Exclusive | Dodgers star Kiké Hernández reveals the one Pokémon card he’ll chase ‘forever’

For Kiké Hernández, one of the most meaningful connections of his baseball career began when baseball was temporarily taken away from him.

The Los Angeles Dodgers superutility player has spent plenty of time on the injured list over the past two seasons, where the rhythms of a major league season suddenly give way to rehab rooms, empty hours and plenty of time in isolation. Somewhere inside that monotony, Hernández realized that baseball had consumed so much of his life that he didn’t have any real hobbies. 

“If I’m being honest, the IL is something that’s very boring and lonely,” Hernández told the California Post in an exclusive interview last Thursday at the Harold & Carole Pump Foundation 26th Anniversary Celebrity Dinner. “I’ve spent a lot of time on it the last two years.”

So instead of taking up pickleball, crochet or baking, Hernández started ripping Pokémon packs. 

Hernández said he originally started collecting Pokémon cards as a kid, but was excited to return to it as an adult. The first pack he opened was enough to transport the 35-year-old Dodgers fan favorite backward in time. 

“The smell, the sensation of ripping a pack, all these things,” Hernández said. “It made me feel like a kid.”

What began as an escape during an emotionally difficult stretch soon became something bigger when his 5-year-old daughter, Penélope, joined him.

She fell for Pikachu, just like her dad.

Now, father and daughter tear into packs of Pokémon, Disney, My Little Pony and even Netflix’s KPop Demon Hunters, turning Hernández’s hobby into family time. His collecting obsession has even turned into a side business for the three-time World Series Champion. 

Hernández created his own social media channels under the name “PokéKikémon,” his Pokémon- inspired alter ego. His Instagram account alone has over 112,000 followers and spawned its own line of merchandise. 

“Not only do I get my fix, but it also helps us connect as a family,” Hernández said. “It’s something that we look forward to.”

We asked Hernández what’s the greatest pull he’s ever had to date. His answer was a Japanese Sabrina’s Gengar 1st edition that sells for over $10,000 on some collection sites. 

“I pulled it and got it graded a [PSA] 10. So that is definitely my best one, for sure,” said Hernandez. 

But every collector has a holy grail and there’s one card that Hernández wants that still haunts him. It’s a 2001 Japanese Corocoro promotional card whose shining Mew tail swirl artwork caught his eye before the price climbed between $75,000 and $500,000 on collection sites. 

“CoroCoro Mew is a card that I love the art of,” said Hernández. “I didn’t pull the trigger last year when I wanted it, and now it’s gotten a little too expensive. So it’s a card that I’ll probably be chasing forever.”

And maybe that’s half the fun of collecting. 

Hernández started his Pokémon card collecting journey trying to find something to fill the lonely hours away from baseball. Instead, somewhere between Pikachu, Charizard, Squirtle and Gengar, he found something he could share with his daughter long after the final out.

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