Taijuan
Walker pitched four shutout innings in his second start of the spring last
week. He also made some digital history.
The recently
signed New York Mets right-hander became the first known active Major League
Baseball player to enter the nonfungible token (NFT) arena, auctioning a piece
of original artwork on OpenSea, a marketplace for digital goods. Walker’s
one-of-a-kind art, a baseball card-esque image of him tricked out with neon
colors and an animated, flashing signature, sold for 2.35 Ether — roughly
$4,275 — after receiving six bids. The proceeds from the auction benefited the
Amazin’ Mets Foundation, the team’s charity.
اضافة اعلان
“I really
wasn’t expecting nothing,” Walker, 28, said in a phone interview. “For it to
sell like that, it was really cool and definitely a blessing.”
While a first
in baseball, Walker’s NFT venture is just the latest example of an ongoing
crypto craze. The boom reached its current peak earlier this month when a JPG
file created by Mike Winkelmann, the digital artist known as Beeple, was sold
for $69.3 million in a Christie’s online auction, setting a record for artwork
that exists only digitally.
The rock
band Kings of Leon recently released an album by way of digital tokens. Jack
Dorsey, the chief executive of Twitter, made headlines Monday, selling an NFT
version of his first tweet for $2.9 million. And basketball fans have recently
been consumed by NBA Top Shot, a marketplace for buying and selling digital
highlight clips.
MLB is also
working on its own NFT products, according to ESPN, but Walker beat the league
to it.
While Walker
was not as flashy an offseason acquisition for the Mets as shortstop Francisco
Lindor, he is expected to play a large role for the team after signing a
two-year deal in February. He thrived in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season,
with a 2.70 ERA in 11 starts split between the Seattle Mariners and the Toronto
Blue Jays. He is expected to begin the season as the Mets’ No. 3 starter behind
Jacob deGrom and Marcus Stroman now that Carlos Carrasco is out with a
hamstring injury.
Walker’s
interest in NFTs developed when Jarrett Burgess, a friend and former teammate
in the Mariners organization, brought them to his attention. While Walker
worked his way up to the majors, Burgess earned his business degree and took
computer classes at Purdue. He went on to land a consulting job at Oracle,
where he worked with cloud and blockchain technology.
That work
with blockchain led Burgess to NFTs, where he finds himself breaking new ground
while also having to explain to some consumers what they are paying for when
they purchase one.
At their
most basic level, according to Burgess, NFTs are digital assets such as images,
GIFs, songs or videos that are uploaded and stored on a blockchain. “It’s
immutable and it’s verified,” he said. “Unchangeable for all of eternity.”
Or, as
Walker put it: “It’s yours forever. It can’t be chewed up by a dog or stolen
from you.”
The
impossibility of physical wear and tear is one appeal of digital collecting.
The same goes for NFTs doubling as proof of ownership. For those who collect
sports memorabilia, think of an NFT as a piece of memorabilia that doubles as
its own certificate of authenticity.
With their
shared interest in the medium, Walker and Burgess decided to pursue creating an
NFT, with Burgess, along with a few people from Walker’s agency, spearheading
the creative process. Walker signed off at various design points along the way,
all the while concentrating on his day job.
“My main
focus right now is baseball, so I’m focused on spring training stuff,” Walker
explained. “I have a team that helped me create it. We just wanted something
bright, colorful, vibrant, neon lights. Something that would stand out. It was
the first one that we did. It was quick. But I’m still building a team to help
me do this. We’re going to have multiple NFTs come out this year.”
The lack of
anything tangible can lead to confusion for some, yet NFTs are routinely
selling for thousands, and in some cases millions.
“Beauty is
in the eye of the beholder,” Burgess said of the growing market.
.jpg)
.jpg)
