Collectibles On SI

$336,000 Isn’t Even The Most Impressive Sale Of This Ohtani Card

In a groundbreaking auction hosted by Sotheby’s and Fanatics, a record-breaking card sale for Shohei Ohtani stole the spotlight.

Adam Palmer

Sep 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after hitting a single in the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Sep 25, 2024; Los Angeles, California, USA; Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani (17) celebrates after hitting a single in the sixth inning against the San Diego Padres at Dodger Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images / Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

This past week, we saw some of sports cards' best cards hit the auction block in Sotheby’s “Holy Grail” live auction in partnership with Fanatics.

The GOATs like Tom Brady, LeBron James, and Mickey Mantle all had cards sell in the high six figures, but there was one card that broke the record for a player’s new highest price.

That card was the 2018 Shohei Ohtani Topps Chrome Sapphire Superfractor Rookie Autograph, and yes, saying that is a mouthful. Topps Sapphire is one of the high-end sets that provides a new look at some of the most popular collections that Topps has. To some the Sapphire versions of the cards are not the go tos, but based on this sale Sapphire may not be getting the respect it deserves.

This Ohtani card was bought back in 2021 and sold in this auction by influential music producer DJ Skee.

You may see him DJing at sporting events, but DJ Skee has also been involved in sports cards in many ways, from buying and selling to being a part of Topps set designing cards for Project 70.

He was the seller of this iconic Ohtani card that he bought from Goldin Auctions for $62,730.00 back in October of 2021. Crunching the numbers, that is roughly a 400% increase from the original sale. But did you know that if you go back even further, Card Ladder has a sale of that card back in 2019 for only $4,800?

So yes, to go from $63,000 to $336,000 is impressive; percentage-wise, the sale of $4,800 to $63,000 is actually three times higher than the recent sale, with roughly a 1,200% increase.

It has now become Ohtani’s most expensive sale, with the next closest being one of his red Bowman Chrome rookie autographs that sold for $312,000, also in 2021, a few months after the $60,000 sale of the Superfractor.

Ohtani has several rookie autographs that, because of this sale and his 50/50 season, will probably see an overall increase in price. Right now, he is far and away the MVP, but after his previous years and this year’s success, some experts are saying he might be one of the best baseball players of all time.

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Adam Palmer

ADAM PALMER

Adam has been a sports content creator since 2016, initially focusing on creating sports-related graphics for his Instagram page. In 2018, he transitioned to writing and podcasting about sports cards. Since then, he has worked both independently and with companies within the industry, producing podcasts, videos, and written content on sports cards.

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