Keegan Hall can still vividly recall all the detailed preparation that went into his early attempts to sell baseball cards.
As a kid growing up in Sumner, Washington, Hall bought a table as his local card show, hoping to move a few singles and earn a little extra cash.
“I remember just staying up the night before, getting the stickers and putting (them) on my hard cases, writing $2 for this one and $3 for that …” Hall told cllct.
“So, collecting has always been a part of me.”
Now a renowned hyperrealistic pencil artist in Seattle, Hall recently worked with Topps to produce a series of cards that will be in much higher demand and certainly sell for a lot more than $2 or $3.
The 2025 Topps Baseball Update Series, which is available now, features hand-drawn cards by Hall highlighting 10 major-league stars, including AL MVP Aaron Judge, NL MVP Shohei Ohtani, Bryce Harper, Julio Rodriguez and James Wood.
Since he started drawing some of the biggest athletes and celebrities in the world, Hall says he dreamed of seeing his work on a trading card.
So, seeing the cards show up in the hands of ecstatic collectors this month has been the fulfillment of a lifetime goal.
“It’s been surreal,” he said, “just watching social media and seeing people pull my cards out and be excited.”
The series features 40 total cards — four for each player, which is a tribute to Hall’s painstaking process.
The first card shows the artwork at 25% completion, the next at the halfway mark, the third at 75% completion, and the final card is the finished piece.
Hall, who said he spent 30-40 hours on each piece, often shares time-lapse videos of creating his work.
“This concept is very much ‘me’ in terms of how I present my art in general, because I love to take people inside that creation process,” he said.
“On social media, I’ll post that very early, ugly sketch, then like steps two, three, four, five, all the way to completion. So it has been cool to see that translate into these cards.”
Hall said he has been interested to see collectors reaction, wondering “would someone enjoy pulling a card that’s half complete?”
Those questions have been answered with a resounding yes, as Hall said collectors have fully “embraced” the progressive concept being used for parallels.
Hall said he was able to pick most of the players, but Topps suggested a few they wanted to see included, including young players such as Wood and Dylan Crews.
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Hall also got to pick the pose for each player, aiming to come up with something more than the standard baseball card might feature.
“I wanted each one to capture the player in a unique way and make each card a little bit different, and if I can maybe capture their personality at the same time,” he said. “So, the Julio card, he’s got the trident, right? It’s that love for the game.
“(With) Ohtani and Judge, they’re smashing home runs. That’s what they’re known for.”
In addition to the cards being pulled out of packs, Hall is also selling prints of each player’s finished artwork on his website and will be auctioning off the original artwork and 1/1 signed cards.
What excites Hall the most, however, is a contest he’s calling “My Cards, My City” in which one lucky winner will get two round-trip tickets to Seattle to meet Hall, take in a Mariners game, visit the Space Needle and stay at the renowned Edgewater Hotel.
Fans can register for that giveaway for free on Hall’s website.
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Kevin Jackson is the chief content officer for cllct. He spent 25 years at ESPN Digital Media, where he was the founding editor of Page 2, and nearly four years as the Executive Director for Digital Content at FOX Sports.