Noah Syndergaard is the first ever Topps NOW Intern

Ahh Baseball Cards. In my room, I have old math binders filled with hundreds of cards per season from 2005 to 2014. The fun of heading down to the convenience store and getting a eight pack of Topps cards,  only to rip the pack open and add it to the sacred collection (and trade them the following day in school) was some of the best fun I had in my childhood. Trading baseball cards was like the stock market for kids, only the reward wasn’t money, it was having a good time.

Nothing was better however that getting specialty cards. When I was young, getting a “Topps Attax” card to play with on the computer, or a postseason patch card was the a total thrill. The limited nature and secrecy of these cards made them very worthwhile, and a collectors item among my grade school trading friends.

Nowadays, I still get the team packs, but the unknown nature of what cards have been released has diminished, thanks to internet forums and social media. which adds a new component to Topps trading, but diminishes the fun of getting a surprise.

Luckily, the folks at Topps introduced Topps NOW, which I talked about last year on the blog. For those that don’t know, Topps NOW is a feature where collector’s get that chance to purchase a Baseball card featuring a highlight from the previous day’s action. However, there is a caveat, which is where the “limited edition” nature gets rediscovered. The card is only available for 24 hours from release, and then it’s no longer available for purchase. Just imagining how much trading power my inner-kid (and, current, teenager, to a certain extent) would have had with Topps NOW cards made me really excited for the new development that Topps announced yesterday.

Noah Syndergaard is becoming the first Topps NOW Intern,  where he will guide and contribute to the decision making process of the professionals that make Topps NOW a reality.

To commemorate this, a pregame presser was announced and held before yesterday’s game, one that I had the pleasure of attending. Noah was enthusiastically wearing a huge Topps NOW t-shirt, and with his dry sense of humor, explained the duties of the Topps internship. I asked Syndergaard what it felt like when he saw his first Topps NOW card last year, and Syndergaard immediately talked about the Los Angeles two home-run game, and how awesome it was to see the card printed almost instantaneously. Frankly, I think Syndergaard is completely right. With most tangible items commemorating an event, like a cap or a t-shirt, one would have to wait at least one week to go through the process of development, at which point the moment is no longer relevant. With Topps Now, one can purchase the card within hours of the moments’ occurrence, which is fantastic.

After a while, the interview got sidetracked into questions about Syndergaard’s blister, but the show stopper was Bartolo Colon, in all his glory, coming in to present his San Diego home-run card.

While this was a super memorable moment, it also displays how Topps NOW represents history, a card that will forever represent that night in May. In the future, Topps NOW cards will not only be fun to collect, but to reflect on.

Overall, I’m very excited for the future of Topps NOW. The world is turning more digital day after day, but Baseball cards are perfect in their classic, printed form. Topps NOW brings that tangible magic with the limited edition twist, which is a perfect combination. To purchase your Topps NOW card, go to their website here, and follow the Topps Company on their social media platforms.

Below is the press conference in it’s entirety:

Special thanks to The Topps Company for their invitation, I look forward to collect these new Topps NOW cards, which should hopefully be mostly Mets, right?