Gymnast Olivia “Livvy” Dunne has offered a prize to anyone who can find her boyfriend’s Major League Baseball (MLB) rookie card.
The Pittsburgh Pirates announced on Friday (November 15) they’d be offering various perks, including 30 years worth of season tickets, to one fan who can locate the rare rookie card featuring the team’s current pitcher, Paul Skenes.
The card is part of the 2024 Topps Chrome Update set released this week. The trading card and collectable company debuted a pack of baseball cards featuring new players in the MLB this season. Skenes’s card includes both his autograph and the MLB debut patch he wore on his jersey during his first regular-season game.
According to a post from Topps on X/Twitter, the card will only be in one pack. “This card can be found in one lucky pack of 2024 Topps Chrome Update, releasing November 13,” the post read.
The Pirates later made their own post, revealing exactly what they’d offer the lucky finder of Skenes’s card. “We’d love to bring this card home to PNC Park to share with all Buccos fans,” the post read.
The offer includes 30 years worth of season tickets for two guests behind home plate, a softball game for 30 people at PNC Park in Pittsburgh with coaching from Pirates alumni, two autographed Skenes’s jerseys, and the opportunity to participate in batting practice and warm-up with the team during their spring training.
The pitcher’s girlfriend then announced another addition to the perks package. “Let’s raise the stakes... the person who finds the card can sit with me at a Pirates game in my suite,” Dunne wrote on X/Twitter.
Many fans are now determined to get their hands on the card, with one person even calling it the “Yinzer Golden Ticket” – referencing both the Pittsburg slang term “yinz” for “you ones,” and the iconic golden ticket from Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.
However, there is no guarantee that a baseball card collector will want to hand over Skenes’s card to the Pirates. Sports Collectors Digest is estimating it to be worth over six figures, even though he’s only played for one season.
Skenes was the number-one overall pick in the 2023 MLB draft after playing college baseball for both the Air Force Falcons and the Louisiana State University Tigers.
Throughout his first season as a professional player, he threw 17 pitches recorded at 100mph or faster, including a 101.9mph pitch that was the fastest recorded by a Pirates pitcher since 2008.
He also made 23 starts this past season, going 11-3 with a 1.96 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, and 170 strikeouts over 133 innings. Skenes is only the fifth rookie to ever start the All-Star Game and is currently predicted to be this year’s Rookie of the Year winner.
However, should Skenes’s career continue to improve, the baseball card has the ability to be worth even more.
