Help Adell get his hands on rare cards

This story was excerpted from Rhett Bollinger’s Angels Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

DETROIT -- Attention baseball card collectors: Angels right fielder Jo Adell needs your help.

Adell has become passionate about collecting baseball cards over the last year and is looking for special editions of his Topps Now card that celebrated his memorable third home run robbery of the night against the Mariners on April 4.

Adell, who appeared on MLB Network’s Carded with longtime Angels broadcaster Mark Gubicza on Sunday, said there’s a limited edition of 25 prints of the card, and he’s specifically looking for No. 1 and No. 25 in the set.

“It’s one through 25 numbered, and I've been hit up about a couple of the numbers, but I don't want to be picky, but I'm looking for 1 or 25,” Adell said. “So one of the first or the last of the set. We'll see what happens.”

Adell said teammate Mike Trout is the one who first got him into collecting baseball cards, as they'd open packs together before games last year, and he was excited by the thrill of pulling rare or autographed cards.

Trout has also pulled several of his own epic cards, including memorably pulling his own 2009 Bowman rookie card with his son, Beckham, in 2024, which intrigued Adell. But Adell said he’s yet to pull any special editions of his own cards, but often buys them from fans on eBay or through social media.

“I haven't really ripped any of my own,” Adell said. “I ripped a Topps Now team pack, when I was in it, but obviously, I knew I was in it. So not one where I surprise myself.”

Adell, though, said that he pulled several valuable cards with Gubicza when they appeared on Carded, including a Christian Yelich Heritage card from his MVP season and a rare Andrew McCutchen card. He also opened a pack while touring the MLB offices in New York when the Angels were in town to play the Yankees last month and pulled a limited-edition Corbin Carroll card.

“It’s kind of become a domino effect,” Adell said of his growing hobby. “I started looking for rare cards of mine, and now I have four or five one-of-ones, so it’s kind of getting up there. And then I started opening boxes and opening some of the packs, and now I just look forward to it.”

Adell said his mother, Nicole, started collecting cards of his before he even did, and that she got the idea from former Angels outfielder Taylor Ward’s dad, Joe. Together, Adell and Nicole have a version of just about every one of his cards, but he’s still on the lookout for those No. 1 and No. 25 cards of his Topps Now card.

“My mom was actually into it before me,” Adell said. “My mom has a giant scrapbook, like hundreds of cards of mine, but they're all different. She has one of just about every one.”

Trout is now trying to get Adell interested in collecting Pokémon cards, much like he did with Zach Neto. Neto credited opening Pokémon cards with Trout before a game on May 5 for helping him clear his mind and get out of a slump. Neto pulled a rare Charizard card.

Adell is learning about the intricacies of Pokémon collecting, but is more interested in baseball cards.

“I'm learning more about Pokémon,” Adell said. “But I've been more interested in the baseball ones for a while.”