Las Vegas Raiders Player Retires from NFL After Selling Rare Pokemon Card

Las Vegas Raiders linebacker Blake Martinez is retiring from the NFL after selling a rare Pokemon card worth more than his NFL contract.

NFL Linebacker Blake Martinez is ending his football playing career to start a new venture in selling rare Pokemon cards. He sold one rare Pokemon card in near-perfect condition for $672,000, more than double his current Raider’s contract salary.

Blake Martinez has played in the NFL since 2016 and has been with the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, and the Las Vegas Raiders in that time. Though he has seen action in all 7 seasons, he’s been a fringe roster player with time on NFL Practice Squads. While he was good in the last game he played, players like this often don’t have a long shelf life. So rather than letting NFL front offices decide for him, he made the decision for himself and ended his playing career at 28 and in the middle of the season to focus on family and his business of finding and flipping rare Pokemon cards.

Martinez sold a Pokemon Illustrator card with a Gem Mint 9.5 rating for $672,000. This is more than double what he could have made if the Raiders kept him for the remainder of the season. He has a company called Blakes Breaks that is solely about collecting rare cards and flipping them for profit. Days after he sold the card at auction, he announced his retirement from the NFL.

The Pokemon Illustrator card is one of the crown jewel cards for collectors, up there with Charizard cards similar to what Logan Paul owns. The Pokemon Illustrator card was a promotional card only released in Japan in January 1998 to winners of a card illustration contest. There are an estimated 40 of these cards still in existence.

The landscape of Pokemon cards has changed in recent years, and some fans are making Pokemon trading cards openings and resale a lucrative business. People have sold rare cards for thousands of dollars and the prospect of a quick buck has caused some people to commit crimes trying to obtain Pokemon cards.

NFL players are also retiring more often in recent years. With the negative press about head injuries and other injuries that affect former players’ quality of life after their playing careers, more of them are deciding to hang up their cleats while still in their 20s after making respectable money. While most do find careers after football, Martinez has arguably found one of the most potentially lucrative businesses to get into after the sport.