Paul Skenes Debut Patch Auction: Everything You Need to Know
The autographed 1/1 Paul Skenes Debut Patch from 2024 Topps Chrome Update was the biggest baseball card chase of 2024, and possibly even the past decade. Now, it can be yours for the right price.
The card is now officially up for auction at the Fanatics Collect auction site as part of their Premier auction.
The starting price is $1,000, but will likely jump to six figures—possibly even seven—before the auction closes on March 20.
“The auction of this card will be one of the most watched and talked about auctions for a modern day baseball card,” said Thomas Fish, co-owner of Blowout Cards.
And the Skenes patch—which graded a perfect PSA 10—isn’t the only one up for grabs in the Premier auction: The Jackson Holliday debut patch is also up for bidding. The Holliday patch was originally pulled at a card shop in Texas back in December, then sold for an unknown price to a private collector, who will now be listing the card for sale once again.
If recent sales are any indication, bidding for both patches will be strong:
- The Anthony Volpe debut patch earned the collector a $150,000 bounty from card retailer Dave & Adam’s in early 2024. That card was part of 2023 Topps Chrome Update, the year that Topps introduced the patches.
- The Junior Caminero patch sold on Fanatics Collect in December for $66,000.
- Later that month, the Jackson Chourio patch sold for $105,000 in a private sale.
- Just last week, the Andy Pages patch sold on eBay for just over $10,000.
- It is unsold (as of now), but the Masyn Winn debut patch can be had on Fanatics Live for a “Buy It Now” price of $150,000.
Whatever the sales price, Fanatics Collect has announced that it will donate the commission–which is a 20 percent charge to the buyer on top of whatever the sales price winds up being–to help with Los Angeles wildfire relief.
Key Paul Skenes Debut Patch Dates
May 11, 2024: Wearing the debut patch on his left sleeve, Skenes makes his MLB debut, striking out seven Cubs and breaking 100 mph on 17 occasions.
Nov. 13, 2024: Topps Chrome Update is released, featuring 251 rookie debut patches as part of the chase, including such top talent as Skenes, Holliday, Chourio and Caminero (To date, approximately 200 of the patches have surfaced, but a number have yet to be accounted for, at least publicly, including Jackson Merrill, Yoshinubu Yamamoto and Evan Carter.)
Nov. 15, 2024: The Pirates announce a massive bounty for the Debut Patch including 30 years of season tickets, a meet-and-greet with Skenes and much more. Skenes’ girlfriend, Livvy Dunne, adds to the bounty by inviting the lucky collector to sit in her suite at a Pirates game.
Nov. 18, 2024: Skenes is named National League Rookie of the Year, intensifying the hunt for the card.
Dec. 25, 2024: An 11-year-old opening a single hobby box as part of his Christmas gift finds the redemption for the Skenes debut patch in just the fifth pack he opens from a hobby box. (Hobby boxes were originally priced at $200, and his parents had bought this box from a reseller on Black Friday for $320; by Christmastime and early 2025, those same hobby boxes were selling upwards of $600 and $700, with jumbo boxes and Breaker’s Delight boxes routinely selling in the $1,000 range as the hunt continued.)
Jan. 21, 2025: Topps announces publicly that the patch has been found, and shortly thereafter mentions that the patch will be headed to auction.
March 6, 2025: The auction begins …
Editor’s note: The author of the story owns a Debut Patch that will also be a part of a Fanatics Collect auction later this moth, albeit in a weekly auction rather than the Premier auction.
