DUNEDIN, Fla. -- Now that they’re all done jumping and screaming, trade talks have begun.
Blue Jays catcher Tyler Heineman, who just pulled one of the most valuable Nick Kurtz baseball cards in circulation, wants to get the card back to the Athletics' young star.
Heineman pulled the card from a box earlier this week at KK’s Sportscards, a shop in Largo, Fla., that’s grown popular in a Blue Jays clubhouse full of collectors. He was in a room with the Blue Jays’ No. 2 prospect JoJo Parker, reliever TJ Brock and the shop’s owner, Kyle Kania, when it happened.
"That’s the first box that I’ve purchased since I was 9 years old,” Heineman said, still shaking his head and grinning.
For the card collectors in the room, this card is the 2025 Topps Chrome Update Sapphire Selections 1/1 Padparadscha. In English, this is a one-of-a-kind Kurtz rookie card with a brilliant sapphire background, signed by the player himself.
This could be the third-most valuable Kurtz card in circulation. Kurtz’s “debut patch card," which is the ultimate 1-of-1 and the most valuable card for any new player coming into the league these days, sold for an eye-popping $516,000 in January. It was the second-largest sale for a debut patch card, behind only Paul Skenes, whose sold for $1.11 million. Kurtz’s 2025 Topps Chrome Superfractor (another 1-of-1) sold in late 2025 for $86,620.
Heineman, who’s new to the world of baseball cards and not yet a savant, had to rely on the other three people in the room to understand what he’d just pulled.
“I saw the color, but I don’t know anything, right?” Heineman said. “This is pink. It looked pink and red, so someone said, ‘Whoa, that’s a sapphire,’ or whatever it is. They were telling me to go slow and I saw it was an A’s player. I’m thinking Kurtz, [Jacob] Wilson … then it’s, ‘No way!’ Nothing was going through my mind. I heard them and I just started going insane.”
There are layers to this. Any signed, 1-of-1 rookie card is going to be valuable. When that card says “Nick Kurtz” on the front, one of the new faces of A’s baseball who just launched 36 home runs with and won AL Rookie of the Year? The numbers start to multiply.
Kurtz is a bit of a newcomer to card collecting, too. Each clubhouse tends to have a ringleader, then more teammates get drawn in. A’s catcher Shea Langeliers was the one who introduced Kurtz to the hobby, so he can appreciate just how rare a moment this is, even as the man in the middle of it.
"Most people will go a lifetime without pulling a card like this,” Kurtz said. “It's pretty cool. He told me it was his first box he ever bought."
The card is now off to PSA, a company that will authenticate and grade the card. If the card gets a PSA 10 Gem Mint grade, essentially deeming the card to be in perfect condition, the value only grows higher. Ken Goldin, a giant in the card world and founder of Goldin Auctions, FaceTimed Heineman the night after he pulled the card and has been helping to move the process along.
"I know nothing about cards and I know nothing about this stuff,” Heineman said. “But now I have people like that FaceTiming me, telling me stuff, and this must just be a ridiculous card. The next day, Kurtz got my number from somebody and texted me. He said, ‘Hey, this is Nick Kurtz. I collect cards. Is there any way you’d want to trade for that card?’”
Now, the negotiations are on. The Blue Jays host the A’s at Rogers Centre on Opening Day on March 27, so this lines up perfectly for a trade.
Heineman has been told the value of the card could land anywhere from $35,000 to $70,000. Kurtz has a deal with Fanatics, too, who could potentially become involved to help facilitate a deal between the two. Heineman wants to “do right” by the card and do right by the hobby itself, making sure the card lands in Kurtz’s hands and not at an auction.
This is still an incredibly valuable card, though.
For now, the card belongs to the man lucky enough to open that one-in-a-lifetime pack. Everyone involved seems to hope this ends up in the same place, though: with Kurtz.
"It would be awesome,” Kurtz said. “Trust me, we've been going back and forth. He's made it really clear, like he wants me to have it. We just have to figure out a way for that to happen. I would love to have it, but I don't need to have it. We'll see. He's been really great about it."
Heineman is hooked on the hobby now, so he’ll be back for more boxes of cards to rip, even if he realizes he may have already pulled the biggest card he’ll ever find.
His own collection is growing. He has a great collection of “All Aces” cards, a Topps design where starting pitchers are put on playing cards like the Ace of Hearts or Ace of Diamonds. Heineman has a few of these signed by teammates, including Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber and Max Scherzer. It’s the perfect collection for a catcher who moonlights as a magician.
"I want him to be able to have this, so monetarily, I don’t care at all,” Heineman said, “as long as I’m covered for what I’ve lost and then a little bit of extra so I can chase that high again … and buy something nice for my wife.”
If this week’s negotiations go well, then by Opening Day, Heineman, his wife and Kurtz will all be happy.