The Milwaukee Brewers are unstoppable. They secured their seventh consecutive victory on Friday night, dramatically defeating the New York Mets 3-2. The energy was contagious, but the night’s most important victory didn’t occur on the field—it occurred in the clubhouse and involved a 25-year-old pack of Pokémon cards.
After the victory, veteran first baseman Rhys Hoskins decided it was time to celebrate. He took out some vintage 1999 Pokémon card packs and gave them to Jacob Misiorowski, the rookie sensation and one of Paul Skenes’s rivals in the league. Misiorowski began opening the pack with his teammates watching. As he reached the final card, a glimpse of red sparked anticipation. It was a Fire-type Pokémon, a sign of something rare, powerful, and interesting.
The moment he showed the card, the room exploded. “Holy s—!” a teammate exclaimed in delight. Misiorowski had pulled a holographic Charizard, arguably one of the most famous and valuable Pokémon cards ever. This card, often called the “holy grail” by collectors, can be worth several thousand dollars.
“That’s, like, the big card. So it was fun. It was really cool,” Misiorowski said. “It’s just crazy that we pulled it in the locker room. I didn’t expect anything. I just saw that it was red and I was like, holy [smokes], this might actually happen.”
Interestingly, a few weeks ago, Misiorowski went to a local card shop and came out with a rare card of himself, which at present is one of only 25 in existence. This collecting hobby is a big part of the Brewers’ clubhouse culture. Rhys Hoskins, the man who gave Misiorowski the pack, is an avid fan of collecting cards himself.
He even shared his motivations for giving out the vintage packs to his teammates. “I mean, ‘the power of friendship’ would be the short answer,” Hoskins said, referencing the team’s mantra. “For the last couple of months, we have been visiting card shops together on the road. I’ve been collecting pretty heavily for the last five years or so… we found nostalgia in our closet.”
And, this extends beyond just the players.
Beyond the clubhouse, it’s a league-wide phenomenon
The bond linking the Brewers and Pokémon goes beyond the interest of players. These two brands have an official collaboration. In July 2025, the team hosted a Pokémon GO Day at their home stadium. Fans who purchased a special ticket were given an exclusive Brewers-branded Pokémon GO t-shirt. The collaboration also introduced new, club-branded PokéStops and Gyms to all MLB ballparks for the 2025 season.
This trend of collecting cards is, in fact, a league-wide phenomenon. The trend of athletes as collectors is growing across the league. Mike Trout, the Angels’ superstar, is an avid collector as well. He used to collect for his son, but is now deep into the hobby himself. “I really got into it…I’m really deep into it right now,” Trout revealed.
One of the most famous collectors is former MVP Josh Donaldson. His collection has hundreds of thousands of cards. A collector since he was a child, one of Donaldson’s formative experiences in the hobby was acquiring a card of his favorite player, Ron Gant. In 2018, Donaldson shared an image of the card, calling it the “First rookie card I purchased as a kid.”
And, the list goes on. Rising star Bobby Witt Jr. from the Kansas City Royals has even collaborated with Topps to design his own card set. This trend makes the athletes we admire more relatable.
Who knows what will be the next rare card that someone is going to be lucky enough to find?
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