The most popular recurring sports card insert sets of the last half decade have unquestionably been Panini\u2019s Kaboom and Downtown offerings, which have commanded near-obsessive interest from collectors, and made them some of the most valuable cards of a given player. But since Topps took over the exclusive NBA card license late last year and will do the same with the exclusive NFL license in a matter of months, collectors have been trying to guess which of their inserts will take the place of Kabooms and Downtowns as the hobby\u2019s most coveted.<\/p>\n
The recent six-figure sale of a Shohei Ohtani card might be an indicator of one such Topps insert set.<\/p>\n
An eye-catching new take on an old concept, the Alter Ego inserts that are a part of the 2025 Topps Chrome Update Baseball set reimagine current and retired MLB stars as superheroes tied to their real-life nicknames and key attributes. The artist behind the instantly popular and hard-to-find set credits obvious comic book inspirations on the design of the cards.<\/p>\n
Artist Michael Blaskewicz attributes the influence of his Alter Ego designs (not to be confused with the Panini inserts with the same name) to legendary comic book artists he admired growing up, like the late \u201cTeen Titans\u201d artist George P\u00e9rez, Hellboy creator Mike Mignola, and Marvel villain Thanos creator Jim Starlin. He also credits one of the \u201890s top Spider-Man artists and co-founder of Image Comics, Erik Larsen, whose artwork for an Oakland Athletics magazine showed a young Blaskewicz that superheroes and sports were a good artistic mix.<\/p>\n
Blaskewicz\u2019s favorite baseball player has always been Rickey Henderson, going back to when MLB\u2019s all-time stolen bases leader played for his favorite team, the New York Yankees.<\/p>\n
It should be no surprise then that Henderson, decked out in a caped, green superhero suit and green domino mask that could be described as both Kryptonian and Green Lantern-esque, made the 10-player Alter Ego roster, alongside magician and superpowered samurai Ohtani (referencing his \u201cSho Time\u201d and \u201cTwo-Sword Samurai\u201d nicknames), Ozzie Smith as a wizard (of course), a hulking Frank Thomas, a beastly transformation of Ronald Acu\u00f1a, Jr., a cyborg Cal Ripken, Jr., the superhuman smile of Francisco Lindor, a polar bear that looks like it could ask you \u201cdo you even lift?\u201d for Pete Alonso, a green-skinned martian for Jasson Dom\u00ednguez, and an oversized gavel-wielding Aaron Judge.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n\n The Wizard, Ozzie Smith. Photo: Topps<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Coming up with the final list of 10 players that would appear on the Alter Ego inserts was a collaborative effort between Blaskewicz and Topps.<\/p>\n \u201cI sort of had a list in my head and I definitely know the product team at Topps had their must haves. (There was) a lot of overlap when we shared our lists so that was great,\u201d Blaskewicz said. \u201cI think from the beginning we both knew we would pay tribute to players past and present. \u2026 Topps made the final call as to who would get a tap on the shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaskewicz credits Henderson as the big bang of Topps\u2019 burgeoning Alter Ego universe, though.<\/p>\n When Henderson returned to his original team, the Athletics, in 1989, Blaskewicz\u2019s fandom never wavered, his favorite player never changed, and as he grew up, he illustrated Henderson frequently as a superhero. Henderson fan groups online eventually caught on, leading to even Henderson himself autographing a few pieces of his art before the Topps connection even came about.<\/p>\n When Henderson died at the end of 2024, Blaskewicz paid tribute the best way he knew how, through his artwork.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter Rickey passed away I had done some posts of some of the work I was most proud of to pay homage to him as an icon and as a superhero to me,\u201d Blaskewicz said. \u201cAnd through some connections at Topps and some folks that I\u2019ve known through the Instagram channels of it all, (it) led to the project. A couple of weeks later (Topps) just came back and said, \u2018Hey would you be interested in doing more like this?\u2019 \u2026 I thought maybe I\u2019d be contributing to a larger project with multiple artists but through the process of it all, it turned out I would be doing all 10 (designs).