OT: Paul Skenes Rookie Card Search
 

https://www.cnn.com/2024/11/15/sport...ntl/index.html

CNN
—
Are the Pittsburgh Pirates turning into the Willy Wonka of Major League Baseball?

Like Wonka’s famous golden ticket, the MLB team is offering a scrumdiddlyumptious prize in exchange for a rare, one-of-a-kind baseball card of their star pitcher Paul Skenes. Whoever finds the card will be tempted by a mouth-watering proposition.


The team’s outrageous offer is highlighted by the winner, aka the “Charlie Bucket” of the sweepstakes, getting access to coveted seats behind home plate at PNC Park for the next 30 years!

The lucky recipient also gets an exclusive meet-and-greet with Skenes and two autographed Skenes jerseys, plus the ability to host a softball game with 30 of the winner’s favorite people at PNC Park.

Baseball fans around the world will be hunting for an autographed Topps Chrome card featuring an MLB debut patch on the jersey Skenes wore in his first big league game on May 11, 2024.


In addition to the eye-popping offer from the Pirates, Skenes’ girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, has upped the ante with an offer of her own. The social media superstar posted Friday that she would host the winner for a game in her suite.


Topps says it goes through a painstaking authentication process that follows the MLB debut patch from the playing field to the baseball card.

The card features a clear plastic window that allows collectors to see the MLB’s hologram, ensuring the patch’s authenticity.

For those feeling lucky, the Skenes card in question is hidden in a pack of 2024 Topps Chrome Update, available in stores now.

I'm going to straight to auction with it if I'm the card holder

Good plan. I’m not sure what I’d do with 30 years of season tix in Pitt since I live in AZ. That’s a hard “pass” for me.

I'd take the million dollar Auction sale or whatever insane amount it will be. Paul can just win it himself, very easily.

Look on the bright side, if you sit through 30 years of Pirates games you will feel like you've lived 900 years.

I wish him all the best for a storied career, but playing the prospect lottery is of no interest to most of us who already lived through the junk wax era.

Anyone want to buy 1000 Gregg Jefferies RCs?

Lol !

Modern cards are typically expensive lottery tickets.

What kind of game will Livy be hosting in her suite?

We passed the point where you could buy a couple hobby boxes for a decent price and put together a complete set minus a few dozen cards 10-15 years ago at best.

Since the Fanatics takeover the odds have gotten worse and the price to buy-in has gone up. It wasn't reasonable before then. The additional harm is barely worth mentioning.

Some people opening modern don't even bother keeping base cards and toss them straight into the trash.

I just can't deal with the modern card market. Others can have it and it seems there's no shortage of them given how quickly new releases sell out.

Go into this store often. Chris is a great owner.

https://www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/n...burgh-pirates/

So, it's all about the $$$ and that's about it for many people. I have to guess these people also buy lottery tickets by the score in hopes of hitting it big.

How much is a Canseco rookie going for these days? What about a Greg Jefferies rookie or Alex Gordon rookie card?

I really hope someone in Pittsburgh gets the card so that they'll be able to get to 30 years of ball games. Too funny what Adam wrote... 900 years... :p

Anybody have any extra Chrome Update boxes available?

Sent from my SM-S906U using Tapatalk

Mark Fidrych.

Just saying.

No ill will meant or implied.

Also, lost in the story is the fact that his debut jersey has been cut into at least two pieces (the patch and the rest of the jersey).

"We" on this board are not the target audience for this. The wider community is and that is whom this is intended to be marketed to.

This offer has already generated a ton of positive publicity for the hobby and if only a few of those people end up going into this world that becomes a net plus for this board.

"We" can object but trust me on this, as pointed out, this generates store business and maybe someone new to the hobby going into one of those stores has a hidden type collection or accumulation which we would like or be able to acquire either whole or in a piece for our collections.

Rich

The debut patches are stuck on like stickers. They peel them off after the game. The jersey remains intact.

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C5ovW...RpdHZzMngzaw==

Does anyone know how many boxes of ‘24 Topps Chrome Update exist? I see they are selling for ~200 on eBay this morning. Going to LCS shortly. Curious to see if there’s a buzz there about this whole deal.

