Pokémon cards are wildly popular these days. Of course, there’s a scalper crisis that is helping this, but you can rarely find them anywhere. Stores sell out of new sets pretty quickly. I myself went to the local GameStop, where scalping isn’t really a big deal, the day after Chaos Rising was released, and they didn’t have any Elite Trainer Boxes left at all.
There has been a wild resurgence in the cards over the last few years, with collectors coming out of the woodwork. That includes, of all things, MLB stars. The cards have grown in prominence in baseball clubhouses, which is just plain unexpected.
MLB Stars are Turning to Pokémon Cards
As sports continue to evolve, the youngest players coming up continue to get younger than the rest of us. The interests of those players continue to evolve, too. With that in mind, it’s not remotely surprising that Milwaukee Brewers ace Jacob Misiorowski has an enormous binder of Pokémon cards and that he goes out collecting whenever he travels to a city with the Brewers.
It doesn’t stop there, and it’s not necessarily restricted to young superstars, either. Chris Sale is 37 years old. He has what he calls a Pokémon lair, and he’s been amassing a huge set of cards over the last four years. He has graded 10s in this collection, which is the peak of card-collecting.
Mike Trout is in his 30s, too, and he recently opened packs with teammate Zach Neto to try to break out of slumps. They both pulled Charizard cards, often some of the most desirable pulls in any Pokémon set, and that led to home runs for each of them the very next day.
Per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, it doesn’t even end there. “Texas Rangers teammates Jordan Montgomery and Jake Burger, Chicago Cubs starter Jameson Taillon, San Diego Padres starter Nick Pivetta and Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Will Klein all are avowed Pokémon fans, too, deep into the rabbit hole of what evolved from a children’s card game into a pastime in which unopened vintage packs can cost thousands of dollars and, individual cards regularly sell for tens of thousands or more,” he wrote.
Sale might be the most unorthodox Pokémon superfan, but he’s one of the most avid in the MLB. “I’m proud of myself if I can go a full week without having a purchase on eBay,” he revealed. He knew about the franchise when it was first getting started in the late 19990s, so he joked, “I just waited 20 years to pay 50x.”
The Atlanta Braves ace is so into it that he’s willing to sign cards for other players. “I had heard Chris Sale was super into Pokémon. So I bought a raw, really cool old Charizard and sent it over to his side to sign,” Chicago Cubs pitcher Jameson Taillon. “I have a Chris Sale autographed Charizard. That’s what’s great about cards. Once people find out you’re in the hobby, people are super generous with it.”
When Misiorowski was named an All-Star last year as an injury replacement despite very little MLB time, Sale sought to break the ice and make him comfortable. He looked for a special Lugia card once he found out that Misiorowski loved the creature. “There was just some kind of B.S. surrounding him being there,” he said. “I saw that and I was like, ‘Oh, that’s an easy way to go break the ice and just try to make him feel a little bit more comfortable for being there.’”
Conclusion
This is not the end of the Pokémon craze. It might just be the beginning, as interest continues to skyrocket. The fact that is slowly taking over the MLB is proof of that, and proof that young and old alike can enjoy ripping packs in pursuit of a top card.
