The Pittsburgh Pirates offered a king’s ransom for rookie pitcher Paul Skenes’ 1/1 debut patch card, but the Los Angeles preteen who pulled the incredibly rare trading card is saying no deal.
The 11-year-old collector and his family declined the Pirates’ offer to exchange Skenes’ debut card for two season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park for the next 30 years, an exclusive meet-and-greet with Skenes, two autographed Skenes jerseys and more, Topps announced Friday.
‘The collector has decided to forego the Pirates offer, and is sending the card to auction,’ Topps wrote on X. The Pirates responded, ‘Well…we’re bummed that we won’t be seeing you behind home plate for 30 seasons. But we’d still love to bring you to Pittsburgh for a special day at PNC Park this season.’
The card features a patch worn on the sleeve of Skenes’ jersey from his major league debut and an autograph from the 2024 NL Rookie of the Year. It will hit the auction block in March. Fanatics Collect said its proceeds from the auction ‘will be directly donated to LA Fire Relief funds.’
Pirates offer Paul Skenes meet-and-greet to young fan
The unidentified 11-year-old collector may have passed up the Pirates’ offer for the card, but the ball club is not taking everything off the table. Pirates owner Bob Nutting said he would still love to host a meet-and-greet with Skenes, the team and the young fan, despite the fan declining to exchange the rare trading card.
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‘We had a lot of fun with the idea of a bounty, but we couldn’t be happier for this young baseball fan and his family,’ Nutting said in a statement. ‘Reading his story on how he pulled the card on Christmas morning, what a magical moment. That family bond is what baseball is all about. I would love to host him and his family and follow through with a meet-and-greet with Paul and his teammates, either here in Pittsburgh or when we travel to L.A.’
‘A dream come true’
Topps shared diary entries from the 11-year-old collector, who documented how he came into possession of the Skenes 1/1 debut patch card on Christmas morning. The collector called the pull ‘a dream come true.’
‘It was November 13, 2024 and Topps had released (the) 2024 Chrome Update. It was $200, which was a lot, but considering the players and rookies, it was fair. I started begging my mom for it for Christmas. … Since they are awesome they got the box. They told me when I got home from school and I was so excited. Fast forward to Christmas… First I woke up at like 4:00 a.m. and woke my brother (whoops). We waited till 6:30 a.m. and we woke up our parents. The first present we opened was the hobby box. … I opened two more packs and on the second pack I got the Paul Skenes redemption card. … Me, my brother and my Dad were like OMG! (My mom was very excited, but she never collected cards so she didn’t know what it means.) Then my brain pooped and I started bouncing all over the place.’
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