Paul Skenes Rookie Debut Patch Auto Hits Auction Block – Could It Set a Record?
One of the most anticipated modern baseball cards hits the auction block tonight.
The Paul Skenes Rookie Debut Patch Autographed card will go up for sale through Fanatics Collect in its March Premier Auction. The card has already had plenty of attention with the chase, the pull and, now, the sale.
“There are very few trading cards where you capture a moment in time and we've started to do that more on the Topps side,” said Fanatics Collect CEO Nick Bell. “But I think when you overlay that moment in time, this is a true one-on-one. Skenes is never going to walk onto the field for the first time again. It's that true one-of-one moment.”
Fanatics Collect’s March Premier Auction starts at 7 pm ET tonight and runs through March 20 at 10 pm ET. There are several top-tier cards in the auction with the highlight being the Skenes Rookie Debut Patch.
Historically, vintage cards have dominated the high-end market, with legendary pieces regularly selling for six or seven figures. Recent sales include the 1955 Topps Roberto Clemente rookie card ($1,006,500) or the 1916 M101-4 Sporting News Babe Ruth rookie card ($1,372,500).
Other modern cards have broken through the noise, like Mike Trout’s 2009 Bowman Chrome Superfractor, which sold for $3,840,000 in 2020, or recent Shohei Ohtani card sales, like his 2018 Bowman Chrome Orange Refractor Rookie Auto, which sold for $500,000 in November.
But the Skenes card has the potential to surpass them all.
It’s unique in that it has the rookie debut patch embedded in it. Skenes wore the patch on his jersey during his first game. After his debut, the patch was taken off the uniform and secured to put into the card. Once the card was made, Skenes signed it to create one of the biggest modern-day chases.
The card wasn’t just coveted by collectors while people were buying boxes of 2024 Topps Chrome Update looking for it.
The Pittsburgh Pirates offered a bounty for it. Skenes’ girlfriend and celebrity Livvy Dunne put an offer on the card. The chase was one of the most talked about modern baseball cards in recent history.
In the end, it was pulled by an 11-year-old child from California on Christmas, Topps said.
“I think it was really interesting with this card in particular, how it caught the imagination,” said Bell, who has been with Fanatics for over two years. “I think these debut patches are super exciting and this card has certainly received more interest from collectors, but interestingly from sports fans, non-collectors, friends and family. I've had more people ask me about this card than any other card since I started at Fanatics.”
The card certainly did capture attention, especially when it was revealed how the card was found. Before hitting the auction block, the Skenes card went on a journey, making stops across the country and drawing crowds of eager collectors, potential buyers and baseball fans alike
It started in Texas where it was made and then ended up in California to get graded by PSA. From there, it went on a tour including the Super Bowl and West Coast Card Show.
While many were happy to get a glimpse of the card, there’s no doubt the tour brought attention to it and also gave prospective buyers a first-hand look.
There’s a good chance the card could break the record for the highest Skenes card sold, which is currently a 2023 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospect Autograph Superfractor, which sold for $123,220 in September.
“I think given the interest, we are expecting a record price for this, but obviously the market will dictate,” Bell said. “But I will just tell you anecdotally, we've had some of the most prominent collectors and also a number of prominent non-collectors reach out and express interest in this. I think this is going to be a really fun one to watch.”
There was a buzz when Topps announced the card was found. It took about a month before it was made public since the redemption for the card was pulled before the public found out.
During that time, the Los Angeles-based family had been evacuated twice while dealing with threats from wildfires, which Topps says was part of the reason for the delay in the announcement, but not the only reason.
“What made this a really unique process, in a lot of ways, was the desire for anonymity and that was such a core thing for us to protect,” said Kevin Lenane, VP of Marketplace at Fanatics. “We really needed to be sensitive to their anonymity. At the end of the day, you have a kid who's a huge collector, collects everything from early seventies Topps all the way up to modern and is truly a kid that appreciates this hobby.”
The family’s experiences with the wildfires and Fanatics being based in Southern California made the decision easy for Fanatics to donate the proceeds from the Skenes auction to the LA Fire Relief Funds.
“Unfortunately, there were a number of members of the team who were heavily impacted by this. This was something that was a huge moment for us as Fanatics,” Bell said. “When you've got team members that you work with every single day who have been so heavily impacted, it really brings it close to home. We felt this was a great opportunity not only for Fanatics but obviously with the collector also being very close to the fires to actually give back.”
Fanatics Collect is one of the fastest-growing marketplaces in the card collectible space. Over the last seven months, Fanatics Collect ranks second in sales only behind eBay, based on Card Ladder’s data.
The March Premier Auction is expected to continue that pace. It not only includes the Skenes card, but several other big cards including:
2024 Topps Chrome Update Jackson Holliday Rookie Debut Patch card: This 1-of-1 is the Holliday version of the popular Skenes card up for auction. Holliday made his debut on April 10, 2024, for the Baltimore Orioles. The 2022 overall number-one draft pick’s debut patch card is expected to capture plenty of attention.
2023-24 National Treasures Victor Wembenyama Logoman PSA 9: This rookie-year card of basketball’s hottest star includes a desired Logoman patch. Logoman patches are often some of the coveted rookie-year cards in basketball and this card is expected to be no different even with Wemby’s injury.
2016 Bowman Chrome Prospect Autographs Red Refractor PSA 9: Juan Soto was on top of many baseball fans minds this offseason as they wondered where the phenom would land. Soto wound up signing a mega deal with the New York Mets. Even though he’s been in the league for seven years, Soto is just 26 years old and is one of the best players in the game.
Check out Fanatics Collect's March Premier Auction here.
Susan is an award-winning journalist who spent over a decade working in the sports card industry. You can follow her at twitter.com/yanxchick