What if there is a card that is more expensive than his annual salary? This has become a reality for the Pittsburgh Pirates' Paul Skins (23).
Japanese media Tokyo Sports reported on the 23rd that "Skin's baseball card was auctioned off at a higher price than his annual salary this year."
Skins is a right-hander who was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates with the first overall first round of the 2023 MLB Rookie Draft. Since his days at the University of Louisiana, he has received a lot of attention for throwing fastballs with an average speed of 99 mph and a maximum speed of 102 mph.
Since his debut in the big league last year, Skins pitched 133 innings in 23 games, recording 11 wins and 3 losses with an ERA of 1.96 with 170 strikeouts, 32 walks, and an on-base allowed rate of 0.95 (WHIP). Pittsburgh ranked last in the National League Central with 76 wins and 86 losses (win rate of 0.469), but Skins' performance was impressive enough.
With outstanding performance from the beginning of the season, a rookie took the mound as a starting pitcher for the All-Star Game for the first time since Hideo Nomo in 1995. His 170 strikeouts were the most by a Pittsburgh rookie, and his 1.96 ERA was the lowest by a big league rookie last year. According to MLB.com , Skins became the first rookie pitcher in 111 years to simultaneously record 170 strikeouts and less than 2.00 ERA in a single season since his earned run record became official in 1913.
As a result, Skins achieved a total of 136 points with 23 first-place votes and seven second-place votes in last year's National League Rookie Award voting, beating Jackson Merrill (San Diego Padres) with 104 points (7 first-place votes and 23 second-place votes). It is the second rookie award for the Pittsburgh club since Jason Bay in 2004, and the fifth first overall pick in the Major League after Bob Horner in 1978, Daryl Strawberry in 1983, Bryce Harper in 2012, and Carlos Correa in 2015.
As a result, Skins' name spread widely, his baseball card also received attention. In particular, the rookie card with a debut commemorative patch attached to his jersey, which he wore for his big league debut, was the only item in the world. In response, the Pittsburgh club held a variety of events to get the card, including a season ticket worth 30 years, two signed uniforms for Skins, a home stadium experience for Pittsburgh, and a meeting with Skins.
However, the 11-year-old Los Angeles Dodgers fan boy who owns the card rejected the offer. The rookie card will be put up for auction. The card, which was recently put up for auction at the Paranatics Collective, saw a total of 64 bids for the 14 days and was auctioned off at the final price of 1.11 million dollars. This is more than Skins' annual salary of 875,000 dollars this year. 토토사이트
The boy, who is a fan of Shohei Ohtani, rejected Pittsburgh's offer, but he hopes to talk to Skins. A Panatics official said, "The winning bid will be used to fund college admissions through savings."