For those who think Major League Baseball trading cards are a thing of the past, they’d be wrong.
Pittsburgh Pirates ace and Louisiana State University alumnus Paul Skenes was penciled in as the starter against the Milwaukee Brewers in Wisconsin on Wednesday. Then, Sunday saw Topps release a video across their social media platforms of Skenes’s girlfriend and former LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne making a purchase of a rare card at the Fanatics Fest at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City.
The card she purchased was a rare rookie card with an anime style for $2,850.
Olivia “Livvy” Dunne’s Trading Card Purchase as it Happened
Two card sellers can be heard saying they were hoping to get $3,000 for a rare Skenes rookie card with Japanese anime-style graphics of the Pirates pitcher during his year as a rookie.
Livvy Dunne just bought a rare Paul Skenes rookie card for $2,850 pic.twitter.com/qGswcIyEjg
— Topps (@Topps) June 22, 2025
Dunne can then be heard telling the sellers that she heard of the 2024 Bowman’s best card actually selling for an amount of $2,200.
The card sellers told her there are only five of the cards in existence, which prompted Dunne to then offer her successful bid of $2,850 for the card with Steel City Collectibles, according to Sports Illustrated.
While the sale was ongoing, many people at the expo and behind the desks ofthe sellers could be seen filming and taking pictures of the interaction.
Dunne was the most-followed NCAA athlete on social media, including over five million followers on Instagram and eight million followers on TikTok. She just finished her fifth and final season with LSU gymnastics, where they finished third at the National Championships.
She helped LSU win their first National Title in the 2023-24 season, as well as setting a career-high of 9.900 on floor twice. She also spent time on the U.S. National Team back in 2017.
Dunne met Skenes during their shared time at LSU after he transferred from Air Force.
In 2023, the right-handed pitcher had a 13-2 record in 19 starts, 1.69 ERA in 122.2 innings, gave just 23 earned runs and seven unearned runs, while also tallying 209 strikeouts compared to giving up 20 walks, leading the program to a national title that season.
He was called up to MLB on May 11, 2024, after he was taken by the Pirates as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 MLB Draft with a $9.2 million signing bonus, the highest ever given to a player at the time.
The couple was also recently seen in Omaha, Nebraska, to cheer on the Tigers as they are in pursuit of another MCWS title, this time against Coastal Carolina.