Just when you think the legend of Shohei Ohtani has maximized, it grows once again. The Japanese superhuman slugger just recorded the first 50-homer, 50-steal season in MLB history and shows no signs of stopping there on his way to baseball immortality. And in case you forgot… the man is a pitcher, too! As long as Ohtani keeps doing things we’ve never seen before, his hobby value will continue to rise to levels that, well, we’ve probably never seen before. And since rookie cards will forever remain at the top of the hobby pyramid, let’s take a look at the top five most iconic Shohei Ohtani rookie cards.
2018 Topps Series 2 #700 Shohei Ohtani
Well, there’s no better place to start than the classic Topps flagship rookie card. While this is one of the cheaper Ohtani rookies and not an incredibly rare card, the Topps flagship rookie is, in my mind, THE true rookie card for any given player. With the massive evolution of the hobby over time, the Topps flagship rookie is one of the few things that has remained the same since the early 1950s. Mickey Mantle has a Topps flagship rookie. Hank Aaron has a Topps flagship rookie. Barry Bonds has a Topps flagship rookie. Shohei Ohtani has a Topps flagship rookie. That tradition alone makes this card iconic, though you can snag one on eBay for right around $40. Speaking of hobby evolution, though, of course there are a number of parallels and variations of this card that vary in rarity.
2013 BBM 1st Version #183 Shohei Ohtani
Speaking of flagship, what about Ohtani’s Japanese baseball cards? Some forget that before he became the otherworldly MLB superstar, he was the otherworldly NPB superstar for the Nippon Ham Fighters. That being said, Ohtani’s first flagship rookie card is actually his 2013 BBM 1st Version #183. Like his Topps flagship rookie, this isn’t Ohtani’s most valuable card (PSA suggests a value of about $675 for a PSA 10), but it is fairly rare. PSA has graded less than 600 copies of this card as opposed to over 17,000 copies of the Topps flagship card mentioned above.
If you’re unfamiliar with Ohtani’s pre-MLB career, he was 42-15 with a 2.52 ERA over five seasons in the NPB in addition to 48 HR, 166 RBI and an .859 OPS as a hitter (just over 1,000 at-bats). As good as he was, he’s gotten even better since coming to Major League Baseball… and his meteoric rise is only continuing.
2018 Stadium Club #138 Shohei Ohtani
With so many sets in existence today, where to turn after flagship products when it comes to the most iconic Ohtani rookies? Enter Stadium Club, which has long been one of the cleanest-looking releases when it comes to eye appeal. The stunning photography in Stadium Club provides a unique look at the humanity of baseball players, showcasing expressions, celebrations, and off-field or field-adjacent moments as opposed to purely action shots. Ohtani’s Stadium Club rookie does just that, depicting the pure joy of his introductory press conference with the Angels.
Parallels and autograph versions of this card do exist, but the base version is iconic in its photo-forward and very simple design. You can snag a PSA 10 at a bargain for about $150.
2018 Topps Dynasty Shohei Ohtani RPA
When it comes to high-end rookie cards, RPAs (rookie patch autos) are always the chase. While RPAs hold more weight in football than baseball, I’d be remiss not to mention an Ohtani RPA in this list. Topps Dynasty is one of the most recognizable names when it comes to high-end baseball cards, so the Topps Dynasty Shohei Ohtani is one of the highest of high-end Ohtani rookies. There are seven different Ohtani RPAs in 2018 Topps Dynasty, all numbered to 10 or less. Beautiful, rare and incredibly valuable… the Topps Dynasty RPA is the diamond of Ohtani rookies.
Want to add one to your collection? Save up a year’s salary or something, because it’s going to take north of $50K to secure the particular card pictured left!
2018 Bowman Chrome Rookie Autograph Shohei Ohtani Superfractor 1/1
When it comes to card rarity, value, and many other standards, the Superfractor auto rises to the top. These days, a player’s 1st Bowman card now stands alongside their true rookie card as their most sought-after cardboard, so when you add chrome stock, an autograph, and the 1/1 designation to the 1st Bowman, you’ve got the grail card for a player in most cases.
Shohei Ohtani, however presents an interesting scenario in that his Bowman rookie card IS, technically, his 1st Bowman. He did appear in a 2017 Bowman Mega Box set, but his card in that release was not labeled as a “1st Bowman” and bore the World Baseball Classic logo while showing him rocking a Japan uniform. That said, the 2018 Bowman Chrome Rookie Auto Superfractor 1/1 is the supreme Shohei Ohtani rookie card. With a 9.5 Gem Mint grade from Beckett, this beaut sold for a whopping $184,000 at auction in 2018. If this thing surfaced for auction again, what do YOU think it would fetch??
By no means is than an exhaustive list. There are myriad Ohtani rookies in existence. When it comes to the most iconic, however, these are at the top of the list.
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