Former baseball player uses versatility from the field to promote athletes in the trading card space

CJ Breen never wanted to give up playing baseball, but when the time came to consider career options, he found the next best thing.

Now the director of marketing and licensing for Leaf Trading Cards, Breen spends his days signing athletes to trading card deals, running social media content, negotiating contracts and legal licensing, and working with different leagues to secure approvals. He first connected with Leaf while attending and playing baseball for St. Cloud State University.

Breen played Division I baseball for multiple schools before the COVID-19 pandemic impacted collegiate athletics across the country. Through the transfer portal he decided on SCSU, joining the Huskies baseball team and ultimately earning his degree in recreation and sports management in 2022.

“Super blessed to have ended up at St. Cloud; it was such a great place to be. I think the majority of people who go to that school will say it feels like home,” he said. “St. Cloud State’s community is so welcoming. The education I got there is second to none, and it’s kind of set me up for my professional world.”

Breen said he signed up for as many volunteering and internship opportunities as possible during his time on campus, and was initially supposed to intern with Leaf following his junior year at SCSU. An offer from the Alaska Baseball League to spend his summer with them changed things.

“You’re telling me I can go play baseball in Alaska and live for free in Alaska? This is a dream come true; can’t pass that up,” he said. “Senior year rolls around, and I thought, ‘Okay, I’m not going to play in the big leagues, I’m not going to get drafted. Let’s see what’s out there.’”

Leaf ended up reaching back out to Breen to see if he was interested in a full-time position, and the rest is history.

“Being a baseball player and being an athlete in general; you never want to give up playing sports, so it’s kind of the best of both worlds,” he said. “You’re able to combine your love for sports and love for business, intertwine them both to create a career. It doesn’t feel like work when it’s something you love. I think it was just a match made in heaven.”

He started off working on the company’s social media, and grew from there. He now does the majority of the company’s autograph work, and said he has built relationships with people he never would’ve dreamt of meeting — including Barry Sanders, Pete Weber, David Goggins, Patrick Mahomes and Dana White, among others.

“The biggest names in the biggest sports and the biggest athletes, one-on-one doing the deals with them and their agents, meeting them, knowing their families — it’s just really rewarding,” Breen said. “Especially on the NIL side of things — giving deals to kids that would’ve never dreamt of getting the money they’re getting now with the possibilities, seeing them getting life-changing money and seeing the families and what we’re doing, setting themselves up for the next step is just so rewarding. Being in the locker room, knowing those guys and knowing athletes, being able to provide for their families now at such a young age is just really awesome to see.”

Breen hopes to keep having a positive impact on athletes, and plans to help grow under-appreciated sports in the trading card community. He pitched the idea of making pickleball cards early on with Leaf, and in the first year the cards created a $1 million space in the market. He also brought back Professional Bowlers Association and Professional Bull Riders cards at Leaf following 20-year and 30-year droughts, respectively. In addition, he introduced the first Power Slap cards through Leaf.

“If you asked me what I was going to do tomorrow, I wouldn’t have a great answer for you because it’s 15 different things. But I wouldn’t have it any other way, because I feel that the more well-rounded you are, the better,” Breen said. “I think being a student-athlete at St. Cloud State provided me that, and it instilled in me the ability to be a well-rounded person in general.

“Being a student-athlete gives you the different perspective where — you’re going to class, you have 6 a.m. weights, you’re practicing, competing — and you’re able to communicate with people from all different backgrounds. I think that gave me a leg up on some competitors, because in the business world you’re dealing with people from different backgrounds, and I think that’s what made me stick out in the industry more quickly than I imagined. So I have a lot to thank St. Cloud State for in that aspect.”

He credits his time with SCSU’s baseball team as well as the sports management department with helping him launch his career.

“I’m going to use the word grittiness, because I think that’s what the baseball team embodies; that is one of their hashtags they used,” he said. “Being gritty, being able to navigate tough real-life issues — and I think in the classroom, the sports management department really hits home. Being able to use real-life actions through classwork has enabled me to get to where I’m at.”

He fondly remembered the way Professor Lori Ulferts made sure to keep students on their toes and adapting on the fly, and said she’s one of the most active and interesting people he’s met. Her lessons have even carried over into Breen’s day-to-day work.

“I think her phrase was, ‘Being comfortable in uncomfortable positions,’ and I think that’s something that I’ve kind of made my motto,” he said. “That’s something I learned at SCSU that I’ve definitely used since.”

Breen encouraged students and recent graduates to take chances when it comes to starting that next chapter after graduation, and to consider the different internship and volunteer options available at SCSU.

“Those experiences will set yourself apart more so than your peers. I can’t tell how many times I did internships or volunteer work that I didn’t necessarily want to do, but I knew in the long run that those connections and networking were going to be so crucial,” he said. “Don’t be afraid to take a chance and move or take the internship you might not be quite interested in. You just never know what’s going to come of it.”