That is Rich.... 99 newcomers won't get anything and will never return to the hobby. Same happened during the pump of the 90s. The bottom fell out before anyone knew it, and max exodus occurred.

I wasn't a newcomer in the early 90s, but the explosion of shiny worthlessness was too much for me to take, and I lost interest in all cards. The personal connection that autographs afford and the love of the history of the game thankfully never swayed.

I think this promotion is great! It's about time that teams got involved into the card hobby

I did a live web cast yesterday with several store owners watching and posting and to a person they said this has generated a ton on business for their stores.

Now. yes we want a positive experience for those who come in when they heard about this but getting people INTO the doors is a good first step.

Rich

Who the hell would want to get stuck watching the pirates for the next 30 years anyhow. Skenes will be in a Yankee or Dodger uniform as soon as he is able and the team will blow chunks from her til eternity. The potential monetary reward is somewhat enticing though. I would imagine the fix is in on when the card is released because they want to sell as many as these boxes as possible these next few weeks/months.

FYI- you can get a megabox on blowout for $79.95
thats 7 packs-4 cards each =28 cards

It is not uncommon for a company holding a "sweepstakes" of some sort, to offer the "winner" - if they come forward early in the promotion - with an additional "incentive" to remain quiet until the end of the promotion. If the card was discovered on day 1, who's going to keep buying the boxes to look for it?

Most of these boxes are being ripped live on camera. Many of the patches have been found but not Paul yet.

Furthermore, who's to say that the company isn't holding back the coveted box until late in the game?

Can anyone point to a time when something like this was won right out of the gate? No sarcasm intended.

Ok. Not as bad, but now more dumb.

Just curious, how much are the packs/boxes of cards with Skenes supposed to retail? Are people paying a premium for the packs/boxes (translate, are the dealers sticking it to everyone with higher pack prices)?

One of the funniest things most people probably missed here by not being glued to Pirates Twitter for work purposes is the people doing the math on the cost of the tickets. Every single person I saw doing it, and there have been A LOT, is using current cost x 81 games x 30 years to figure it out. Anyone here ever go to a baseball game in 1994 and 2024, and they are paying the same prices? Not one person estimated a price hike in the ticket cost.

The funny thing is that the Pirates just said "behind home plate". There are numerous prices in that general area. So people were using all different prices to figure it out. I was getting a kick out of it because I was waiting for someone to say "hey, 2054 ticket prices won't be $40 for great seats. $40 won't get you into the stadium anywhere in 2054"

Hard to believe an entire box gets you only 28 cards. I did a double take when I saw that. A rack pack yielded more back in the day. And they have the audacity to call it a “mega box.”

My question is whether you'd have the right to sell your "access to coveted seats behind home plate." If so, that's a pretty sweet deal. If not - you'd have to be a masochist to accept that deal.

I have to admit the idea of season tickets for the next 30 years is an appealing carrot. However, as you pointed out, all the Pirates are saying is that the season tickets will be "behind home plate." They don't say anything about WHERE the seats will be located.

Are we talking front row in section 16 or 17 (full season price $23,636), which are the two sections directly behind the plate, or the last row in section 316 (full season price $1,482) which, although it's the very last row in the upper deck, is still in a section that's behind the plate?

If I pulled the card (I won't) and I was a Pirates fan (I think you all know I'm not) - I'd definitely want written assurances from the team about where the seats would be before making a decision. Depending on where the seats were, I might be better off selling the card, and buying my own season tickets.

Their use of "coveted" to describe the seats certainly smacks of big-dollar seats right behind home, but I agree it would be nice to get in writing something more specific than an adjective.

Anyone want to take bets that this card will be 'found' in a case break in the very near future?

Amazing how those things just seem to happen spontaneously. cough....


Butch Turner

You can add Strasburg, Gooden, Wood, David Clyde to that list!

Tim Lincecum had 2 CY awards by age 25, on a steep decline by age 28, and out of the game at age 32.

