In the tradition of Roald Dahl's Willy Wonka, McFarlane Toys will offer what they've dubbed a "golden ticket," of sorts, in the Cooperstown 6 2009 lineup.  As reported here a few days ago, this series includes McFarlane's second Babe Ruth figure, depicted pitching for both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox.  The Yankees version comes in Ruth's 1920 uniform (white cap with blue pinstripes). Now here's where it gets REAL interesting. 

Just Five (5) of these Yankee versions of Babe Ruth will ship with an alternate paint job - with the hat painted dark blue with a white NY logo.  Two of those five will immediately go into McFarlane Toys' permanent archive.  The remaining three will be randomly inserted into sealed cases of Cooperstown 2009.  In the immortal words of the late great Phil Rizzuto, HOLY COW!

This is a  huge deal Sports Picks fans.  These figures will be recognizable by the blue hat AND the McFarlane blue logo safety tape seal on the back of the package.

Prior to this, the rarest Sports Picks figure was a Teemu Selanne Winnipeg Jets figure from the NHL 6 lineup, just thirteen of which sported the number 13, his rookie number.  According to a recent McFarlane Toys press release, the last #13 Selanne that sold online fetched $8,500 dollars.  Makes the blue hat Babe that much more interesting, doesn't it?

Pictures of this Babe Ruth super chase figure will be unveiled at www.mcfarlane.com in coming weeks.