Dick’s Clothing and Sporting Goods is the proud new owner of the highly sought-after autographed Paul Skenes rookie debut baseball card and wants to share it with everyone, especially Pittsburgh Pirates fans.
The 2024 Topps Chrome patch card, purchased at auction for $1.11 million, was delivered Thursday night to Dick’s House of Sport in Ross Park Mall. The card was transported and accompanied by a full police escort from the Allegheny County Police Department.
“Obtaining the card and putting it on display here in Pittsburgh was something the leadership team at Dick’s desired, and I worked with others on the proposal and the vision to make it happen,” said David Progar, senior vice president of golf, team sports, outdoors and merchandising.
Publicly displaying such a valuable card is no easy task. And Toni Roeller, executive vice president of store experience and design was in charge of protecting it.
“Once we knew that we won the auction and were obtaining the card, we then began working with a company out of California called Westchester Glass to build the display. We have a card that is one of a kind, and now we have a display that is one of a kind,” Roeller said.
The display case that shows the card is built with bulletproof and shatterproof tempered glass. The card itself sits inside a metal safe weighing more than 1,500 pounds. The card is secured like a piece of museum-grade artwork.
“We decided to unveil the card in conjunction with our newly opened Collectibles Corner display,” Roeller said.
The Collectibles Corner, adjacent to the Skenes display, is a new section at House of Sport where customers can purchase sports memorabilia and cards.
“We just came to check out the card because we were back in Pittsburgh for the weekend. My son and I have been collecting cards forever, and I think it’s just a nostalgia thing,” said Randy Johnson, there with son Greg who attends college in Georgia.
The Johnsons know a little something about collecting cards.
“We probably have 200 (thousand) to 250,000 cards in our collection,” Greg Johnson said.
The father-and-son duo were among the first customers to see the card on display.
The card first gained popularity when the Pittsburgh Pirates extended an enticing offer to whomever found the card in a pack of 2024 Topps Chrome Update: two season tickets behind home plate at PNC Park for 30 years, a softball game for 30 people at PNC Park with Pirates alumni as coaches, a meet-and-greet with Skenes, two autographed Skenes jerseys, a chance to warm up with the team and private tours at spring training and PNC Park.
An 11-year-old Los Angeles boy found the card on Christmas morning but chose to put it up for auction, donating some of proceeds to the city’s wildfire relief fund.
The baseball card was printed and produced as a single “one of one” card that by itself would have garnered a hefty price tag, but, with the interest from the Pirates, the card instantly became desirable to collectors and regular fans alike.
The cards were difficult to purchase because many retailers immediately sold out of the packs and boxes.
“When the Pirates made that offer, we were already selling those cards but around 4 p.m. on that day we started getting tons of customers looking for those cards,” said Chad Weldon, owner of Sports Card Junction at 9011 Perry Highway in McCandless.
Not only did business start booming for those particular cards, but stores began selling out so quickly that the price of the boxes continued to rise.
“I’ve actually never seen so much hype surrounding any card, and I’ve been doing this for a long time,” Weldon said. “We saw jumbo boxes go from $350 all the way to $700.”
Weldon believes the craze surrounding the card probably got more regular people into collecting cards.
“There were just so many people looking for that card. It wasn’t just collectors, it was everybody. It was like a golden ticket,” Weldon said.
Other cards from that series are no throwaways. Some of the other rookies in the set have cards valued at $50,000 all the way up to $250,000 — but nothing like the Skenes.
Weldon believes the interest from the Pirates single-handedly drove the price of that card through the roof.
Now that the card is permanently on display in Pittsburgh, fans can see for themselves what all the hype was about.
Continuing through Sunday, 500 wristbands will be distributed on a first-come, first-served basis each day for fans to view the phenom pitcher’s rookie card.