There have always been sets designed to capitalize on hot trends and athletes in our hobby. After all, this is a business, and wherever there is a demand, the companies are there to fulfill it. However, Topps has geared itself towards this kind of opportunistic market.
We saw that with the controversial (and problematic) 2023-24 Topps Mercury: Victor Wembanyama release. We are seeing it again with the release of a set to commemorate the incredible achievements of Japanese slugger Shohei Ohtani in the 2024 MLB season.
As usual, these sorts of releases are controversial. Some are enthusiastic about seeing the sports card companies respond in real-time to what collectors are interested in. Others look at this as a cynical cash grab made to capitalize on momentary trends, using cards with little long-term value.
Who is right? We dive in and ask whether the 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani product is legit.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
Ohtani had one of the most impressive seasons, and it makes sense for Topps to commemorate it with a limited edition set. The milestone’s symmetrical nature also helps create an exciting, simple, and intuitive checklist.
It is clear where the idea for these cards came from. The Topps Now card commemorating Shohei Ohtani’s milestone of reaching 50 stolen bases and 50 home runs got incredible media attention.
And rightfully so. It is one of the most outstanding single-season achievements of recent years. Therefore, the Topps Now card was released to mark the occasion and sold an incredible 653,000 copies.
Topps understood that they had a great opportunity to make a tidy profit from this event.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
Topps has become incredibly adept at creating buzz around their products by including highly desirable and hyped-up cards. It is a remarkable achievement for them just how good they are at this now.
Without a doubt, the most hyped card here was the rare 1/1 Black Dynasty 1/1 auto-relics. They even managed to get Sports Illustrated to cover the release, focusing on that specific card.
But another significant attraction was the six autographed super factors. We were excited to see one of them already pulled by Eastcoastflipper. The reaction video has already amassed more than 24,000 likes and over 575,000 views.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
The unveiling of this card gives us some idea of how Fanatics plans to market their high-end cards. An article in Ripped introduced somewhat bombastically as “more than just a new card—it’s an innovative leap forward, pushing the boundaries of what collectors can expect from premium card releases.”
The idea is to create a patch auto card commemorating the game’s most critical moments. Building on the success of the RPA, they want event-specific memorabilia auto cards to be the next frontier of the most desirable cards.
As Topps describes them, “From home run records to season-long achievements and beyond, these cards capture and celebrate the extraordinary, making them one-of-a-kind collectibles. These are not just relics—they are 1/1 celebrations adding rarity and desirability for collectors and fans.”
The big card in this release is “The debut of Topps Dynasty Black is headlined by Shohei Ohtani and his historic founding of the 50/50 club—accomplished during arguably the most incredible single-game performance in baseball history.”
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
Of course, your chance of hitting this 1/1 is minimal. The primary function is to get people through the door and buy these boxes despite their shortcomings, which we will discuss at length.
The idea is cool. The base set of 2024 Topps 50/50: Shohei Ohtani includes 100 cards, one of each base steal and home run hit. That works well because of the natural roundness of the number in question.
Here are the main specifications for 2024 Topps 50/50: Shohei Ohtani.
Base Cards & Base Chrome Parallels
Base cards (100): All-Ohtani subject list featuring all 50 Home Runs and 50 Stolen Bases.
Chrome Parallels
The product seems to be successful enough. The boxes, which sold at $239.99 on the Topps website, have sold out. Single packs, which sold for $25, have also sold out.
If you want to buy a new box of 2024 Topps 50/50: Shohei Ohtani, it will cost you about $450. That is an increase of close to 100% in price and an indication of actual demand.
We don’t know the price of these boxes and cards in the long term, but they seem to have a market right now.
However, their reception of the hobby is a different story. There have been several layers of complaints regarding this release.
Right off the bat, you notice that the stock for these cards is not all it should be.
As the Sports Illustrated review of the product noted, “I understand that chrome stock would make the product more expensive, but given the gravity of this product, it would have been nice if the paper stock was at least up to par with that of a Series 1 or Heritage.”
There have been some bad vibes surrounding the product’s quality control. People say this kind of thing every time there is a new product.
So, I take it with a grain of salt. The only box I have seen opened in person looked OK (though not great). But there are more reports of problems with these cards than usual.
One issue some people have complained about is that this product contains redemptions. These are never popular, and Topps has stated that it will try to phase these out.
Nonetheless, it’s hard to hold this against Fanatics. The product had to be rushed out, which is a forgivable, though unenjoyable consequence. A nice bonus is that the new redemptions don’t expire for ten years!
