Dr. Anthony Fauci's 1st-Pitch Card Is Fastest-Selling Card in Topps Now History

The top-selling baseball card in Topps Now history features someone who wasn't all that impressive of a baseball player.

The company announced its card commemorating Dr. Anthony Fauci's first pitch at Nationals Park on Thursday is the fastest-selling card ever with 51,512 cards sold. The collectors item was created as a limited edition scheduled to go on sale for only 24 hours.

"We're excited by the popularity of Dr. Fauci's Topps NOW card," Topps communications manager Emily Kless said, per Lorenzo Reyes of USA Today. "Topps prides itself on capturing the unique moments of the MLB season, one baseball card at a time, and Dr. Fauci's inclusion in this year's Topps NOW cards is just one way in which we are highlighting the uniqueness of the 2020 season."

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases as well as a diehard Washington Nationals fan, was given the chance to throw the first pitch for the 2020 season opener against the New York Yankees. It didn't exactly go as planned, with a pitch that was well outside:

It was still a memorable moment, as thousands of fans bought a card commemorating the event for $9.99 apiece.

The previous record for fastest-selling card was in honor of Vladimir Guerrero Jr.'s first career hit, which sold 19,396 copies.