When Victor Wembanyama threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium last summer, no one expected the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft to make a baseball roster. But he’s done it, albeit in a non-traditional fashion.
Professional Sports Authenticator (PSA) has created All-Star dream team rosters based on the most-graded and popular baseball cards for each position during the 2024 season so far. The rosters for the National League and American League dream teams are stacked with MLB stars you’d expect to see like Bryce Harper, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge and Mike Trout, but there’s a surprising player on the AL squad: Wembanyama.
The 7-foot-4 superstar, who just finished his rookie NBA season with the San Antonio Spurs, made the roster as a pitcher. The Houston Astros’ Justin Verlander joins Wembanyama as the two AL pitchers, while the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Paul Skenes and the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Yoshinobu Yamamoto were selected as the NL pitchers.
Players made the dream team rosters by being the most graded players at each position by league. PSA grades trading cards based on their condition, with the scale ranging from one (poor) to 10 (gem mint).
In June 2023, Topps unveiled a baseball card commemorating Wembanyama’s appearance at Yankee Stadium (2023 Topps Now #472). The card shows Wembanyama in a classic Yankees pinstripe jersey with the words “New York” across his chest as he juggles baseballs. The Frenchman showed off his juggling skills before his ceremonial first pitch, which landed in the dirt to the left of home plate.
Topps sold 48,654 copies of the 2023 Topps Now #472 card of Wembanyama’s first pitch, and it was the most popular pitcher card PSA graded so far this season.
PSA has graded 1,600 copies of that Wembanyama card, while MLB players have multiple cards for grading. The Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani ranked first as the player with the most cards in total graded at 56,500, while the Cincinnati Reds’ Elly De La Cruz was second with 26,700 cards graded. Skenes marked the pitcher with the most cards graded at 9,000.
Last month, Topps released a Wembanyama autograph “First Pitch” card in the 2024 Topps Series 2.
