Jac Caglianone now owns this Grail Card
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In the recent slew of professional athletes diving head first into sports card collecting, Jac Caglianone has become a hobbyist. Going after his own cards, while also collecting teammates, Caglianone is a full blown collector. He had one goal in mind: landing a 1/1 of himself.
This summer, Magic City Collectibles, a shop out of Birmingham, Alabama, pulled Caglianone's 2025 Bowman Chrome Superfractor 1/1. After pulling the Caglianone 1/1, Magic City Collectibles owner, Brooks Vernon, posted the card on Instagram to see what offers they'd get. From there, it took Nick Loftin, a teammate of Caglianone and fellow collector, to get the conversation of a potential trade started. Vernon shared, "We’ve done a few card deals with Nick (Loftin) before, so he and Jac (Caglianone) must have seen it on Instagram. Nick gave Jac our information to reach out, and that’s when we decided to make something fun out of it."
Facilitating trades can have its own challenges, and making sure both parties walk away happy can be a lofty goal at times, but when mixing in a professional athlete, currently in season, is a different beast of its own. After agreeing on a trade, the exchange was set to take place in Kansas City, at Kauffman Stadium: the Kansas City Royals home stadium.
But just days before the trade was set to take place, "Jac followed up to let us know he was being sent down to rehab in Omaha. After throwing it in Google Maps, we realized Omaha was less than three hours from KC, so naturally we had to change a few flights, rent a car, and the rest is history," Vernon recalled.
The exchange happened at Werner Park, the home of the Omaha Storm Chasers. Fortunately, it worked out for both parties, each receiving some great items. Despite the photo of the trade only showing a jersey being exchanged for the Bowman Chrome Superfractor 1/1, Vernon shared, “there was a lot more to it than just that. On top of the signed game-worn jersey, we got some signed game-used bats, balls, and more; plus the experience itself.
When the 1/1 found itself in the hands of Caglianone, he claimed “This is my grail now!” Caglianone had been searching for his own 1/1s, and now the search was over, thanks to Vernon and Loftin. With the card reaching its forever home in Caglianone’s collection, it created a special moment for both parties, with Vernon remembering it fondly, “It wasn’t just giving a player their own card, he’s a collector himself, so we knew it truly meant a lot to him. We loved being able to give him the chance to own it.”
