In a dazzling twist of fortune and creativity, Major League Baseball star Evan Longoria has sent ripples across both the baseball and Pokémon card worlds. The catalyst? A soon-to-be-released baseball card from the prestigious 2025 Topps Tier One Baseball set that features a game-used bat knob with none other than Pokémon icon Charizard emblazoned on it. Imagine the collision of two of the most fervent collector communities, and you’ll begin to appreciate the giddy excitement sweeping through hobbyist circles.
This inventive meld of America’s pastime and the world of pocket monsters isn’t some last-minute marketing gimmick. It represents a genuine bridge between two realms that, at first glance, might seem worlds apart. Yet this masterpiece of cardboard creativity has accomplished what few collectibles ever do—it’s become an instant legend.
First to stake his substantial claim in this joyous chaos was Alan Narz of Big League Cards, a renowned card trader based in Casselberry, Florida. With a flair typical of the Sunshine State, Narz announced he was ready to lay down a princely $100,000 for this unicorn of a card. His rationale was concise and surefooted: “We’re all about being the top spot for sports and Pokémon. Now this card shows up that’s basically the perfect blend of both? We need it.”
Alan Narz’s enthusiasm is tempered by an impressive pedigree in the card-trading community. He understands better than most the nuanced allure of the bat knob card. Such cards carry an air of authentic rarity, often featuring the sliced-off bottom bit of a bat. Many a baseball demigod—from the immortal Babe Ruth to other legends of the modern diamond—have been commemorated this way. But, when you throw in a quintessential pop culture figure like Charizard into the mix, you elevate this collectible to an unprecedented echelon of desirability.
Topps, for its part, has long embraced its role as a cultural alchemist, adept at transforming mere cardboard into objects of profound value. Whether consciously or otherwise, their fusion of Pokémon into the MLB fold is a stroke of strategic genius, whether regarded from the standpoint of nostalgic allure or pure capitalistic whimsy. “When Topps works their magic on a card, it hits different,” affirms Narz, summarizing the collective sentiment in collector circles.
Yet the ride doesn’t end with our Florida card maestro. Enter Doug Caskey, co-founder of card-breaking titan Mojobreak. Armed with a canny eye and a penchant for striking at wildly opportune moments, Caskey snapped up what might very well be the bat involved in this unfolding saga—a Longoria game-used bat featuring a Charizard sticker at a thrift-friendly $700. A find of mythical proportions, the bat leaps from mere collectible to talismanic when placed against the backdrop of Longoria’s career, not to mention his storied link to Mojobreak’s own founding legend, the still-elusive 2006 Bowman Chrome Superfractor.
“We’ve got a big Pokémon following and being from the Bay Area, where Longoria played for years, it felt like the right move,” explains Caskey. His connection to Longoria is deep-rooted, marked by a continual hunt for the card that continues to elude even the most cunning of collectors.
While the exact whereabouts of the Charizard-infused Longoria card remain a mystery, anticipation only adds fuel to the fire. Whether it finds a place of honor in Alan Narz’s collection or graces the storied halls of Mojobreak’s gallery is, at this juncture, anyone’s guess. What’s abundantly clear is that this is more than a card; it’s a testament to the joyous convergence of fandoms, of collectors’ dreams made real through pure imaginative crossover. In this game of collecting, the chase is often more thrilling than the capture—and, this time, there’s a Charizard-cheered bat knob adding extra sizzle to the hunt.
