Sports memorabilia collectors, baseball card fans, minor league baseball fans, and NFT collectors may type in “minor league baseball” on the OpenSea.io platform or visit this link to be directed to the Apollos NFT Collection page:

http://www.independentbaseball.net/opensea_houston_apollos_2021

Andrew Dunn, founder of the Pecos League and operator of the Houston Apollos, said, “The independent professional baseball industry sometimes leads the way with innovations for professional baseball. During the Spring of 2019, our developmental Pecos Spring League was the first league tied to any professional baseball circuit which tested moving the pitcher’s mound back. Today, we are glad to announce the first-ever baseball card team set tied to a specific professional minor league baseball team to be sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). The players on the Apollos 2021 roster had to be the road team for every game during the 100-game American Association season. They had no home team fans, no home team announcers or broadcasters, and they never even had a chance to bat in the bottom of the 9th inning. At least they now have some reward for their grueling season as they now are the first “minor league” players to be featured in a NFT team card set on a mainstream NFT platform like OpenSea.io.”

Matt McDermott, founder of IndependentBaseball.net, said, “Other minor league entities have created unique NFTs before this card set, including the American Association. MLB just recently partnered with Candy Digital to make an ‘Uncut Diamonds’ NFT set as part of its ‘Icon Pack’ NFTs. Those NFT cards, however, feature just one player for each Major League Baseball team’s farm system. The 2021 Apollos team card set is the first to be minted in the traditional “team set” manner to which many people are used to collecting. Instead of purchasing a physical team card set at your local minor league baseball team’s stadium merchandise shop, these cards are being sold exclusively as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the widely-known OpenSea.io platform.”

McDermott continued, “The independent professional baseball leagues, sometimes referred to as ‘independent minor leagues’, have a unique opportunity to test out new ways to incorporate technology in order to grow revenue streams and, simultaneously, help give fans even better experiences. On the back of each player’s card, fans will see QR codes which, when scanned, will give fans a chance to learn more about each player. Each player’s NFT card back also gives a bio about each player including information about his career before joining the Apollos. Regarding the NFT card back for Collins Robinson, the QR code will take fans to the Jackie Robinson Foundation’s website; and the QR code on the back of Derrick Sylve’s NFT card will take fans to the Willie Stargell Foundation website. I hope that these NFT cards are just the beginning of a new wave of using technology to help independent professional baseball teams and ‘affiliated’ Minor League Baseball teams increase their profitability; and I hope that creative uses of technology are incorporate to give all baseball fans opportunities to have greater senses of connection to their preferred teams and leagues and players. If minor league baseball player NFT cards become a significant trend going forward, then I just want sports collectors and NFT collectors/investors to appreciate the hard work that the Houston Apollos players and team manager David Peterson went through during the 2021 American Association in order to complete a 100-game season while playing all of their games on the road.”

According to McDermott, there are 30 cards in this new NFT set featuring most of the players who were on the Apollos team toward the end of the 2021 season. They are being sold via the Polygon blockchain on the OpenSea NFT platform. This offers sports collectors and NFT collectors the option to use a handful of different cryptocurrencies, such as ETH, to purchase the NFT trading cards. Unless otherwise established, a NFT buyer will need a cryptocurrency wallet which ties with OpenSea.io such as the MetaMask wallet.

The following cards are in the 2021 Houston Apollos team card NFT set:

• David Peterson (Manager of the Apollos, and winning manager of the first pro baseball game in North America during the pandemic era on July 2, 2020)
• Aaron Stubblefield
• Aaron Takacs
• Alex Merithew
• Augie Martinez
• Blake Berry
• Brian Dansereau
• Collins Robinson (great-grandson of Jackie Robinson)
• Derrick Sylve (grandson of Willie Stargell)
• Duncan Snider
• Gabe Wurtz
• Hudson Bilodeau
• Ian Codina
• Ian Yetsko
• Jake Voss
• Jared Fry
• Jordan Pontious
• Keisy Portorreal
• Martin Alcoverde
• Matt Bataska
• Matt Cronin
• Pierce Smith
• Taylor Zeutenhorst
• Tucker Smith
• William Salas
• Yeiler Peguero
• Yosmel Naranjo
• Matt McDermott (Instructor)
• Andrew Dunn (Supplemental)

A link to the current American Association’s NFT digital assets for sale is on the same page.

Here is a short video from early September 2021 detailing the Houston Apollos:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sP_f6TGL4Y0

The Pecos League is an independent professional baseball league which will have 16 teams playing during the 2022 season. Teams will play in Texas, Kansas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and California. Parties interested in the Pecos League may visit the league’s website at http://www.PecosLeague.com

The American Association is an independent professional baseball league and a “Partner League” of MLB. Twelve teams are scheduled to play during the 2022 season including teams in Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, Illinois, North Dakota, Indiana, Iowa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Manitoba (Canada). Parties interested in learning more about the American Association may visit the league’s website at https://aabaseball.com ; and parties interested in watching the Houston Apollos 2021 games may do so via the AA’s subscription streaming service at www.aabaseball.tv