Retired linebacker Blake Martinez is raking in millions selling Pokemon cards

When Martinez was growing up, he began collecting Pokémon cards, but his mother eventually gave his collection away, so he picked up the hobby again during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

His hobby evolved into a business. While rehabbing from an ACL tear he suffered in 2021 when he was with the Giants, Martinez founded Blake’s Breaks in July 2022, a company that purchases and trades cards.

Martinez, a member of the Raiders at the time, called it a career 11 days after selling a Gem Mint 9.5 "Illustrator" Pokémon card at auction for $672K. 

CGC Trading Card vice president Matt Quinn referred to the “Illustrator” card as "the holy grail for Pokémon card collecting" because only 41 copies exist. 

Since then, Blake's Breaks has become the 2017 NFL tackle leader's sole focus. He recently told CNBC Make It that he has generated over $5M in revenue on Whatnot, an online resale platform for collectibles. Whatnot also allows users to live stream pack openings, which Martinez often does. 

Although the money is a plus, Martinez shared with CNBC Make It that one of the things he enjoys about his new profession is that it allows him to be healthy.

“Every single day when I wake up, my shoulder doesn’t hurt, and my back doesn’t hurt anymore,” said Martinez. “When all that hurts are my fingers from opening, like, 1,000 packs of cards per day, I think, ‘I’m going to keep doing this.’”

In an interview with Fortune earlier this month, Martinez outlined his future goals for his company. As part of this plan, he aims to open a warehouse in Canada and later expand his business to buy and sell comic books and Funko collectibles.