The young collector who scored a one-of-a-kind baseball card featuring National League Rookie of the Year Paul Skenes has turned down a trade offer from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
that the 11-year-old from the Los Angeles area had declined the deal and instead was going to put the card — which features Skenes’ autograph and a patch from a game-worn jersey — up for auction.
The Pirates that included 30 years’ worth of season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park and the chance to play a softball game on the field in exchange for the card.
Skenes’ girlfriend, LSU gymnast and influencer Livvy Dunne, also offered the card’s owner the opportunity with her in a luxury suite at the ballpark during one of Skenes’ starts.
While the collector wrote in a journal entry shared by Topps that nabbing the card was a “ that dream apparently did not include spending the next three decades attending games at PNC Park.
The team posted on X after the decision that it was “bummed” but offered to have the fan at a game sometime during the 2025 season.
Fanatics Collect, which will handle the auctioning of the card in March, said it will donate its proceeds from the sale to fire relief funds in the Los Angeles area.
The card could hold pretty high value considering the potentially bright future ahead for the 22-year-old Skenes, who finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting following a outstanding rookie season.
The first overall pick in the 2023 amateur draft made his and put together in recent memory. Skenes was selected as the NL’s starting pitcher after just 11 starts and finished 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA in 23 games.
Skenes said over the weekend he hasn’t thought about the potential to remain in Pittsburgh, saying instead that his focus is on helping the Pirates take a step toward contending in 2025. He is eligible for free agency after the 2029 season.
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AP MLB:
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