that will bring fans on a journey through his legendary career.
This new partnership provides Candy Digital with exclusive access and official rights to create digital collectibles showcasing iconic moments from Ripken’s career, as well as rare memorabilia from Cal’s extensive personal collection. Ripken will be intimately involved in the curation of each digital collectible introduced, working closely with Candy Digital’s artists and designers to record custom audio narration that will accompany select moments and objects reflected in these digital collectibles that explain why they hold such significance for him.
“I’m excited to be working with Candy Digital to share my career and love of baseball with fans through these new digital collectibles,” said Cal Ripken Jr. “It was important to me to go beyond showing fans what moments and objects from over the course of my career that were special to me, but also give them the ability to hear directly from me about why they are so memorable and what was going through my mind in-the-moment.”
“Cal Ripken Jr.’s accomplishments on the field are the stuff of legend, and he has left a lasting imprint on the sport of baseball,” said Scott Lawin, CEO of Candy Digital. “Our new partnership provides new ways for fans to explore his storied career through digital collectibles that uniquely integrate iconic visuals with audio narrative from Cal that provide a never-before-seen glimpse into his journey as a player, beginning with his rookie season.”
The Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie Collection will be the first time baseball fans will be able to own an officially licensed digital collectible featuring “The Iron Man”. This also marks the first-ever marquee player collection to debut as part of Candy Digital’s Baseball Legends Series, which was introduced last week and kicked-off with the 2022 Hall of Fame ICON Series. The Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie Collection will be available on Candy Digital’s primary marketplace beginning August 23. It will arrive in five different rarity tiers, with each tier containing a unique combination of products:
- Legendary: This 1-of-1 Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie ICON will feature both still imagery and video content narrated by Ripken. The winner of this auction will also receive a 15-minute video conference conversation with Cal Ripken Jr.; a signed piece of physical memorabilia; and a 3D scanned digital collectible of his Rookie of the Year Award.
- Epic: Features iconic still imagery and video content, narrated by Ripken, with 50 in total produced. The owner of each of these products will also receive a signed piece of physical memorabilia and a 3D scanned digital collectible of his Rookie of the Year Award.
- Rare: Features iconic still imagery and video content, narrated by Ripken. 120 of these will be produced. The owner of each of these products will also receive a 3D scanned digital collectible version of his Rookie of the Year Award.
- Uncommon: Features still imagery and video from Ripken’s rookie year. 330 of these will be produced.
- Core: Features a photo of Ripken from his rookie year. 700 of these will be produced.
Future collections introduced as part of this partnership will deepen the connection fans have to Ripken by providing them the opportunity to explore later seasons and moments from his career, including the ability to collect additional 3D scanned versions of items from his personal trove of physical memorabilia including awards, game-worn gear, and more.
The Cal Ripken Jr. Rookie Collection will be minted on the Palm blockchain, an environmentally friendly Ethereum-compatible side-chain with a nearly 0% carbon footprint, and available for sale on Candy Digital’s website.
Additional information and updates can be found at www.candy.com/mlb.
About Candy Digital
Candy Digital is a next generation technology company that designs and develops officially licensed, premium digital collectibles that connect people to their passions. Candy’s team of world-class digital artists, designers, and technologists are developing a broad range of digital collectibles that are reimagining fandom.
Candy Digital is an official digital collectible partner of Getty Images, Major League Baseball, the Major League Baseball Players Association, Netflix, the Race Team Alliance, and the WWE. Candy operates digital collectible ecosystems where fans and collectors are able to purchase, trade, and share authentic digital collectibles to deepen their love of the sports, media and culture.
Contacts
Will Cutrone, wcutrone@candy.com