Pokémon Card Collecting Grows Among MLB Players

Chris Sale began collecting Pokémon cards in 2022 while recovering from multiple injuries that limited his pitching. He purchased a 1999 Base Set Charizard on eBay and has since assembled thousands of graded cards stored in a finished attic he calls his Pokémon lair.

Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jacob Misiorowski searches card shops in every city he visits and maintains a large binder of cards. He also decorated his basement bathroom with a Pokémon theme. Los Angeles Angels players Mike Trout and Zach Neto opened packs earlier this season during a slump and pulled a Charizard card.

Other players including Jordan Montgomery, Jake Burger, Jameson Taillon, Nick Pivetta and Will Klein have also become collectors.

275 million five years earlier. Sale has joked with his wife about winning such an auction. Players sometimes request autographs on cards from opposing players through clubhouse staff. Sale has signed baseballs, bats, jerseys and bourbon bottles for other players.

Sale said he tries to avoid weekly eBay purchases and noted he waited 20 years to pay 50 times the original price for some cards. He completes sets and values his PSA 10 Charizard cards from the Skyridge expansion, including one printed in Germany.