A 2026 Topps Series 1 Joe Rock Auto
Joe Rock · 2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball Stars Autograph · #BSA-JR · Tampa Bay Rays
2026 Topps Series 1 Baseball Stars Auto. First Series 1 auto pull for NRJ this year. Before he ships.
Penny: Joe, thanks for doing this. Before you go.
Joe Rock: Who are we going to?
Penny: Don’t know yet. That’s whoever picks you up.
Joe Rock: Fair enough.
Penny: You were the first Series 1 auto pull for this inventory all season. First pitcher, first hit, first auto out of the box.
Joe Rock: That’s not on me. That’s on whichever pack the guy grabbed. Being first just means I was there when they opened it.
Penny: The audience wanted Skenes.
Joe Rock: The audience always wants Skenes. I’m not offended. He throws what he throws, he’s earned it. What I’ve earned is a Topps Baseball Stars auto card with my signature on it. That’s not nothing.
Penny: What should the new collector know about you?
Joe Rock: Left-hander. Six-six. Low arm slot, so the ball gets on hitters sideways before they’re ready for it. Mid-nineties with cut, mid-eighties slider. Drafted by the Rockies in ‘21, traded to Tampa in ‘24, Durham Bulls last year. Aliquippa PA, Hopewell High. Two no-hitters in high school. Made my MLB debut. I’ve been there. It counts.
Penny: That’s a lot of self-report.
Joe Rock: You asked. I’m not Skenes but I’m also not somebody who has to pretend I’m not real.
Penny: Anything to say to the collectors who scrolled past your listing?
Joe Rock: Nothing. They were looking for Skenes. They and I aren’t having the same conversation. The collector who stopped to read this is the one I’m talking to.
Penny: What do you want the new collector to do with you?
Joe Rock: Slide me into a nine-pocket page and forget about me for two years. Then open the binder in 2028 and see if I earned my spot. Either I did or I didn’t. Most of us don’t. The ones who do pay back the whole binder.
Penny: Last question. Anything you want people to know that isn’t on the stat sheet?
Joe Rock: My mom works for American Airlines. My uncle flies for Delta. I grew up around planes. I could’ve gone that way. A plane is a forty-ton object moving against physics and it still works. That’s what a curveball is. Same trick. Different scale.
Penny: That’s a hell of a closer.
Joe Rock: I said what I said.