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Chicago Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong
Pete Crow-Armstrong made $745,000 during his first full major-league season in 2024, which probably felt like a pretty significant upgrade from minor-league life. Two years later, one piece of the uniform he wore for his MLB debut has been turned into a baseball card worth $1.098 million.
Crow-Armstrong’s one-of-one 2024 Topps Chrome Update MLB Debut Patch Autograph sold Tuesday night at Goldin for a $900,000 hammer price, with the 22% buyer’s premium pushing the final total to $1.098 million. Baseball America notes that the sale came within just $12,000 of matching the all-time record for an MLB Debut Patch card.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s Card Out-Earned 2024 Pete Crow-Armstrong
This is where the numbers become ridiculous.
Crow-Armstrong’s listed 2024 salary was $745,000. His baseball card just sold for $1,098,000.
That makes the card worth $353,000 more than the salary attached to an entire season of the actual human being depicted on it. Put another way, a collector just paid roughly 47% more for one Crow-Armstrong card than the Cubs paid Crow-Armstrong to play baseball in 2024.
Strong year for cardboard.
The card contains the MLB Debut Patch Crow-Armstrong wore on his right sleeve when he made his major-league debut against Colorado on Sept. 11, 2023. MLB authenticators removed the patch before Topps eventually placed it into the one-of-one autographed card.
It was then graded PSA 10 with a 10 autograph.
So somebody essentially purchased one tiny piece of a jersey worn during a game in which Crow-Armstrong did not even record an official at-bat for considerably more than his first full-season salary.
Baseball cards are doing great.
Paul Skenes Survived By $12,000
Crow-Armstrong came painfully close to owning the MLB Debut Patch record too.
Paul Skenes’ one-of-one patch sold for $1.11 million through Fanatics Collect in March 2025, with MLB reporting that Dick’s Sporting Goods bought the card.
Difference between Skenes and Crow-Armstrong: $12,000. At this price level, that is basically finding change between the couch cushions.
Crow-Armstrong’s sale also demolished the next tier of the market. Nick Kurtz owns the third-highest MLB Debut Patch sale at $516,000, meaning PCA’s card went for more than twice as much.
Of course, the version of Crow-Armstrong collectors are buying today looks considerably different from the rookie making $745,000 in 2024. He finished 2026 with 45 home runs and 41 stolen bases, becoming one of baseball’s biggest stars and sending the value of his earliest cards into another universe.
Still, the comparison is difficult to beat.