Eagles fan Mike Trout wrote Super Bowl LIX score on his bat knob — now it's in a baseball card

New York Times

a day ago

NFL fans commemorate their team's Super Bowl victories in all sorts of ways, but Mike Trout might be the first to do it on a bat knob. The South Jersey native who is often seen in his end-zone seats at Lincoln Financial Field through the fall and winter wrote a special inscription on the bottom of one of his game-used bats after his Philadelphia Eagles won Super Bowl LIX:
'Eagles 40 Chiefs 22. Fly Eagles Fly!'
That knob has since been cut off the bat and put into a one-of-a-kind baseball card autographed by Trout that will be in Topps' upcoming Tier One set (release date has yet to be announced).
FIRST LOOK: Mike Trout wrote the final score on his game-used bat knob 🦅🔥 pic.twitter.com/RY8AyHer3c
— Topps (@Topps) June 1, 2025
Bat knob cards always present a rare piece of unique MLB memorabilia, but Trout, himself a baseball card collector, now has one of the more unique ones out there, with MLB-NFL crossover appeal.
It's far from the first time the Los Angeles Angels outfielder referenced his Eagles fandom on a card, though. He wrote 'Go Birds!' on his one-of-one autographed MLB logo patch card in 2023 Topps Triple Threads and 'Fly Eagles Fly!' on his 2023 Topps Pristine 1/1 card.
But if you're looking for crossover appeal for sports card and trading card game collectors, the recently retired Evan Longoria helped create what could become the most expensive bat knob card in industry history.
An autographed bat knob card in this year's Tier One set for the three time All-Star third baseman contains a knob with an image of Charizard from Pokemon fame.
When Pokémon and baseball collide 🤝 Evan Longoria posted this on his Instagram, a 1 of 1 bat knob featuring Charizard that will be in Tier One Baseball 👀🔥 pic.twitter.com/iRx6Da5Pyv
— Fanatics Live (@fanaticslive) March 23, 2025
There's already a $100,000 public bounty on the Longoria card made by a Florida sports card shop owner. That would shatter the record for the most expensive bat knob card sold. According to Card Ladder, a 2017 Topps Tier One Honus Wagner card (not autographed) stands as the top selling bat knob card going for $24,600 in August 2022.
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Longoria made it no secret that he'd been an interested buyer of the card as well.
However, nothing can compare to Bryce Harper's 'RIP Harambe' bat knob card.
Bryce Harper's 1/1 game-used "RIP Harambe" bat knob card… 🦍🔥 pic.twitter.com/CmsI7YgiIr
— Topps (@Topps) February 19, 2025
Milwaukee Brewers outfielder Christian Yelich and Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Junior Caminero added their own twists to their upcoming Tier One bat knob autographed cards. They each have images of their 2024 Topps Series One cards on the knobs.
While collectors wait for Tier One's release, they can also hunt for bat knob cards in the new Topps Sterling set, which went on sale Wednesday. The set bears 81 autographed bat knob cards from a mix of current players like Trout, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge and Juan Soto as well as former players like Derek Jeter, Alex Rodriguez, David Ortiz and Cal Ripken Jr.
They keep getting better…
This stack of game-used bat knob cards will be featured in 2025 Sterling. Arriving SOON 🗓️ pic.twitter.com/YnhcP8R83M
— Topps (@Topps) May 10, 2025
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