Costacos Collection Announces Inaugural NFT Drop with Baseball Legend Willie Mays
Washingtoner/10137414

SEATTLE - Washingtoner -- Today, the Costacos Collection announced its inaugural drop will feature one of the most respected legends in professional sports, Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays. The 90th Birthday Celebration Drop will take place this Sunday, October 24, as an ode to Willie's iconic number and two days before the start of the 117th World Series. For the fifth year, the MVP of the Fall Classic will be recognized as the "Willie Mays World Series Most Valuable Player."

Willie will be donating all proceeds from the drop to his Say Hey Foundation's effort to honor the people who gave him a start in life, by establishing a baseball academy for underprivileged youth where he grew up in Alabama, and to restore the historic baseball facilities at Rickwood Field where Willie started his career with the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons. Mays said, "I've never forgotten the people who supported me, taught me, and helped me find my way. I want every child to have the same chances that I had, and this gives me a way to do that starting in my original hometown. Rickwood was the first place I ever got to see professional ballplayers, and I want these kids to learn the game and be inspired the way I was." Rickwood Field itself serves as a central theme of the drop's art.

More on Washingtoner

• Tacoma Police Department to Recognize Five Tacoma Public School Employees Who Intervened in Violent Assault
• American Properties Realty, Inc. Celebrates 2026 FAME Awards - Community of the Year - Heritage at South Brunswick
• Spokane City Council Approves Activation of Public Spaces Program
• Mel Blackwell to Keynote 2026 NSSF Marketing and Leadership Summit
• SmartCone and Samsung Launch RoadDefender™ to Enhance Real-Time Safety for Roadside Workers

The first drop tells the story of Willie's path to the majors, from Fairfield Industrial High in Birmingham, to the Negro American League, culminating with his move to the New York Giants with whom he would win the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951. The various edition pieces capture the key themes and statistics of those periods, and the 1/1 hero piece adds to the story with a number of never-before-seen personal documents and images from Willie's journey - most notably, a copy of Willie's high school diploma, in which he was assigned a career in "cleaning, dyeing, and pressing." Willie recalls that all Black kids were assigned trade careers, while white kids "on the other side of the barbed-wire fence" were able to choose their paths and professions. Willie's journey to becoming one of America's most beloved sports figures and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom was only possible because of baseball and the people of Fairfield and beyond who helped him chart a different path. The NFT art piece includes a voiceover in which Willie's powerful story is told by Bob Costas, who will join Mays in donating to the baseball academy and Rickwood Field restoration project.

More on Washingtoner

• The Personal Development Industry Has a Blind Spot Says Global Personal Success Guru Omar L. Harris
• Kevin "Mr. Wonderful" O'Leary Begins New Universal Coin & Bullion Promotion of Gold and Silver
• Flamingo Compliance Launches Schengen Area Trip Planning Tools as New Digital Border Controls Take Effect
• HHS Announces Major Push to Address Psychiatric Drug Risks: CCHR Applauds Focus on Informed Consent and Safe Tapering
• PhaseZero Launches Eight AI Agents for Manufacturers and Distributors - Connecting Sales, Support, and Operations Teams Across Full Commerce Journey

http://www.costacoscollection.com