Pirates' Paul Skenes Sharing Baseball Card With MLB Legend
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PITTSBURGH — Pittsburgh Pirates star pitcher Paul Skenes is one of the best in the baseball at just 23 years old and with the way he's performed, he could end up as one of the great's in the sport.
Skenes is coming off a 2025 campaign where he won the National League Cy Young Award, posting a sub-2.00 ERA and dominating in almost every start. This came after he won the NL Rookie of the Year Award in 2024 and finished third in NL Cy Young Award voting
His play has made him one of the most coveted players when it comes to various collectibles and of course, baseball cards.
Skenes now has a new baseball card, where he's joined with maybe the best pitcher in baseball history.
Skenes Shares Baseball Card with Nolan Ryan
Topps announced that Skenes and Hall of Fame pitcher Nolan Ryan will share a card for the 2026 Museum Collection.
The card features both Skenes and Nolan with their autographs on it as well, with a picture of Skenes from his rookie season and one of Nolan during his time with the Houston Astros, both from the waist up.
Autographs from both players are in bubbles next to the players, with Skenes on the bottom left-hand corner and his signature on the bottom right-hand corner. Nolan is opposite to Skenes, with his autograph in the top right-hand corner and his picture in the top right-hand corner.
Skenes is wearing a home white Pirates jersey with a black cap. The "Pirates" on the jersey is in black with a yellow outline and yellow and balck stripes on the edge of the sleeves and down the sides of the pants.
The Topps Museum Baseball Collection will come out on Feb. 22 for fans to purchase.
Why Skenes and Ryan Share a Card
Ryan had one of the best careers of any pitcher in baseball history, thanks to his longevity and domination over decades.
He pitched in 27 MLB seasons and 26 consecutive from 1968-93 playing with the New York Mets (1966, 1968-71), California Angels (1972-79), Astros (1980-88) and Texas Rangers (1988-93).
Ryan was an eight-time All-Star, an 11-time strikeout leader and his 5,714 strikeouts are the most ever. He also led the NL with the lowest ERA twice and has the most no-hitters with seven total.
He, surprisingly, never won a Cy Young nor threw a perfect game, which Skenes already has one on him just two seasons in.
Ryan dominated batters with one of the best fastballs, regularly reaching 100 mph, and also deployed a 12-6 curveball that baffled opponents.
Skenes had just a 10-10 record in 32 starts with the Pirates, but a 1.97 ERA over 187.2 innings pitched, 216 strikeouts to 42 walks, a .199 opposing batting average and a 0.95 WHIP, along with a 10.36 K/9, a 2.01 BB/9 and a 5.14 K/BB.
He ranked amongst the best pitchers in baseball, with the lowest ERA, tied for the fourth-most strikeouts, the fourth-lowest WHIP, the sixth-lowest batting average and the 10th-most innings pitched, plus the fifth best K/BB, seventh best K/9 and ninth best BB/9.
His play made him the starting pitcher for the NL in the All-Star Game, becoming the first pitcher to start consecutive All-Star games in the first two seasons in the MLB.
He was the first NL pitcher with a sub-2.00 ERA and 200+ strikeouts since right-hander Jacob DeGrom did it with the New York Mets in 2018. He was also the first MLB pitcher to finish with a sub-2.00 ERA in a season since right-hander Justin Verlander did so with the Houston Astros in 2022.
Skenes also possesses impressive pitches, with a fastball in the 100 mph range and offspeed pitches like his slider that racks up a number of strikeouts.
He heads into his third season, but it's not had to see why Skenes is in comparison's with pitchers like Ryan.
Dominic writes for Pittsburgh Pirates On SI, Pittsburgh Panthers Pn SI and also, Pittsburgh Steelers On SI. A Pittsburgh native, Dominic grew up watching Pittsburgh Sports and wrote for The Pitt News as an undergraduate at the University of Pittsburgh, covering Pitt Athletics. He would write for Pittsburgh Sports Now after college and has years of experience covering sports across Pittsburgh.