These are the ulti-mutt trading cards.
Topps, Fanatics’ trading card company, is most well-known for their baseball trading cards, as well as other sports and non-sports themed trading cards, and now they’re going to the doghouse — literally.
Partnering with Westminster Kennel Club, the companies have partnered to release a line of trading cards featuring champion dogs from the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show’s past.
Titled “Stars of the Show,” the insert cards will have 40 base cards. The 2024 Westminster Best in Show dog, Sage the miniature poodle, is one of the pups featured in the collection.
Sage, from Houston, was the first female Best in Show winner since 2020, when Siba the standard poodle snagged the title.
The release also features two types of relic cards, particularly rare cards sought after by collectors that contain a small piece of memorabilia.
In this case, pieces of the Official Best in Show winner’s ribbon has been cut up and inserted into the cards themselves. These relics are placed on the cards of 40 dogs, each numbered to 20.
Even more rare is the Winner Circle Relic, seven one-of-a-kind cards of championship dogs (Mercedes, Louis, Sage, Micah, Frankie, Comet and Monty), which include the handler’s purple winner’s lapel fully inserted into card, with a paw print in the circle of the lapel.
The partnership came about when the President of Westminster Kennel Club Don Sturz was asked to autograph a trading card with one of the dogs at a show, Fanatics shared with The Post.
The encounter made Sturz wonder why Westminster didn’t have a series of cards of their own. He was then connected to Topps’ SVP of Product Clay Luraschi, and the collaboration was set in motion. Topps worked with the dog owners to get the ribbons for the relic cards.
“They chose to use photos that really captured these dogs’ personalities in addition to their status as champions,” Sturz told CNN. “In all their grandeur as being a best in show champion, they’re also somebody’s well-loved pet.”
“We’re living in this age that’s very digital, and the fact that people can still be connected to these three and a half (inch) tangible pieces of paper is incredibly special,” Luraschi added.
The “Stars of the Show” insert cards are available in hobby shops and retail nationwide. The cards will be a special insert in Topps’ 2024 Allen & Ginter set, a baseball-focused offering.
In addition to the Westminster cards, the packs will feature cards from all 50 states, Flags of the World, Ballpark Bites and the World’s Tallest Mountains. Some of the other notable athletes and entertainers included in the set include Chuck Norris, Daddy Yankee, Jason Aldean, Katie Ledekcy, Kid Laroi, Metro Boomin, Quavo, Tim Robinson, Usain Bolt and Sheryl Swoopes.
The Westminster Kennel Club insert odds are 1:4 packs, which means the odds of a collector finding one are one card in every four packs.
