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The Best Rookie Cards Of Japanese Two-Way Sensation Shohei Ohtani

shohei ohtani 5050

He came from Japan, and he pitched and hit for power. Shohei Ohtani is nothing short of a sensation. And now that he has signed a record-breaking contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers (10 years, $700 million) is locked into a top market.

Add that to the fact that he just won his third MVP award, and you have what is quickly an all-time great.

But who is Ohtani? What are his rookie cards? And are his cards a good investment? Let’s explore!

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Who is Shohei Ohtani?

Shohei Ohtani was a star in Japan (like Yoshinobu Yamamoto after him) despite being only 22 in his final NPB season. In his time in Japan, Ohtani hit .284/.356/.498, good for an OPS of .854. On the mound, he was 42-15 with a 2.52 ERA.

Ohtani decided he wanted to play in the big leagues, and after being posted, signed with the Los Angeles Angels going into the 2018 season.

Since then, despite missing some time on the mound due to injury, he’s been nothing short of spectacular. Ohtani won the Rookie of the Year award in 2018 when he hit .285/.361/.564 with 22 home runs while going 4-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 10 starts.

In 2021 he hit .285/.361/.564 with 46 HR while going 9-2 with a 3.18 ERA on the mound to earn the AL MVP award. In 2022, he had a line of .273/.356/.519 with 34 homers while going 15-9 with a 2.33 ERA on the mound. He finished 2nd in the MVP race to Aaron Judge and his 62 home runs and finished 4th in the Cy Young voting.

Then, in 2023, he won a second MVP award in a season where he hit .304/.412/.654 with 44 home runs and 20 stolen bases, with a 10-5 record with a 3.14 ERA on the mound.

In December 2023, Ohtani signed the most lucrative contract in the history of baseball when he inked a deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years and $700 million.

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Ohtani didn’t pitch in 2024, due to a late-season injury led to September elbow surgery. But he hit, oh, did he hit. He put up a batting line of 310/.390/.646 with league leading totals of 46 home runs and 130 RBI.

Since he wasn’t pitching, he decided to run more, and stole 59 bases, making him the first player ever to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases In a single season. He won his third MVP award. If not for Judges record year, Ohtani likely would have won four straight MVP awards.

Ohtani will be back on the mound in 2025 with a Dodgers team that appears loaded. In his career, Ohtani has been an All Star four times, won three Silver Slugger awards.

Ohtani has put up a career batting line of 282/.371/.575 157, for an OPS of .945 and OPS+ of 157. He’s hit 225 home runs in 860 games. On the mound, he’s 38-19 with a 3.01 ERA. He’s been worth 43.8 WAR in his time in the major leagues.

Ohtani is amazing in that he’s not only the only two-way player in the majors, but he’s also one of the best hitters and best pitchers in the league. He’s a joy to watch and if you love baseball, make sure you watch him play…you’re seeing something unique and historic.

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Shohei Ohtani Rookie Card

Shohei Ohtani and Babe Ruth

In just about any conversation about Ohtani, the expression “since Babe Ruth” is usually uttered before too long. In some ways, this is unfair to Ohtani, as nobody is Babe Ruth. It was a different time, and Ruth was a unique talent who racked up stats that, by today’s standards, look like video game stats.

I’d like to add, though, that the comparisons are also a little unfair for another reason. Ruth started as a pitcher (and a good one), but then became mostly a hitter…pretty quickly in his career. In fact, after Ruth moved to the Yankees after his age 24 season, he pitched only five times, including complete game starts on the last day of the season when he was 35 and 38(!) years old.

Ruth has two seasons (1918 and 1919) in which he pitched and hit a significant amount in the same season. I defined that by pitching 130 innings or more and also 350+ plate appearances as a hitter. Ruth was pretty awesome in both seasons.

Ohtani was a two-way star in Japan, and came to the States with the intention of pitching and hitting. After pitching 10 games in his rookie season, Ohtani had surgery that kept him off the mound for most of the next two seasons.

Since then, Ohtani has put up three monster seasons as a two-way player, winning the 2021 and 2023 MVP awards and finishing second in 2022. If it wasn’t for Aaron Judge’s home run barrage, it’s likely Ohtani would be coming off four straight MVP awards. In other words, Ohtani was pretty awesome over the last four seasons.

So, Ohtani with another strong season on the mound and at the plate, has surpassed Ruth’s “two-way” seasons. Of course, there will never be another Ruth, but until there is, we can now start saying there may never be another Ohtani.

At least until there is another. Seriously, this is the kind of player we’ll be talking about decades from now.

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The best Shohei Ohtani rookie cards

According to the Trading Card Database (TCDB), Shohei Ohtani appeared on a shocking 2,949 cards in 2018, his rookie season here in the United States. Clearly, this article will not be exhaustive.

With the number of parallels and the like, we’ll hit some key base cards. Just know that if you’re looking for something a bit rarer, there’s a rainbow of parallels to choose from.

The 2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani #1 is the most valuable of Ohtani’s base rookie cards, with PSA 10s selling in the $900-1,000 range.

Most of Ohtani’s other base rookie cards sell for $180 to $200 range in PSA 10 slabs. These prices are not unreasonable considering what a big star Ohtani is on both sides of the Pacific.

The reason behind this is likely twofold. One is that most (but not all) of these cards have rather large PSA populations. They are not rare. In addition, of those cards graded by PSA, a large percentage are graded PSA 10, in some cases making PSA 10s the most common grade for these cards.

