The 11-year-old Los Angeles boy had one item on his Christmas list: a hobby box of 2024 Topps Chrome Update. But given the price of those 24-pack boxes -- around $320, if you're lucky -- his parents told him his only wish-list item would be his only present under the tree.
The terms were acceptable.
So, when Christmas morning came, the young card collector made a beeline for that one item under the tree and began ripping packs. On the fifth pack, right around 6 a.m., the young fan was also gifted with a Christmas miracle -- he pulled the highly coveted 1-of-1 autographed Paul Skenes MLB Debut Patch card.
Yes, that one. The one that had its own news cycle late last year as the buzz built around the bounty that would await the lucky recipient -- whether in the form of cash from a sale or perhaps the 30 years' worth of season tickets behind home plate that the Pirates offered to the finder of this figurative lottery ticket.
Quick point of order: The boy didn't pull the actual card, but a "redemption" card to be sent off to Topps, which would then deliver the real thing later. That's why the boy's dad didn't realize right away what had just happened. Redemption cards can sometimes resemble a checklist or other filler card at first glance.
The boy knew what he had, however.
"I was shocked," he told The Athletic in an exclusive interview.
And despite the hoopla surrounding the Skenes card, it wasn't the boy's motivation for wanting the box.
“It wasn’t even on my mind that I would pull it,” he told The Athletic. “I thought it would go to some big breaker. So I’m like, ‘Dad, I pulled the Paul Skenes.’ And he was like, ‘No you didn’t.’”
Naturally, Dad was skeptical.
“So then I put it under the light and it was like, ‘Oh my God, I think this is real,’” he told The Athletic. “And I was immediately just kind of stupefied, and then that went into excitement and then I was just kind of slackjawed.”
Once the father realized the enormity of the situation, and the attention that would befall the family if this major news became public, he shifted into responsible parent mode. He reached out to a few auction houses, while trying to protect the family's anonymity. Keeping the family's name out of the news -- not to mention keeping his young son from becoming a minor celebrity -- was not just about avoiding publicity, but also about keeping everyone safe. It was also about not wanting to appear to gloat about their situation as members of the community had their lives upended during the recent destructive wildfires.
“It’s been a really hard time in the community,” the boy's mother told The Athletic. “It’s not the time to be walking around and saying, ‘I got the golden ticket.’”
The family sent the redemption card off a little after Christmas. About three weeks later, Topps announced that an 11-year-old had pulled the coveted card. Throughout the whole process, the family maintained its anonymity. Fanatics Collect, one of the auction houses the father contacted, will put the card -- which received a grade of 10 from PSA -- up for auction in March.
As for the Pirates' offer for 30 years of season tickets in exchange for the card, the family decided to pass on that, given the geographic obstacle of living in Los Angeles. The family might work out a visit to a game in Pittsburgh, the father told The Athletic, but there's some hesitation about that, given that such a trip could inadvertently remove their anonymity. This is something they're keen to protect. The secretive nature of the journey has caused consternation among some in the collecting community, leading to accusations that the whole thing was staged or fabricated.
Not even Mike Mahan, CEO of Fanatics Collectibles, knows the boy's identity.
“In this case, you understandably had the highest profile card of the year, arguably, the century,” Mahan told The Athletic. “You had a father of an 11-year-old son who wanted to remain private. … And we wanted to work that out with the father in a way that he felt comfortable with.”
Industry observers believe the Skenes card could fetch upwards of seven figures at auction. But apparently becoming rich isn't something the 11-year-old cares about.
“Upon pulling it, he decided without any prompting from us, I mean this is almost within seconds of pulling it, he wanted to share the money with his (immediate) family and with his brother,” the father told The Athletic. “So we’ve decided to split the money between him and his brother and we’re going to invest it for education.”
Fanatics will donate its earnings from the sale to local charities helping with the recovery from the fires, according to The Athletic.
When this is all over, the 11-year-old and his family will have the money from the auction, at least a little financial security and an absolutely wild memory of Christmas morning in 2024.
That morning, as everything began to unfold, the 11-year-old's mother told him he should record his thoughts in a journal as a way to preserve the memory for his future self. He did, in a way only an 11-year-old can.
"My brain pooped," he wrote.
Classic.
“I said, ‘So if you share this with the world, you really want to tell the world that your brain pooped?’” the father asked his son, according to The Athletic. “And he smiled and I think that was, to be honest, his favorite part.”