MLB partners with Ghostwrite on first-of-its-kind blind-box figures

Fans of MLB collectibles now have a new object of desire.

The Ghostwrite toy brand has partnered with MLB to launch its first Game Face collection of MLB blind-box toys, or "ghosts," that tell the story of the 2025 season through collectible figures consisting of 19 players and one Famous Fan.

Included are Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, Pirates flame-thrower Paul Skenes and other stars, along with rookies including Red Sox phenom Roman Anthony -- who agreed to an eight-year, $130 million contract extension on Wednesday -- and Dodgers hurler Roki Sasaki. And that Famous Fan? That's actor and lifelong Red Sox fan Mark Wahlberg.

If you want in right away, you can bid for a case of 12 blind boxes on the Ghostwrite website through 5 p.m. ET Friday. But if you miss out on a case, breakers and dealers on the secondary market have already begun selling the boxes individually or in small groups. And, so far, they seem to be a hit. More on that in a bit.

Blind-box toys are exactly what the name implies: Collectors don't know what they'll get until they open the box, just like with a pack of trading cards. But, as with trading cards, a treasure could await inside. The Game Face collection has five rare variants, or "parallels," that collectors can chase. Most notably, each player has a gold crown variant limited to 10, a chrome crown parallel limited to five and a unique fire crown variant that's 1-of-1.

The nod to the trading card scene, with numbered variants all the rage in the hobby today, was intentional, said Josh Luber, founder of Ghostwrite.

"This product is very similar to trading cards, where the people that buy it are going to open up the boxes and they want to get their favorite players, or they want to get the good rookies," he said. "But what they really want to get are the rare versions."

And, yes, demand is high.

Early breakers of the product have already pulled several of the variants, some of which have sold for a small fortune on the secondary market. For example, a Skenes gold variant sold this week on eBay for $1,200, while an Anthony chrome variant fetched $899. Meanwhile, a base version of the Ronald Acuña Jr. figure sold for $135.

One breaker is offering up to $20,000 for the Ohtani 1-of-1 fire variant, which, to this point, is still out there in an unopened box. Such a bounty isn't surprising, especially after Ghostwrite's release of WNBA figures last December led to a Caitlin Clark 1-of-1 selling for $30,000.

"This is the trading card customer, and they understand this stuff very well. They understand the math, and they understand the scarcity and transparency of supply," Luber said. "The reaction has been great."

Apart from the player variants, there are also four ultra-rare "trophy" inserts that are even harder to find because they're not tied to any player. So, for example, while there are 10 gold parallels circulating for every player and for the Famous Fan -- meaning there are 200 individual gold variants in total -- there are just 10 of the gold trophy parallel, period.

But even if you don't pull a variant, each of the base ghosts is a collectible in itself, as each one is limited to 1,000. As in, that's all that exist in the world. And Ghostwrite says it will never re-release the design, so once they're gone, they're gone.

Which leads to perhaps the most exciting thought for collectors: How much will these things appreciate in value over the years?

"This is about the long-term collectability," Luber said. "What will be the sort of bellwether of all of this is as we watch the value of those variants sell -- the gold and the fire 1-of-1 and the chrome," Luber said.

Though this is the first set for which Ghostwrite has partnered with MLB, it won't be the last. A 2026 edition is already planned, Luber said.

"This really is the league's understanding sort of the value of creating collectibles and things that have real scarcity," he said.

For more information on the Ghostwrite MLB Game Face collection, visit Ghostwrite.com.