Shohei Ohtani Cards Setting New Highs
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A third of the way through the 2025 MLB season, and Shohei Ohtani is still on top. At writing, Ohtani leads the MLB with 20 home runs. He's second in the NL with a 1.042 OPS. He's on pace for 58 homers, 110 RBI, 171 runs and 182 hits and 30 stolen bases. He's also gearing up to head back to the mound. While this month did not see any seven-figure Ohtani card sales, the market is still on the rise, and some recent higher-end sales demonstrate the strength of Ohtani in The Hobby.
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The top Ohtani sale of the month came on, when this 2024 Topps Transcendent Collection Superfractor Auto 1/1 sold for $189,100 on May 17. This was the first sale registered on Card Ladder for this Superfractor.
Speaking of Superfractors, this Ohtani 1/1 from the popular 2025 Bowman Baseball Anime insert sold for over $16,000.
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This PSA 10 2018 Bowman Chrome Blue Refractor Auto /150 RC sold for $81,000 on May 23 through Fanatics Premier. Per Card Ladder, PSA 10 versions of this card have sold 25 times since 2020, ranging from $1,145 to this most recent sale of $81,000. the two previous sales of this card at this grade fetched $34,000 and $45,600 in late 2024.
Despite the fantastic growth of the Ohtani card market over the past couple of years, it continued to climb this month. Card Ladder lists Ohtani's rate of growth for the last month at +7.56%.
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Another 2018 Bowman Chrome, a PSA 10 Atomic Refractor RC Auto /100 sold for $77,500. Likewise, this is the top sale of this card and grade per Card Ladder. It sold for $72,000 in March. Previous to that, the high sale of this card was $46,227.
Shohei Ohtani is nothing short of a tour de force in The Hobby. As he makes yet another run at an NL MVP award, and gears up to once again become a two-way superstar, amazingly, there may be more room to grow yet.
Michael Terry is a writer based in Brooklyn. He specializes in sports, culture, and collecting. His work has appeared at Topps RIPPED, ESPN, Grantland, Vice Sports, and more.
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