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Paul Skenes #1/1 Rookie Debut Patch card graded PSA 10, headed to auction at Fanatics Collect
An 11-year-old card collector from Los Angeles called pulling a rare #1/1 Paul Skenes Rookie Debut Patch Auto card on Christmas Day “a dream come true.”
The special card, which was pulled from a hobby box of 2024 Topps Chrome Update, has been graded PSA 10 and is headed to auction at Fanatics Collect, where it is expected to sell for six figures.
The card is estimated to be worth more than $100,000. The collector found it after opening just one hobby box of the 2024 Topps Chrome Update set.
The collector and his family, which has asked to remain anonymous, turned down big offers from the Pittsburgh Pirates, Goldin and others to consign the card to Fanatics Collect, the sister of company of Topps under the Fanatics umbrella.
The young collector outlined his chase for the card and his excitement over the find in a journal entry posted on social media by Topps.
The collector says that as soon as the Topps Chrome Update set was released, he “started begging my mom for it for Christmas.” He went into “full beg mode,” he said, and was “super sad” when the price of the set kept rising and his mom told him he would have to choose something else for Christmas.
His parents wound up buying a hobby box for $320 and on Christmas morning, “the first present we opened was the hobby box.” In the fifth pack of cards he opened, he pulled a redemption card for the special Skenes #1/1 card.
The collector said that when he showed the redemption card to his dad and brother “I started bouncing all over the place and my dad was like, ‘Lettttts goooo.’ I was so excited … I am 11 years old, so pulling this card is a dream come true.”
The collector and has family turned down a big offer from the Pirates, who drafted Skenes No. 1 in the 2024 MLB Draft and inserted him into their starting rotation. Skenes went on to win NL Rookie of the Year after emerging as one of the most dominant pitchers in baseball.
As soon as the set was released, the Pirates offered two Pirates season tickets behind home plate for the next 30 years to the collector who pulled the #1/1 card. The Pirates also offered: a softball game for 30 at PNC Park; a Spring Training experience including a meet-and-greet with Skenes; two Skenes autographed jerseys; batting practice and warmup with the team; and other perks.
Goldin has also weighed in, offering to auction off the card and donate its proceeds from the sales to victims of the L.A. fires.
After the collector decided to auction the card at Fanatics, the Pirates still offered to bring him to Pittsburgh for “a special day at PNC Park this season.”
Also See: Top sports card auction sales of 2024
Topps officials traveled to Los Angeles to personally deliver the card to the collector, and then transported it to PSA, where it was given a perfect PSA 10 grade.
Topps then announced that the collector and his family had decided to auction the card through Fanatics Collect, which says it will donate its proceeds of the sale to the LA Fires Relief Fund. The card will be available in Fanatics' March Premier Auction.
The 2024 Topps Update set features 1-of-1 MLB Debut Patch cards of the top rookies and second-year players in the game. Topps officials predicted the rookie cards could bring six- to seven-figure prices on the secondary market, possibly making it the most valuable set in history.
A 2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Auto Superfractor of Elly De La Cruz sold for $116,500 last year, while a 2024 Topps Chrome Update Superfractor of Skenes sold for $111,532 and a 2024 Topps Chrome Rookie Auto Superfractor of Jackson Holiday went for $68,500. All three sales were through Goldin.
Another 2024 Topps Chrome MLB Debut Patch card that was pulled is of Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Junior Caminero, which sold for $66,000 at Fanatics Collect.
Other top rookies on the MLB Debut Patch cards include: Holliday, who is on the cover packs and box, De La Cruz, Jackson Chourio, Jackson Merrill, Shota Imanaga, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Wyatt Langford, Colton Cowser, Jordan Lawlar, Evan Carter and Pete Crow-Armstrong, among others.
Prior to each player’s MLB debut, a small patch was attached to the sleeve of their jersey. After the game, the patch was taken off the jersey, autographed, and inserted into a card.
The MLB Debut Patch cards in the 2024 Topps Chrome Update Series features more than 150 players, all of whom debuted from June 1, 2023 through May 24, 2024.
