It was a night to remember for Hyeseong Kim and the Los Angeles Dodgers, as the young Korean star introduced himself to Major League Baseball in spectacular style. A towering home run in the third inning against the Oakland Athletics announced his arrival and sent Los Angeles fans into raptures. As Kim circled the bases, the buzz in the stands seemed almost inevitable: the boy had come to play, and if early indications were anything to go by, he wouldn’t be leaving quietly.
Hyeseong Kim, all of 21 years old and barely a dozen games into his big-league career, was already making waves. A cool .360 batting average and an OPS of .840 painted the picture of a player who might well shift from a fleeting marvel to a mainstay in a lineup bursting with talent. Yet, even those gaudy stats might not capture the buzz quite like this: Topps, the venerable creator of baseball card magic, decided Kim’s first major league home run deserved more than just a fleeting cheer. It warranted a collector’s item, a tangible piece of history pressed into cardboard—complete with a surprise that had collectors, fans, and hobbyists alike clamoring for a piece.
Welcome to the Topps Now release—an homage not just to the cracking sound of bat meeting ball, but to the broader narrative of what could be the dawn of a legendary career. And this wasn’t your run-of-the-mill card drop. It’s a celebration of Kim’s milestone, enshrined in a way only the Topps magicians know how—a way that, true to form, brought a smile to even the most jaded collector’s face.
Central to the allure of this special drop was the inclusion of Kim’s first-ever autograph card. But not just any autograph—a 1-of-1 gem inscribed with the poignant “First Home Run,” dropped into the mix like a golden ticket. It flashed as a singular beacon among a sea of base cards, a crown jewel whispered among circles as the “Holy Grail” of Hyeseong collectibility. Securing this card isn’t just about adding a treasure to one’s memorabilia vault; it’s about holding in one’s hands a fragment of future folklore—a keepsake bearing the genesis of a star’s journey.
For those whose names don’t scrawl onto the ledger of luck to nab that 1-of-1, there are ample consolation prizes. Fifteen other autographs are peppered throughout the collection—each genuinely special in its own right, with versions sculpted into the tapestry of numbers weaved: the /10s, /5s. Just alike in magic, if not in rarity.
And the ride surely doesn’t end there. Parallel versions of Kim’s commemorative card amplify the grandeur for the pursuers of gold foil (/50), orange foil (/25), black foil (/10), and even the resplendent red foil (/5). A singular FoilFractor 1/1 adds a further sparkle, a unique pièce de résistance difficult to rival.
In a nod to Kim’s roots—his journey from Korea to Major League sun stages—a clever twist has been introduced. Variations of the card pursue from the traditional base to a dashing short-printed image, capped off by a super-short print imbued with Korean script—a small but meaningful acknowledgment of Kim’s path to the dance.
It’s not just a marketing ploy, selling dreams for dollars. It’s art. With art, there is always choice. From the solo $11.99 card gambit to the all-in $169.99, buyers are enticed to choose their adventure, to wager their wishes on a potential relic of history. Yet, the clock ticks quickly for this chance—as the always ephemeral Topps Now method holds true: one day’s chance, then much like fleeting seasons, it vanishes.
This dance of demand, rarity, and history doesn’t simply cast a tribute onto paper. It constructs a broader narrative, pulling Dodgers fans and collectors into an evolving storyline. Here comes Kim, wave him through with cheer, for this might be the start of an epic chronicle, and what better way to enshrine it forever than with a card deftly crafted by maestros at Topps. After all, the thrill of these moments is never solitary, and as the cheers fade into whispers, the cards left behind keep the story aflame, timeless, and ready to be retold, long into the bright diamond-lit nights ahead.
