On October 29th on the Pullwax Instagram account, MJ Melendez was sharing some of his collection and he pulled out a card that made the rounds within the hobby over the next few days.
The card is a custom-made 2024 Topps Bobby Witt Jr. Groomsman card in a PSA Gem Mint 10 slab with a photo of MJ Melendez and Bobby Witt Jr. on the front. On the back is the really cool part, which is an invite to Bobby’s upcoming wedding in December to be part of Bobby’s groomsmen.
I didn’t think much else about it other than I wondered who else got these invites, what happened if one ever came up for sale (not that I think one ever would), and frankly, I was envious because the general public used to be able to make “official” custom cards through Topps but that option has been gone for a while now.
Fast forward to recording prep for the latest Local Card Pod with my co-host Ryan Rygiel and I started to wonder if I could indeed figure out who else got invites, and even more, what those cards looked like. What I didn’t think too deeply about the first time I saw the Pullwax/Melendez clip is that the card is in a PSA slab with a PSA cert registry number. During the podcast prep, I decided I’d like to see if I could get a better, cleaner photo of the Melendez card, and knew that since it was in the PSA registry, the image of the card would be on their site and available to the public. I pulled it up, and then the light bulb went off.
When people submit multiple cards in a single order to PSA, often the cards will be processed and created in the registry with sequential cert numbers. What if all of the other groomsman invites were right there for viewing if I simply searched the PSA registry by incrementing or decrementing the cert number by one, starting with the Melendez card cert in that Instagram post? And it was as simple as that. I have to think other collectors have done this, but I’ve yet to run across it anywhere. There’s cool photos, cool details, and we now have the full checklist.
Here are some of the cool details I came across while looking through the cards/invites. All of the cards have the Royals team name and logo on the front of the card, even if the card has a player photo/groomsman name of a player on a different team. For example, AJ Smith-Shawver is currently in the Braves organization - so this is likely the only AJ Smith-Shawver Royals card in existence. All of the cards list “GM” as the position on the front of the card, which is obviously the abbreviation for Groomsman. All of the cards are PSA 10 Gem Mint grades - I am going to go out on a limb and suggest that these were not traditionally graded, but simply given that grade as part of helping Bobby with this idea. It’s possible that all 24 are pristine cards, but the odds are against it. MJ Melendez, in the video clip, said that his card is technically a one of one. He’s likely saying that because it’s not numbered, but assumes it’s the only copy of that card in existence. It turns out that is not true - at first I was confused why the pop report for each of these cards said “2”, but as I surfed through the certs one by one, I found a second instance of each card using a different cert number. I think we can safely assume Bobby sent one to the groomsman, and kept one for himself, which I think is really cool from a keepsake and remembrance standpoint. So these cards are technically print runs of two, and MJ’s card is a one of two. ***Update - According to Topps via a Sports Illustrated article, each card had five made on Topps Now style glossy stock. All cards were sent to PSA in the hopes that at least two of the five would get a Gem Mint 10 grade. No word on what happened to the three examples of each card that were not encapsulated. Finally, Bobby has two Best Man’s - or Best Men I guess I should say. I guess when you can’t make a choice between one or the other, you decide not to choose.
Before we take a look at all of the Groomsman cards, let’s take a look at the invite itself on the back of each card. Outside of the Card number changing based on the player’s initials (we are looking at MJ Melendez’s card back, so the “MM” part of the “BW-MM” card number is unique to MJ’s card), everything else is identical across all of the cards.
Now let’s move on to the card fronts for each of the Groomsmen. We’ll start with the Best Men.
Logan Britt - Best Man
Witt and Britt were high school teammates at Colleyville Heritage High School in Texas. However, these uniforms don’t look like the Heritage High School unis - we’ll see those in a bit. I’m going to guess this is a photo from an all-star or travel ball type of team. This is likely the oldest photo used for any of the Groomsman cards as what we can see of Witt gives an impression that he is in his early teens. Britt was drafted in the 35th round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the White Sox but chose to go the college route. He played three seasons at Texas A&M before transferring to Abilene Christian for his final year of college ball. He was drafted by the Los Angeles Angels in the 17th round of the 2023 MLB Draft and is currently pitching in their lower minors.
Mason Greer - Best Man
The son of former Major League outfielder Rusty Greer, Mason was also a teammate of Bobby at Colleyville Heritage High School. As you can see, these are obviously the Colleyville Heritage Baseball uniforms, unlike those ones above with Logan Britt. Greer was drafted in the 37th round of the 2019 MLB Draft by the Diamondbacks but chose to go to college. He’s bounced around various schools in his college baseball journey, most recently with Baylor in 2024, but has not been chosen in the MLB Draft since that 2019 selection and doesn’t look to be affiliated with any MLB team at the moment.
