Every year, there seems to be a certain player who is the bane of a set collector's existence for that particular year. In previous years, players such as Wander Franco (boooooooo), Adley Rutschman, and Bobby Witt, Jr. held the mantle of "chase rookie." For 2024, the player who seems to be causing me the most grief when attempting to build out my sets is none other than Pirates' pitcher Paul Skenes.
Skenes has a rookie card in just about every Topps set this year (and often, more than one card in each set). For Allen & Ginter, Skenes has a regular base card (which I have), a Rookie Variation mini insert (which I have), a Chrome Refractor card (which I still need), and a mini Chrome card which is the subject of today's purchase from eBay:
Time will tell if Skenes is worth the hype, but at least for me I'm glad to have been able to acquire the mini Chrome card without breaking the proverbial bank. I'm going to keep attempting to trade for his Chrome Refractor card but that one might also end up being an eBay purchase in the future!
Will Skenes end up living up to the hype? It's so hard to tell with pitchers but history suggests that, no, he won't. In fact, other than Clayton Kershaw (and I guess Ohtani), I can't think of any other super-valuable pitcher rookie card from the past decade or so (maybe Verlander?). There have certainly been hyped pitchers most years but ultimately they rarely pan out to be huge movers and shakers in the baseball card business. Skenes does seem to have amazing stuff so perhaps he'll be the next big thing...but for me, I'll simply be content for now to have my mini Skenes!
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