A familiar face — to Pittsburghers — dropped by Seth Meyers’ talk show last night: Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes.
The reigning NL Rookie of the Year made an appearance on Tuesday night’s edition of “Late Night with Seth Meyers.”
Meyers, whose father grew up in East Liberty and is big Pittsburgh sports fan, led off asking Skenes about his reaction to an 11-year-old card collector in California finding his coveted Topps 1-of-1 Debut Patch rookie card.
Skenes said he was thrilled, acknowledging it was the best possible outcome. He was then asked what would’ve been the worst possible outcome.
“Probably a 50-year-old collector to be honest,” Skenes responded to laughter from the audience.
The card finder, who is from Los Angeles, and his family plan to sell it in the Fanatics Collect “March Premier” auction, and all Fanatics Collect’s proceeds from the card will be donated to the LA Fire Relief funds, according to Fanatics Collect.
Skenes, 22, is coming off a rookie season where he went 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA. He started the MLB All-Star game, was named the NL Rookie of the Year and finished third in NL Cy Young voting.
“Rookie of the Year is an honor, I think the thing that probably hit closest to home for me was being a finalist for the Cy Young, I kind of knew I wasn’t going to win, didn’t have a full season,” he said during the appearance.
Meyers cut to a clip of the announcement of Skenes being named NL Rookie of the Year during which he was stone-faced while girlfriend LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne reacted with excitement. Skenes’ reaction, or lack thereof, was turned into an internet meme, which was posted on social media by Dunne, Meyers said.
“I think people mistook the facial expressions and all that for indifference,” Skenes said. “I would say it was composure for sure.”
Skenes and Meyers also talked about Skenes’ recent failed attempt at trying out gymnastics, his choice of facial hair and how he decided to become a pitcher. They moved to the topic of video game MLB The Show 25, which features three players on its cover, including Skenes.
But he won’t be playing, he told Meyers.
“I’m not a video game guy, not at all,” he said. “I’m terrible, I don’t have the finger dexterity to press the right buttons at the right time so I just don’t do it.”
The game is scheduled to hit the market on March 18.