AJ Smith-Shawver - Groomsman
A teammate of Bobby at Colleyville Hertiage High School, Smith-Shawver was a couple of years behind Witt Jr. This photo was likely taken in 2019 when ColleyVille Heritage won the 5A State Championship in baseball given the medals hanging from their necks. Back then, he went by AJ Smith and was a Sophomore while Bobby was a Senior. Smith-Shawver was drafted by the Braves in the 7th round of the 2021 MLB Draft and debuted for Atlanta just two season later in 2023.
Clay Dungan - Groomsman
This photo is from when Clay and Bobby were teammates in 2021 on the Northwest Arkansas Naturals - the Double-A affiliate of the Royals. Dungan was selected by the Royals in the 9th round of the 2019 MLB Draft out of Indiana State University. He is now in the Padres minor leagues after being selected in the first round of the minor league portion of the Rule V draft after the completion of the 2023 MLB season.
Jonathan Heasley - Groomsman
Jonathan and Bobby taking in a Kansas City Chiefs game, the local NFL team. Witt went with the Mahomes jersey while Heasley went with Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s jersey. Heasley was a reliever for the Royals from 2021 - 2023 before being traded the Orioles in the off-season.
Kyle Isbel - Groomsman
Current teammate of Bobby, Kyle debuted with Kansas City in 2021 after being drafted by them in the 3rd round of the 2018 MLB Draft. Probably the least interesting photo among all 12 cards, this looks to be a scenario like you would see after scoring runs and they on their way back towards the dugout.
MJ Melendez - Groomsman
The card that started this whole conversation. Bobby and MJ celebrating, likely a big hit/home run type of situation in their City Connect uniforms. I’m not really sure what this celebration is, but they sure look like they are enjoying themselves. Baseball should be fun, and I love seeing pro players having fun.
Zach Neal - Groomsman
This is one of the harder ones to connect the dots on. My best guess is that Neal and Witt connected through the University of Oklahoma. Zach pitched for the Sooners before being drafted by the Marlins in the 17th round of the 2010 MLB Draft. Bobby committed to the University of Oklahoma before deciding to sign with the Royals after being taken 2nd overall in the 2019 MLB Draft. Perhaps Neal was involved in a campus visit or some form of recruitment activities. I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a different reason for this connection, but this seems the most plausible from an outsider’s perspective. This photo is likely from 2023 when Neal was pitching for the Athletics and captures the behind the scenes stuff, the pre-game situations where players are co-mingling on the field. Candid photos like this are always cool to see. Neal is currently retired from the MLB. ***Update - thanks to a tip from twitter user SweetCaroline531, Neal is married to Bobby’s sister Kianna.
Vinnie Pasquantino - Groomsman
The Italian Breakfast is a current teammate of Bobby. This photo is your standard pre-game roster introduction and stand at attention for the National Anthem type of deal. However, this is a fun contrast where you’ve got the clean cut haircut of Vinnie’s juxtaposed against the party in the back haircut of Bobby.
Nick Pratto - Groomsman
Pratto is another former 1st round pick of the Royals (2017 MLB Draft) and a current teammate of Witt Jr. This photo isn’t all that interesting, but it does have a happy element as they are going in for celebratory fist knocks. Whether that’s for winning a game or making a good play to end an inning or something like that, it’s not easy to tell.
James Russell - Groomsman
Russell and Witt Jr. fully embracing the ugly golf shirt aesthetic and I love it. I really enjoy seeing cards of baseball players out of their normal baseball world and we get that here with a photo on the golf course. Russell was a reliever, primarily for the Cubs, with a stint in Atlanta and Philadelphia from 2010 through 2016. Russell is a Coleyville Heritage High School alum, graduating when Bobby was just four years old in 2004. It’s highly likely they were acquainted through that High School connection. ***Update - thanks to a tip from twitter user SweetCaroline531, Russell is married to Bobby’s sister Nikki.
Cody Thomas - Groomsman
Similar to Zach Neal, my best guess here is that Cody Thomas, a dual sport athlete at the University of Oklahoma, connected with Bobby through his college recruitment and commitment process. This photo is also similar to the Neal photo, with Thomas playing for the A’s at the time. Both players are in full uniforms, and there’s some dirt on the knees of those pants, so I would hazard a guess that this was likely a post-game photo rather than a pre-game photo. Thomas spent 2024 playing in Japan for the Orix Buffaloes of the NPB. ***Update - thanks to a tip from twitter user SweetCaroline531, Thomas is married to Bobby’s sister Shaley.
Bobby Witt Jr. has completely embraced the Hobby, and this is just one of many examples of how he’s done so. Simply an awesome idea that he and his groomsman will be able to treasure forever. Congrats to Bobby and his fiancé on their upcoming marriage.