15.2 bWAR in his 2 CY seasons...19.9 bWAR in his career.

Let's see, if I found the card and took the Pirates offer, I would be about 110 years old when, behind home plate somewhere, the Pirates finished their 30th season. I'm in pretty good health but that's a stretch.

I don't know if many vintage collectors realize this, but being a 1/1 card isn't that rare now. Topps literally just sold two 1/1 Paul Skenes cards yesterday. All you had to do was buy one of his Topps Now cards during the 24-hour sale and it gave you a chance to win one of those two card (plus others that were sold in limited numbers). I have no idea why the Pirates decided to pick one specific card and go all in on it. It could be that Skenes himself wants the card and went through the team to get it, but it makes no sense to pick one card of his and go for it like it's the holy grail. He had plenty of cards printed before that one.

It's the card that has the MLB Debut patch that he wore on his jersey when he made his Major League debut. It's a new thing Topps started last year.

I'm not too crazy about the whole idea, at least in part because I have a better chance of being invited by the Yankees to throw out the first pitch when they celebrate the 10th anniversary of their 2017 playoff run than I do of pulling any MLB Debut patch cards (not specifically Skenes, but ANY player), but also because, even though the patch was created specifically with the intention of being removed without causing damage to the jersey, it's still desecration of a game-worn jersey from a player's very first game.

I could have been more specific. I knew what the card was all about and I like the idea. My question was more on the focus on one specific card. The jersey he wore that day is much more significant than a tiny patch on the jersey. He could have saved 50 baseballs from the day, plus all types of things. My question was more about why they would invest so much into a 1/1 card, when there are plenty of 1/1 Skenes cards that are much cheaper. I was also pointing out for those who don't know that there are plenty of 1/1 cards for Skenes.

As for these patch jerseys, they do it for everyone and MLB is rifling through players at a rate never before seen in history. These patches as a group won't be rare. The plan is to keep doing them, which puts hundreds of them into the market every year. If they go 10+ years, finding any patch instead of a particular one won't be difficult.

I imagine Topps would really love to have a type of 1/1 MLB card that has the same hobby heat as a "Logoman" 1/1 NBA card.

They've tried to push the "MLB Logoman" but it doesn't hit in the MLB part of the hobby as much as the NBA counterpart.

This is just musing, though. I have no insight aside from things I see pushed by Topps and their influencers.

people are paying crazy money for boxes of 24 update. it's a mania!

Someone posted this on Facebook and people are going crazy !! How much is something like this worth ??

https://scontent-yyz1-1.xx.fbcdn.net...GQ&oe=67755782

I wonder how much PSA upcharged them for the slabbing

The more pertinent question is how much is it going to be worth a year from now? 5 years? 10 years?

The statistical odds that this guy is just in the thick of his 15 minutes of fame vs. becoming some sort of legendary pitcher are ridiculous. Happens time and again. And again. And again. And people foolishly keep wasting large chunks of money on items that will be garbage the next time they blink. Any one of them deserves to be the one left holding the bag at the end of the story. Not sorry to say that.

Ever notice how legendary players just have a certain look about them? It's all over their faces in photos. Call it an extra special dose of confidence and/or determination mixed with something indescribable. Naturally, that's easy to say with the unmistakable bonus of retrospect, but if you go back and take a gander at any of the hallowed players, none of them look like a high school janitor. ;)

SELL, SELL, SELL!!!

Putting aside your scientific evaluation on his "look," if you've watched him pitch and know anything about baseball, you'd see what the fuss is about. The only thing likely to keep him from legendary status will be injury. Which I acknowledge is a major risk that more likely than not will derail his career. But let's not pretend this isn't a generational (multi-generational) arm.

Curt Schilling, who does know something about pitching, has predicted that he will need TJ surgery within his first 400 innings as a major league pitcher. Skipping political talk, I do value his opinions on baseball.

The Patch card has not yet been pulled that we know of and nor has the 1/1 autograph of LeBron, Steph and KD from the Topps Now Olympic set.

Both had large bounties and both are still not yet been pulled from packs (or the sealed bag of the Topps now product.