The epic saga of the Paul Skenes Rookie Debut Patch Autograph finally ended in the early morning hours Friday, with the card selling for a record $1,110,000 in Fanatics Collect’s March Premier Auction.
The price is the highest paid publicly for any Skenes card, as well as a record for any debut patch.
Jackson Holliday’s RPDA also fetched $198,000 in the same auction to become the second-most expensive debut patch to sell at public auction.
Skenes’ RDPA also becomes the most expensive modern baseball card to sell since 2022.
????????????????????????????????: The Paul Skenes 1/1 Rookie Debut Patch Autograph card has sold at auction for $1,110,000.
— Topps (@Topps) March 21, 2025
Of all active MLB players, only Mike Trout has ever had a card sell for more. pic.twitter.com/TG69RsisIe
In a bit of incredible context, Skenes was paid only $740,000 in his rookie season for the Pirates, and the pitcher stands to make just $875,000 this season.
The chase for the Skenes card, which contains a special patch created for and worn only during his MLB debut last May, began with the release of 2024 Topps Chrome Update Baseball in November.
First launched as part of 2023 Topps Chrome Update, the Rookie Debut Patch Autograph program was built by Fanatics and Topps in collaboration with Nike and MLB to create the ultimate rookie card.
Designed to fit inside of a baseball card, debut patches are worn on each player’s sleeve during the game before being removed, authenticated and sent to Topps after the final out. The cards are eventually signed by the players to finish the 1/1 relics.
According to Fanatics and Topps, the debut patch creates a card that can be directly linked to arguably the most important moment of each player’s career, a concept Topps hopes to continue across a number of card types.
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The chase for Skenes’ RDPA possibly hit its apex in November when the Pirates offered 30 years of season tickets in exchange for the card. Skenes’ longtime girlfriend and famed LSU gymnast Livvy Dunne also attempted to sweeten the deal by offering a seat in her private suite during a future Pittsburgh game.
The chase eventually ended in January when Topps publicly announced the card had been pulled by an 11-year-old collector from Los Angeles. The boy and his family have requested to remain completely anonymous throughout the process.
What followed has been a cross-country journey for the card, a series of conspiracy theories surrounding the identity of the owner, and a number of promotional appearances to put the card in front of as many collectors and casual fans as possible
Pulled on Christmas as a redemption card, the Skenes RDPA was created at Topps’ Dallas-area facility in mid-January and hand-delivered to the collector’s L.A.-area home by Fanatics Collect vice president Kevin Lenane.
The card was then taken to PSA for grading and has since traveled to New York for marketing obligations and New Orleans for the Super Bowl, where it was also briefly reunited with Skenes at the Fanatics Super Bowl party.
It’s believed the card has since been sitting in the Fanatics vault outside Portland, Ore.
Among the most important baseball cards created during the ultra-modern era, the debut patch easily topped the previous record for any Skenes card. The previous record-holder, a 2023 Bowman Chrome Draft Prospects Autograph Superfractor 1/1 PSA 7, fetched $123,220 at Goldin last September.
The sale also continues a series of high-dollar sales for the RDPA program, with collector sentiment for baseball’s most important card shifting from the 1st Bowman Superfractor 1/1 to the debut patch.
According to data tool Card Ladder, 39 debut patches have sold for $3,000 or more since the program started in 2023. Of those sales, all but three appear to be public records for the player featured.
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.