Collectible Guru Ken Goldin: Paul Skenes Is Crushing Memorabilia Market Thanks To Talent, Olivia Dunne

Sports memorabilia collectors are all in on Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher and Olivia Dunne's boyfriend, Paul Skenes.

That's according to Ken Goldin, CEO of the immensely popular and profitable Goldin Collectibles and Goldin Auctions as well as star of Netflix's "King of Collectibles" series.

PAUL SKENES IS RISING IN THE COLLECTORS GAME

"We sold his card a couple of days ago for nearly $100,000 for someone who had pitched just four games in the Major Leagues!" Goldin exclaimed.

"Someone pointed out that the Skenes card was the 3rd highest priced card of any pitcher on a trading card produced post-1980. So, for the past 40 years… that was one of the highest priced cards of any card of a pitcher, more than what a [Clayton] Kershaw card would go for. So, yes, the Paul Skenes effect is real!"

There's no doubt that the 22-year-old Pirates rookie is one of the hottest pitchers going right now. In 5 games, Skenes has a record of 3-0 with 38 strikeouts and an ERA of 3.00. He also throws straight GAS - regularly throwing in the 100's, including last night when he put on a straight-up CLINIC against Shohei Ohtani and struck him out on three straight fastballs. (Something that Ohtani didn't do when facing Mike Trout in last year's World Baseball Classic.) 

But as everybody knows, Paul Skenes is also dating one of the biggest athlete celebrities in the world right now in LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne.  

OLIVIA DUNNE IMPACT?

"Definitely part of it is the Olivia Dunne effect," Ken replied before adding that there's nothing wrong with that. 

"Everything helps, everything seriously helps," Goldin continued. He likened it to a game-worn Travis Kelce jersey that Goldin included at the Netflix KoC Season 2 launch. "Do you realize every single Netflix star took a picture in front of the Travis Kelce jersey because all these reality stars and reality real estate stars all wanted a photo of it because of Taylor Swift!

"It absolutely matters. If your popularity some days is attributed to reasons not exclusively to what you do onto a playing field, that's fine - that's completely fine, and it will just help the value of the collectibles."

Season 2 of Goldin's ‘The King Of Collectibles’ premieres on Netflix on June 12.

One thing's for certain - between Skenes, Jackson Holiday, Victor Wembanyama and the enormous rise in Caitlin Clark - the future of sports both on the field and in the memorabilia market will be exciting to see!

IS PAUL SKENES THE REAL DEAL? TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow or email me: Michael.Gunzelman@OutKick.com with your thoughts!