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MLB announces creation of ridiculously expensive Anthony Volpe Yankees rookie card

Adam Weinrib
Adam Weinrib

Yanks Go Yard

San Francisco Giants v New York Yankees / Sarah Stier/GettyImages

Want MLB's new extra-special rookie card commemorating Anthony Volpe's MLB debut? Don't have the data in front of us yet, but (calculating) ... it'll cost you.

In accordance with Volpe's first time wearing the Yankees pinstripes and officially rocking No. 11, Michael Rubin of Fanatics announced an important new innovation for a to-be-determined upcoming Topps baseball card product.

Volpe's debut will come with an "MLB Debut" patch on the sleeve of his home jersey. Red Sox fan favorite Masataka Yoshida will wear the same thing on his red-and-whites on Thursday; ditto St. Louis Cardinals 20-year-old massive wunderkind Jordan Walker.

Those jerseys won't go directly to Cooperstown, though. According to Rubin, those patches will wind up in Topps cards to create "the ultimate rookie card."

Back up the literal Brinks truck. Not a figure of speech. You will actually need an armored car full of bills to afford these.

Yankees rookie Anthony Volpe will have ridiculously expensive MLB Debut Topps rookie card

Also important to note? These patches are small. Will Fanatics really split the patch between a number of Topps cards -- say, a parallel version numbered out of 25 -- or will they just include the whole patch in an all-time scarce card for their most high-end product?

According to Topps, these patches will eventually be included on one-of-ones. Woof. Start saving now.

The Yankees brand already carries plenty of heft in the rookie card market; best of luck snagging a first Bowman Chrome autograph of top prospects like Jasson Dominguez and Roderick Arias. The Topps corporation often holds big-time Yankees back from "Draft" products to the next year's Bowman release to build anticipation (looking at you, Spencer Jones). No matter how this patch is utilized, you're looking at a grand or more.

If Volpe signs it? Sell your house.

Over the next few years, Rubin's Fanatics-owned Topps will reportedly acquire Panini, leading to a licensed monopoly in the baseball card market. According to Tyler Santiago of Santiago Sports, the marriage between Fanatics and Topps has led to a better relationship with dealers and a stronger product overall.

Despite complete control of the market, it's refreshing to see innovation own the day. This is a great idea for building hype. Looking forward to the next one -- the next, more affordable one.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.