An 11-year-old collector in Los Angeles has picked up a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes.
Topps announced Tuesday that the card, which features the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher’s autograph and a patch from a game-worn jersey, had been found.
Now comes the fun part: seeing what it’s worth on the open market.
The collector could get a huge sum if he was willing to trade it to the Pirates, who put together a package that included 30 years of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park in exchange for the card.
Skenes’ girlfriend, LSU gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne, offers the card’s owner the opportunity to attend a game with her in a luxury suite at the ballpark during one of Skenes’ starts.
The card could have pretty high value elsewhere given the potentially bright future of Skenes, 22, who also finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting after a stellar rookie season in 2024.
The top pick in the 2023 amateur draft made his major league debut in May and put together one of the most impressive rookie seasons in recent memory. Skenes was selected as the NL starting pitcher in the All-Star Game after just 11 starts and finished the season 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 games.
Skenes said this weekend that he hadn’t considered the possibility of signing a long-term contract to stay in Pittsburgh, instead saying his goal was to help the Pirates take a step forward toward contention in 2025.
