Topps hopes it has created the hobby’s newest chase in this golden age of insert cards after the debut of its "Alter Ego" set last month.
Released as part of 2025 Topps Chrome Update, Alter Ego features 10 of Major League Baseball’s most important stars — both current and retired — drawn as superheroes.
The first major auction for an Alter Ego card delivered on those expectations earlier this month when the Shohei Ohtani “Sho Time” Superfractor 1/1, which depicts the Los Angeles Dodgers two-way star in white gloves with a top hat conjuring his samurai alter ego, sold for $105,000 in Fanatics Collect’s January Premier Auction.
According to Card Ladder’s records, that result is the highest for any Ohtani insert sold at public auction and easily eclipses the previous public record of $6,999 paid for any other Alter Ego card.
Though the cards have a comic book art style — something collectors have heavily gravitated toward in recent years with popular sets such as Panini America’s Kaboom or Manga and Leaf’s Anime Nation — Alter Ego artist Michael Blaskewicz credits his childhood room covered in posters of everything from Rickey Henderson, Lawrence Taylor and the Bash Brothers (Oakland Athletics sluggers Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire) to hip-hop groups KMD and Boogie Down Productions.
“I thought of them as what their movie poster image would be,” Blaskewicz told cllct. “So instead of a comic book, flat, two dimensional with lines that will get sort of blurred out in a very small print, I thought of these as this would be the alter ego of that comic book, as if someone made a movie about them.”
Prior to drawing Alter Ego cards, Blaskewicz had experience creating similar work through challenges from his sons, which could involve a request for Batman fighting "Star Wars" icon Boba Fett — but Boba Fett also had horns.
Blaskewicz was first introduced to Topps in 2019 for baseball card-inspired community artwork, but that project was eventually cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Blaskewicz and Topps later reconnected when he shared super hero-inspired art of Henderson following the Hall of Famer’s death in 2024.
Those sketches led to what Blaskewicz describes as a pilot program, which featured designs for Henderson (Man of Steal), Aaron Judge (All Rise) and Pete Alonso (Polar Bear).
The set eventually launched with 10 players, rounded out by Ohtani (Sho Time), Ronald Acuña Jr. (La Bestia), Francisco Lindor (Mr. Smile), Jasson Domínguez (The Martian), Cal Ripken Jr. (The Iron Man), Ozzie Smith (Wizard) and Frank Thomas (Big Hurt).
For Blaskewicz, the goal was to draw all the players in an interesting way, but also remain true to their character with small details when possible. He researched fan message boards and spoke with collectors to see if there could be other interpretations of the nicknames hoping to create a payoff for super fans of that player.
With Thomas, Blaskewicz made sure to include the Big Hurt’s “Don’t Believe the Hype” motto on his bat. Ripken Jr., who is drawn as a liquid metal cyborg, is shown waving to the crowd at Camden Yards. Henderson — Blaskewicz’s personal favorite from the set — is depicted as more of a protector of Oakland than a baseball player.
“Frank (Thomas) is a great example because of Big Hurt,” Blaskewicz said. “He’s a big guy, right? It’s got to be more than that. So I wanted to make sure that I was doing it justice.
“He’s a really pleasant guy to hear in interviews, he’s emotional, he’s got a big smile on his face. ... Lean into the players themselves as humans and not necessarily think it’s kind of the opposite of that or make it a word play. Every character, every player in this series had a different thought process, not a formula.”
So far, the concept has resonated with collectors. Alter Ego is considered a super short-printed chase, and falls in one out of every 4,074 hobby packs — about once in every 204 hobby boxes or once in 17 hobby cases.
Superfractors fall once in every 389,424 packs.
The design and scarcity has resulted in strong secondary-market prices, with Market Movers logging $1,000-plus sales for raw examples of seven of the 10 subjects so far. Raw copies for Judge and Ohtani have topped $5,000 since release.
Though the record sale for Ohtani’s Alter Ego Superfractor 1/1 and the set’s overall strength on the secondary market so far has been a positive indicator, Blaskewicz has been most interested in the response from other designers and the opportunity to help them grow as artists.
“I’d say the biggest reaction is the inspiration I’m getting from younger artists right now that are reaching out to me ...” Blaskewicz said.
“I’m having conversations with artists, budding young artists of all ages right now, and that’s what’s sort of going to be what I take away from this. It gives me a chance to help others.”