Exclusive | Dodgers star Kik Hernndez reveals the one Pokmon card hell 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,” He...