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When the Paul Skenes’ MLB Debut Auto Patch Card sold for more than $1 million, the collectible card space shifted. It marked a deciding moment in the evolution of the hobby and industry.
There are three critical implications from that sale where the card sold for $1.11 million.
It wasn’t just that the Skenes card sold for $1.11 million. The card was bought by Dick’s Sporting Goods, which has its headquarters right outside Pittsburgh.
The sale brought plenty of conversation especially because it didn’t land in the hands of a collector or individual.
Instead, a company with a revenue of $13 billion in 2024 locked up the card. Who knows if that card will ever be sold publicly again?
This could encourage other corporations to invest in cards if they fit their brand including the teams themselves.
For example, Nintendo could buy Roki Sasaki’s MLB debut patch card or Ford could buy Cooper Flagg’s rarest NBA rookie card if he’s drafted by Detroit. It may sound like a long shot, but no one probably expected Dick’s to emerge as the owner of the Skenes card.
For a long time, collecting has felt like a personal hobby and in some ways it still is. People collect what and how they want.
However, cards are becoming part of the public discourse. Celebrities and athletes are involved in the businesses, like Tom Brady buying a card store. You see athletes like Mike Trout grading cards and Topps rolling out players at different shops around the country for Hobby Rip Nights.
The social media savviness of the card manufacturers has made it so that every good pull or interesting moment in the space gets amplified.
Dick’s got the initial PR hit and will benefit from the subsequent exposure of displaying the card for the public. It plans to house the card at the Ross Park House of Sport in Pittsburgh for collectors and baseball fans to see.
In November, Topps took a 1933 Goudey Babe Ruth card to the MLB store in New York to allow people to see the rare card.
Public engagement with cards whether in person or online continues to grow.
When it comes to modern baseball cards, only two cards have sold for more than $1 million prior to the Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch Auto sale. They were both rare Mike Trout autographed cards with the last one being sold in 2022.
Now, in a matter of 10 days, two modern baseball cards surpassed that $1 million mark.
The first was Paul Skenes’ card on March 21 and the second was a Shohei Ohtani 2024 Topps 50/50 Dynasty card that featured the MLB Logoman Patch from Ohtani’s pants that we wore when he hit the 50 home run and 50 stolen base mark last season. That card sold for $1.067 million on March 29.
The common theme for both cards is they include a unique patch from a very specific moment.
There will be more opportunities for those types of cards as Fanatics continues its partnership with MLB and starts with the NBA and NFL licenses in the coming months and years.
Many modern basketball and football cards have passed $1 million, and the frequency could only grow.
