Congratulations to Ichiro Suzuki, CC Sabathia and Billy Wagner for earning tickets to Cooperstown as new members of the Hall of Fame.

To be fair, it seems almost an afterthought, no? We track a player’s progress towards the hall while that player is active, then we debate these things regularly, and then when the ballots go out, we get regular updates of voting as this information is shared by voters and tabulated by people who have made an industry out of HOF votes.

Ultimately, I think we all knew that these guys were different (even if it took longer to accept Billy Wagner’s greatness – and remember that he was born right-handed and learned to throw lefty because of football injuries…). I’m always happy for the players who get to celebrate this honor with their family and friends and former teammates.

The more interesting story developing over the last few days is that of an 11-year-old kid finding a rare Paul Skenes rookie baseball card that likely makes $1 million at auction. The Pirates are interested in acquiring that card and have offered the kid two season tickets behind home plate for the next 30 years, a chance to play softball at PNC Park, a bunch of other experiences, jerseys and autographs and what not.

My wife insists that the kid should take the money. He could put this into T-Bills and get 4% a year and spend $40,000 for life (assuming 70 more years, that’s $2,800,000 of spending dollars without touching the initial nut). He could pay for college while driving the coolest car of all his friends. Or, of course, he could invest in index funds (or riskier investments) that might turn even better interest rates and suddenly find himself with $5 million or more when he’s old enough to actually go to Pirates games every night for 30 years…

Hopefully someone gives the kid good advice.

Image Source: https://x.com/Topps/status/1855657396414107908