\u201d<\/p>\n The Alter Ego set was released within Topps Chrome Update on December 10, but they were made to be extremely difficult cards to pull out of packs. Only available in hobby boxes of the product, the base versions of the 10 cards were inserted at a rate of one in every 4,074 hobby packs (1:203.7 boxes) on average, according to Topps. That\u2019s far more limited than the aforementioned Kabooms and Downtowns, which are generally considered to be \u201ccase hits,\u201d with one in every 12-box case. The base Alter Ego cards appear at a rate of one in every 17 cases. According to research done by The Athletic<\/em> contributor Corey Merriman, the total print run for these cards is about 100 each.<\/p>\n The one-of-one Superfractor variations of each card (which have a gold border) are listed as one in every 389,424 hobby backs.<\/p>\n A month after release, the Ohtani Superfractor 1\/1 that features the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star as a magician and a two sword-wielding samurai, hit the auction block and sold through Fanatics Collect for $105,000, establishing the inserts as not only in demand, but very valuable. It was the first Alter Ego 1\/1 to sell publicly on the secondary market and even Blaskewicz said it caught him off guard.<\/p>\n \u201cAm I surprised? Yes,\u201d Blaskewicz said when asked about the high price tag. \u201cI didn\u2019t even know it was up for auction, the (Ohtani) 1\/1. I heard it was pulled, but I didn\u2019t know it was up for auction, so I was surprised to hear both that it was sold and the number.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaskewicz\u2019s creative process for the set prioritized what he gathered fans and collectors of each player would want to see in a trading card. For his research on Ohtani, he spoke to family members out west with young children who were Ohtani fans and a friend who was a designer for Nintendo. For Thomas, he consulted an online fan group of the Chicago White Sox legend. And although the comic influence is clear, Blaskewicz didn\u2019t see each card in the set as a comic book panel, he looked at them as movie posters if the characters he was creating were going from the comic book page to the big screen.<\/p>\n \n The original sketch for the Ozzie Smith Alter Ego card. Photo: Michael Blaskewicz<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n \u201cEvery card in this series had a different backstory in terms of the character. The position I took from the beginning was\u2026 I don\u2019t want these to be caricatures. I want to imagine these are existing heroes, characters, in a lived in comic book universe already. That was sort of the must-have, growing up as a life-long comic book fan,\u201d Blaskewicz said. \u201cThere was a lot (of fans) to disappoint if I didn\u2019t get this right. Especially this being my first public foray into this (trading card) world. Disappointing comic book fans, disappointing collectors, disappointing baseball fans, was definitely the pressure (felt), but I kind of stuck to that mentality. Every card, I didn\u2019t want to think of it as a formula, every card had its own unique way of cracking the code as to what that character would be.\u201d<\/p>\n Blaskewicz considers himself a fan of the \u201csmall format\u201d when it comes to his creations. Despite the fact that his Alter Ego artwork might work quite well in other ways, such as on posters or T-shirts, that\u2019s not where he wants it to be. And a part of that sentiment is him being a natural fan of collecting cards.<\/p>\n \u201cI love a shorter print run of cards,\u201d Blaskewicz said. \u201cThat helps me think of this as \u2018these (cards) are special.\u2019 Ultimately I think that would have to be where I keep it. I don\u2019t see these going on anything (else), in my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the instant popularity of Topps\u2019 initial Alter Ego offering, it seems likely they will be carried over to basketball (could a LeBron \u201cKing\u201d James Alter Ego 1\/1 challenge the Ohtani price?) and eventually football sets as well, once Topps takes on the NFL license later this year.<\/p>\n But in baseball, there is one legend Blaskewicz hopes he gets a chance to draw an Alter Ego card for one day, perhaps while listening to Metallica.<\/p>\n \u201cI would have to say, as a Yankee fan, Sandman has been on my list,\u201d Blaskewicz said. \u201cIt\u2019s tough because you don\u2019t want to recreate what a Sandman is in the comic book world, but this is a different world, a different universe. Sandman\u2019s a big guy for me, so Mariano Rivera would be really huge.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/athletic\/uploads\/wp\/2026\/02\/03092005\/IMG_2081-scaled.jpeg\")
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