For example, the 2018 Topps Chrome Shohei Ohtani #150 has been graded 18,404 times by PSA. Of those, 9,642 (52%) are in PSA 10 slabs.

The good news? These cards are fairly affordable, so you can potentially buy several of them. If you’re picking just one, I’d suggest letting the PSA population be your guide—lower pop likely will help prices long term.

CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2018 Bowman Shohei Ohtani #4928,943PSA 10 = 12,582PSA 10 = $125-150
2018 Bowman Chrome Shohei Ohtani #17,600PSA 10 = 4,448PSA 10 = $900-1,000
2018 Bowman's Best Shohei Ohtani #12,808PSA 10 = 2,519PSA 10 = $140-160
2018 Finest Shohei Ohtani #1002,598PSA 10 = 1,727PSA 10 = $140-160
2018 Stadium Club Shohei Ohtani #1381,612PSA 10 = 796PSA 10 = $80-120
2018 Topps Shohei Ohtani #70018,404PSA 10 = 9,642PSA 10 = $180-200
2018 Topps Chrome Shohei Ohtani #15015,362PSA 10 = 13,606PSA 10 = $180-225
2018 Topps Archives Shohei Ohtani #503,708PSA 10 = 2,431PSA 10 = $120-200

The best autographed Shohei Ohtani rookie cards

Ohtani appeared on many autographed offerings in his rookie year of 2018 (and beyond). There are many options. Below, we highlight a few of the most expensive options, but non-graded versions of some of the “no logo” sets start at as little as a few hundred dollars raw.

An Ohtani autograph in any form is a great collectible. If your collecting budget allows you to add one, it’s a great pickup despite the large total quantity of autos out there.

Check out prices on autographed Shohei Ohtani rookie cards on eBay

CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2018 Bowman Rookie Autographs Chrome Shohei Ohtani #SO115PSA 10 = 58PSA 10 = $13,000-14,000
2018 Topps Chrome Gold Wave Refractor Shohei Ohtani #RA-SO23PSA 10 = 16NA
2018 Topps Chrome Rookie Autograph Shohei Ohtani # RA-SO80PSA 10 = 48PSA 10 = $9,800
2018 Topps Heritage Shohei Ohtani Real Ones #SO56PSA 10 = 24PSA 10 = $10,600-12,600

Early Japanese Shohei Ohtani baseball cards

Before coming to the United States, Ohtani was a star in Japan. From 2013-2018, he appeared on several cards in Japan, many produced by BBM, Japan’s biggest card company.

In 2013 alone, his Japanese rookie card year, he appeared on 78 cards, according to TCDB.

This gives collectors a lot of choices, but please be careful. Understand what you’re buying, PSA populations, and what recent comp prices are.

Generally speaking, you’ll find low PSA populations. A Japanese-issue Ohtani card could be a really interesting addition to your Ohtani collection.

Shop for Japanese Shohei Ohtani baseball cards on eBay

CardTotal PSA PopRecent Sale PopRecent Sale Price
2013 BBM Icons Hope Shohei Ohtani #14274PSA 10 = 225PSA 10 = $250-350
2014 BBM Shohei Ohtani #137140PSA 10 = 85PSA 10 = $100-200
2014 BBM 1st Version Art of Auto #WB1164PSA 10 = 82PSA 9 = $650-700
2015 BBM 1st Version Shohei Ohtani #5678PSA 10 = 61PSA 10 = $65-150
2016 BBM Nippon Ham Fighters Shohei Ohtani #F0269PSA 10 = 27PSA 10 = $125-175

Investing in Shohei Ohtani

Not surprisingly, Ohtani is an incredibly popular player with collectors and fans. Because of this, his cards are in high demand and are strong sellers.

Ohtani is coming off a number of great seasons, so his cards are unlikely to be of great value at this point. However, with a few more great seasons, we may look back and consider today’s prices to be deals.

How long can he keep it up? Nobody can say for sure. What I will say is that Ohtani is a unique and exciting player, and if you want one of his rookie cards or early career cards, get one that fits your budget.

Even if Ohtani drops off, his uniqueness will likely make his cards popular for years to come, perhaps beyond whatever his final career numbers end up being. Think something similar to Bo Jackson.

Of course, we all hope Ohtani can keep putting up big numbers on both sides of the ball. It would be amazing to see him as the first two-way Hall of Famer (since Babe Ruth…there it is again).

So, if you are excited about Ohtani, you can certainly be forgiven for picking up one of his cards, even if from an investment perspective it may not have a ton of upside in the short term. I mean, who wouldn’t want to own a piece of this unique superstar?

Shop for Shohei Ohtani rookie cards on eBay

Final thoughts on the best Shohei Ohtani rookie cards

Shohei Ohtani is a baseball sensation, a one-of-a-kind, first of his kind, first since Babe Ruth sensation.

There are an absurd number of Ohtani and early career cards to choose from, making it difficult to pick a favorite. The good news is that there’s an Ohtani card for anyone’s budget and preference.

Shop for Shohei Ohtani rookie cards on eBay

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Mike D.

Mike D

Mike D. has collected cards for over 35 years, since he bought his first pack of Topps at the corner store in 1987. His fandom,  collecting interests, and contributions to Cardlines center around baseball in general and the Baseball Hall of Fame specifically.

Mike's collecting focus is centered on graded cards, mostly rookie cards, of Hall of Famers and future Hall of Famers. Lately, he's been enjoying dabbling in graded minor league cards. A collector/investor with a "buy and hold" approach, Mike takes the long-term view with his collection.

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