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Accountant Included in Topps Baseball Card Collection

Robert Raiola, an accountant at PKF O’Connor Davies who specializes in tax issues for sports and entertainment figures, has been selected by Topps for its Allen & Ginter line of collectible baseball cards.

Raiola will appear in the collection alongside athletes, Hollywood actors such as Kevin Costner, and other high-profile figures including radio host Mike Francesa.

Raiola is director of the Sports and Entertainment Group at PKF O’Connor Davies. He is known as the “SportsTaxMan” on Twitter and has more than 51,400 followers thanks to his tweets about the financial realities of the professional sports world, including the “jock tax,” signing bonuses and coaching salaries.

Raiola will appear on four different card styles that will be randomly distributed by Topps throughout packs of the collection, including base cards, mini parallels, autographed cards and relic cards, which will include a piece of a necktie from Raiola’s own wardrobe.

The Allen & Ginter line of baseball cards started out as a promotional item for tobacco products in the late 1880s. Topps reintroduced the line in 2006 and it has since become one of the baseball card maker’s best-selling brands, cited for its sketched artwork, unusual materials and inclusion of rare trading card subjects, from the Invisible Man to the Golden Gate Bridge, and now an accountant. The 2016 Allen & Ginter collection packs will be available at local hobby stores, retailers including Target and Wal-Mart, and on Topps.com.

PKF O’Connor Davies is not the only accounting firm with an accountant who appears on baseball cards. WithumSmith+Brown began producing a promotional line of accountant baseball cards with Topps several years ago, including one of Withum partner and Accounting Today columnist Edward Mendlowitz, which Ed hands out as an attention-grabbing business card. To see a slideshow of several of Withum’s baseball cards featuring accountants from the past and present, click here.

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