That is the policy from Topps nowadays, and it is a blessed one. So you can feel comfortable buying one of these boxes a few years later.
Since its release, there have been many complaints of the product on social media.
One reads: “Just opened two packs of the Shohei 50/50 set for my sons and noticed how crappy the quality is. You can see white paper shavings next to the cards on my computer. The card edges flake everywhere as if they went through a cheap paper cutter yesterday before being shipped out. Pretty disappointed, to be honest.”
You can see the picture of the shavings for yourself. Because of that problem, the cards seem smaller than they should be. That is noticeable when you place them in a penny sleeve and that could impact your grading success.
Even worse is the level of miscuts that Topps has allowed to be included in this release. Just take a look at this.
Another issue people have been complaining about is getting boxes with no hits at all.
One Blowout Forums user wrote, “I was one of the (seemingly!) many who got no hits whatsoever— no chrome, numbered, just 50 bases. It seems they submitted a missing hit request with Topps today. They will be inundated with those for this product. Was going to sell it sealed for a quick $75-$100 profit, but I’m happy I didn’t now — dealing with the missing hit through eBay would have been more trouble than it’s worth.”
Among the boxes that did have hits, there was a notable lack of autographs.
One Blowout Forums user complained, “These cards are ugly and cheap looking, autos are basically impossible to hit, and the pictures chosen are mostly crap. What’s not to love.”
The problem is not so much that there are no hits but that the collating for the product is problematic. One Blowout Forums user noted, “Seeing that some people are getting boxes containing 5 hits, no wonder there are a bunch of no-hit boxes as well.”
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
The boxes were sold for $240, a cheap box by current Fanatics standards. And that is the problem here. It looks like Topps is not taking its less expensive releases that seriously.
The shavings are an example of intentionally cheap cardboard and not paying attention to the finishing.
Finally, As NEO Cards & Comics has clearly shown, the packs are easily searchable, and figuring out where the hits are hiding is not challenging. In addition, the hits are in a separate pack in most boxes. Often, they are pretty weak hits, but that is a different point.
So you will not want to buy separate packs of this, even though Topps was selling them, and you can get them online. That ostensibly legitimates buying packs of this product, but we genuinely recommend you avoid that.
And in general, do not buy loose packs of anything. People are getting increasingly good at searching for them. It has always been a pretty bad idea to do so.
As NEO Cards and Comics said, “They were selling these for $25 a pop. I could have opened these up, sold the hit for what it goes for, sold the packs for $25 a piece, and made back the box.”
He is underselling the value of these packs. I am seeing a few on eBay marked at $40 and have seen a couple sell for a bit more. Do not fall for that.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
Finally, there are delivery problems. As we have seen, the people who received the boxes are generally unhappy. Aside from the folks with extra hits, they seem happier with themselves.
However, many people who ordered the boxes when they were first released, including some stores, reportedly have yet to receive them.
The product was pretty rushed. Honestly, how wouldn’t it be? Ohtani hit the milestone on September 19, 2024, and the product was released on September 29, 2024.
Preparations probably started earlier than when the milestone was hit. However, they could not have spent much time creating the product. When you think about the amount of time involved, it is almost surprising that it doesn’t have more problems.
But people are still paying hard-earned cash for this release. The question becomes, is it the right move to release a product like this quickly with all the problems that come along with it, or is it the responsibility of Topps to make sure that if they can’t release a genuinely high-quality product, they should not release one at all?
I guess that is a philosophical question at the end of the day.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
Fanatics is a business that will try to make money off unforgettable sports events like this one. That is just the nature of capitalism. As collectors, we must be more careful with how and when we spend our money.
This is one of a few products of this type released this year. There will be more. Between this and the 2023-24 Topps Mercury: Victor Wembanyama release, it’s fair to say that Topps has not been proven able to release these products while protecting the consumer.
Until they do, I would advise you to stick to the standard releases to get a better bang for the looking forward e, looking forward There looking forward is the introduction of the Topps Dynasty Black cards.
That will be front and center in the future, marking the looking as their most exclusive and sought-after card. The problem is that the company may use its genius for marketing to cover up for shoddy production values.
That is a lousy trade for collectors since Topps Dynasty Black cards will be a privilege few enjoy. However, the quality of production affects all consumers and collectors. We hope that Topps will do better in the future and provide even their rushed products with a decent level of finishing.
Check prices for 2024 Topps 50/50 Shohei Ohtani boxes on eBay
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