Paul Skenes one-of-one baseball card sells for more than Paul Skenes' Pirates salary

The one-of-a-kind Paul Skenes baseball card that sent the entire collector community on a months-long wild goose chase just sold for a whopping $1.11 million after a two-week auction.

The Topps MLB Debut Patch Autograph card was pulled by an 11-year-old child in Los Angeles on Christmas morning. The Pittsburgh Pirates offered a bounty for the card, including jerseys autographed by Skenes and 30 years of season tickets behind home plate, but the child and his family turned down the offer and opted to sell it at auction instead.

The final price announced by Fanatics Collect included a 20% buyer’s premium. Fanatics Collect plans to donate its proceeds from the sale to the LA Fire Relief Fund.

Paul Skenes one-of-one baseball card sells for more than Paul Skenes' Pirates salary

The $1.11 million final sale for the Skenes card is one of the highest prices ever paid for a baseball card, according to Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com. The identity of the buyer is not yet known.

"According to Topps, only five baseball cards have sold for more," Harringan wrote. "A Mickey Mantle 1952 Topps card sold for $12.6 million in 2022, setting the all-time record for any sports item, be it card or memorabilia. Among active players, only Angels outfielder Mike Trout has had a card go for more than Skenes’ debut card. A 1-of-1 Trout rookie card sold for $3.9 million in 2020."

Ironically, the Skenes card sold for $235,000 more than Skenes' $875,000 base salary in 2025. Needless to say, Skenes is being paid a small fraction of what he's worth, but he remains under team control and ineligible for arbitration until 2027.

Skenes is coming off of an historic MLB debut campaign that saw him finish third for the National League Cy Young Award, in addition to winning NL Rookie of the Year. He went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 starts, and set a Pirates franchise record for a rookie with 170 strikeouts over 133 innings pitched.

A once-in-a-generation superstar, Skenes was also the first pitcher in MLB history to have an ERA below 2.20 and more than 150 strikeouts in his first 21 games, as well as the second pitcher since 1913 to have an ERA below 2.00 through his first 22 appearances. The 22-year-old is slated to start for the Pirates in their March 27 Opening Day game against the Miami Marlins.

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