'It's empowering': Topps' Athletes Unlimited card collection showcases growth in professional softball
Athletes Unlimited and Topps have partnered to create a 2024 Topps Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball set.
Fans can collect all 62 AU Pro Softball players’ cards featuring dynamic photography of the game’s biggest stars. The set will also feature all-new & league-inspired parallels and autograph parallels, exciting insert cards, and ultra-rare Quad Autograph Cards, featuring an assortment of top-tier four-player autograph combinations.
2024 Topps Athletes Unlimited Pro Softball BOX
Athletes Unlimited star Haylie McCleney talked with Softball America about the Topps set. She described how unimaginable it has been to see the cards become a reality.
“For us as softball players, I grew up with cards of all my favorite baseball players. Your Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Ripken, Ichiro, those players you look up to and idolize because there was no other option,” she said. “Now for us to be able to go into an autograph line after a game and little girl or boy with a Topps card of us on it and wants us to sign it, it’s a full circle moment. It’s not something I think was ever possible. For Topps to bring that to life, it grow year to year is really important.”
Why are the cards so important? They mean a lot to the players and seeing how softball’s fans can connect in different ways. It seems such a small thing on the surface but it’s a huge deal to women’s sports.
“It’s validating. It’s empowering. We know how much work we put into this game and how seriously we take it. For those of us who are older and have been playing in the pro league for a long time – Athletes Unlimited is gaining momentum and clearly something is sustainable and growing, we haven’t felt that before. Where we are really excited for the future. It’s always been a year-to-year thing, ‘Where am I going to play?’ ‘Are they going to maintain my contract?’ Athletes Unlimited has been consistent. That is so important for right now and where we are going with professional softball.”
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Topps has continued to be a part of Athletes Unlimited focusing on the growth of women’s sports across its different leagues. Softball appears to be riding momentum at all levels, especially with the Athletes Unlimited Softball League (AUSL), the professional women’s softball league operating in a traditional format in May 2024.
“It’s a dream come true. We never really thought about it. Growing up it’d be so cool having your own Topps card and putting them in a binder. It feels like history is being made right now. How cool is it to start something brand new? With AUSL and softball in general we are in a cool turning point of making history.
“We are going to be like a WNBA, a NWSL, we’re going to be the Major League Baseball of softball, I think that’s where we are headed. It’s growing and our best is in front of us. For me personally, Athletes Unlimited has and continues to be the best professional experience I’ve ever had. How I am treated as an athlete, the work that content, branding and PR teams do for us and everyone at AU is so passionate about the athletes. We are cared about and they believe in us. They want to give us resources to grow. They prove that every year.”
