The best Pete Crow-Armstrong card in existence is headed to auction. Goldin thinks it can make considerably more noise than that description suggests.
Goldin opened a standalone auction September 15 for Crow-Armstrong’s 2024 Topps Chrome Update MLB Debut Patch Autograph 1/1, a PSA Gem Mint 10 with a PSA 10 autograph. Bidding runs through September 29.
And Goldin founder and CEO Ken Goldin has already established the stakes.
“I think this will be the single most valuable Topps baseball debut patch issued to date,” Goldin said in a release provided to Heavy.
That would require clearing one imposing precedent: $1.11 million.
Paul Skenes Set the MLB Debut Patch Standard at $1.11 Million
Paul Skenes’ one-of-one Rookie Debut Patch Autograph sold through Fanatics Collect for $1.11 million in March 2025. At the time, MLB.com reported that only five baseball cards had ever sold for more.
So Goldin’s prediction for Crow-Armstrong is not garden-variety auction-house enthusiasm. There is a seven-figure result sitting there as the measuring stick.
“This is the single best PCA card that will ever exist, bar none,” Goldin said. “It is the actual debut patch Pete Crow-Armstrong wore on his Major League debut.”
The card contains the unique MLB Debut patch from Crow-Armstrong’s jersey and an on-card autograph. He made that debut for the Chicago Cubs on September 11, 2023, entering against the Colorado Rockies as a seventh-inning pinch-runner.
Topps subsequently placed the patch into Crow-Armstrong’s one-of-one card in its 2024 Chrome Update product.
There isn’t another one coming.
Pete Crow-Armstrong’s 2026 Season Changes the Auction Equation
Goldin also picked an interesting moment to bring the card to market.
Crow-Armstrong has gone from elite-defensive prospect to one of baseball’s most productive players. Through September 14, he was hitting .281 with 42 home runs, 102 RBI, 37 stolen bases and a .945 OPS, while Baseball-Reference credited him with 9.3 WAR.
His 42nd homer came as part of a four-hit, four-RBI performance for Chicago, with MLB.com noting that the home run moved him alongside Hall of Famer Billy Williams in Cubs history.
The evolution is striking considering how Crow-Armstrong arrived.
When Chicago promoted him in September 2023, MLB Pipeline ranked him as baseball’s No. 12 prospect and gave his center-field defense an 80 grade. His first major-league appearance consisted of pinch-running, getting caught stealing and later dropping down a sacrifice bunt.
Three years later, a physical piece of the jersey from that night is being sold while Crow-Armstrong piles up 40-homer production for the Cubs.
Goldin’s Prediction Now Goes to the Bidders
Whether collectors value Crow-Armstrong’s card above Skenes’ is another matter.
Skenes arrived at auction with his own extraordinary combination of hype, performance and scarcity. His card became a national story before it was even found, with the Pittsburgh Pirates offering 30 years of season tickets and other perks in an unsuccessful attempt to acquire it from the collector who pulled it.
Crow-Armstrong now gets his test.
Regular bidding in Goldin’s standalone auction runs through September 29, with extended bidding beginning at 10 p.m. ET.
Goldin has called its shot.
The bidding will determine whether $1.11 million was a comparison point — or a ceiling.
Pete Crow-Armstrong 1-of-1 Card Hits Auction With a $1.11 Million Bar to Clear