Heavy bidding for a one-of-a-kind Paul Skenes baseball card ended early Friday morning with the collectible selling for $1.11 million at auction to Dick’s Sporting Goods, a price that surpasses the Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher’s 2025 salary.
Fanatics Collect, a key component of a business push for Fanatics, sold the Topps card as part of its March premier auction of over 230 sports collectibles. Though the auction was scheduled to end at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, final-minute bids triggered extended bidding that kept the vying for the card going until about 12:40 a.m. on Friday.
The final price of $1.11 million, which includes the 20% buyer’s premium added on top of the winning amount, handily bests Skenes’ $875,000 MLB salary this year and also sets the record for the priciest Skenes card ever, easily surpassing the $123,220 paid for a Bowman Draft Chrome Prospects Autograph one-of-one sold in December by Goldin Auctions. It also surpasses the $150,000 record paid for a rookie debut patch card, set last year when Dave and Adam’s Card World paid $150,000 for an Anthony Volpe one-of-one card.
Skenes was the No. 1 overall draft pick in 2023, making his MLB debut with the Pirates last May. His time in the big leagues started so well he was chosen to start the 2024 All-Star Game, the fifth rookie to ever do so and the first No. 1 draft pick. He finished the season 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA, stats that earned him the National League Rookie of the Year award.
The card sold Friday was a 2024 Topps Chrome Update MLB Debut Patch card, the only one of its kind produced. The card features a piece of a special patch Skenes wore on his jersey when he made his MLB debut in the 2024 season along with an autograph. Some 64 bids were placed for the card, which was pulled from a pack by an 11-year-old in Los Angeles.
The child asked for a box of the Topps cards for Christmas. His parents granted his wish, but given the $320 cost for the box, told him it would be his only present. The boy eagerly ripped open packs Christmas morning, according to a report on MLB.com, and discovered the prized redemption card that could be swapped for the actual one-of-one Skenes item.
It wasn’t just deep-pocketed collectors who wanted the historic collectible. The Pirates organization offered the youngster a pair of Pirates season tickets behind home plate for 30 years, a softball game at PNC Park with Pirates alumni as coaches, two autographed Skenes jerseys and a meet and greet with the hurler, among other incentives. Though the boy and his family rejected the offer to instead auction the item with Fanatics Collect, Pirates owner Bob Nutting still offered a meeting with Pirates players when the team visits LA this season, according to MLB.com.
Fanatics Collect is donating all its proceeds from the card to LA fire relief programs following January’s wildfires.
(This story has been updated in the first paragraph to identity Dick’s Sporting Goods as the buyer of Paul Skenes baseball card.)
