Shohei Ohtani Los Angeles Angels 2018 Topps Transcendent Baseball Japan Edition Platinum Rookie Autograph #TA-SO7 PSA/DNA 10/10 Autograph | 1-of-1 | Rookie Card | On-Card Autograph

Some athletes are great, some push the game to new heights, and some are Shohei Ohtani.

How do you find a worthy comparison for someone who can simultaneously sit at the top of a team’s rotation and lead the league in slugging? How about trying to value someone who can steal 50 bases and hit 50 homers, yet also come in as the closer in the most important game in his country’s history? Ohtani’s inexplicable prowess on the diamond generates far more questions than answers, and by the time you think you understand him he has redefined the game once again.

Ohtani came into 2024 a two-time MVP, three-time All-Star, and two-time Silver Slugger, yet it was his most jaw-dropping season yet. In December 2023, he signed, what was at the time, the largest contract in sports history, a staggering $700 million deal, to move from Orange County to Los Angeles and don the Dodger blue. “Shotime” lived up to the hype and came out the gates firing for the Dodgers as he hit the longest home run of the first half of the MLB season measured at 476 feet and was named a starter for the NL All-Star team. As you would expect, he met the opportunity head on and blasted a 400-foot three-run homer to open the scoring at the midsummer classic. Despite recovering from Tommy John surgery throughout the season, Ohtani still managed to add another MVP, Silver Slugger, and most importantly a World Series ring to his trophy cabinet. Add to that founding the 50/50 club and setting a career-high with 54 home runs and 130 RBIs while also more than doubling his career-high in steals with 59, and you have baseball fans around the world marveling at witnessing perhaps the best to ever play the game.

This card commemorates Shohei’s 2018 season, his first stateside after five years with the Nippon Ham Fighters in Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball league. At just 23 years old, Shohei was nothing short of transcendent in his maiden campaign as he hit and pitched his way to being named the American League Rookie of the Year. On the mound, Ohtani’s tricky splitter drove him to an impressive 3.31 ERA while he slugged 22 homers. Angels fans did not have to wait long to see one. After singling off the first pitch he ever saw in the MLB, he followed that up with a home run in his first ever at bat at home. Ohtani set off as he meant to continue. Throughout the season, the name he invoked most as a flame throwing slugger was that of Babe Ruth, but now seven years on Ohtani may be in a league of his own.

Launched in 2016, Topps Transcendent sought to redefine the notion of a high-end baseball product. Released at a staggering suggested retail price of $25,000 per box, each box contained an incredible 52 autographed cards including 50 framed ones as well as an invitation to an exclusive party with the then-young star Kris Bryant. With only 65 sets made, they offered a breaking experience perhaps unrivalled among mainstream hobby products.

When Ohtani made the decision to transition to the MLB from Japan in late 2017, he mirrored that of the legendary Ichiro Suzuki, who joined the Seattle Mariners back in 2001, where just three years later he set the record for most hits in a single season in 2004 with 262 hits. When he decided in March 2018 to return to the team he first joined 17 years ago for what appeared to be a final season, the opportunity for a special trading card moment became apparent. Topps decided to use its top of the range set to commemorate these two extraordinary talents who had helped to energize baseball fans both in the United States and Japan and around the world. Topps released a special edition of their Transcendent product line to commemorate the iconic pair called Topps Transcendent: Japan Edition. Inside, collectors who were lucky enough to get their hands on the product, would find a full 50 card base set as well as 11-12 autographed cards featuring just Ohtani and Ichiro. Each box also included a baseball signed and inscribed by Ohtani, an 8x10 signed photo of Ohtani, and an exclusive invite to a VIP event in April 2019. This incredibly rare hobby experience did not come cheap: despite a much smaller number of autographs, prices still launched at around $20,000 per box. 

In hindsight, though, that now seems like a bargain. This release was a one off by Topps, and the chance to open a box, if there are any sealed examples left, will prove exceedingly rare. Ichiro has become one of the most beloved figures of 20th and 21st century baseball, entering the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown as the first ever Japanese-born player and tied with Derek Jeter for the second highest vote percentage in Hall of Fame history. Ohtani already seems destined to join him. At the time of cataloging, Ohtani has started the season with four home runs, an average of .315, and an OPS of 1.024. If this is anything to go by, his chances will surely be like the home run that he hit at the Tokyo Dome for Japan against the Netherlands in 2016: through the roof.

The PSA certificate number for this card is: 63142220. The card is stamped “1/1” on the front next to a beautiful bold blue signature, indicating this example’s singular print run. PSA has authenticated the card and awarded its highest grade: Gem Mint 10. The autograph has been graded and has also been awarded a PSA/DNA Gem Mint 10. 

Going Deeper - Shohei Ohtani

Facing Trout

Already a widely known celebrity in Japan, Shohei Ohtani became a full-blown national treasure through the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

While his MVP-level exploits at the plate and on the mound in MLB had established his reputation on the field, he had relatively little to show in terms of major team hardware outside Japan’s top league, NPB. In the lead up to the 2023 WBC, likely the most-hyped international baseball tournament ever, it was clear that Ohtani would be in the center of spotlight. Of course, he lived up to the billing.

At the plate, Shohei stood atop the tournament in hits, runs, and walks while also turning around and leading all pitchers in innings pitched, carrying a razor thin 1.86 ERA over 9.2 innings. Alongside current and soon-to-be MLB stars such as Yu Darvish, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Roki Sasaki, Samurai Japan mowed down their group winning all four games by a combined margin of 38-8. After defeating Italy and Mexico in the first two rounds of the knockout stage, including Ohtani scoring the tying run on a come-from-behind walk-off double in the semis, a date with destiny was set with a championship matchup against the Americans.

A titanic duel, the title bout lived up to the billing as both teams took their shots. Each side mustered a pair of solo home runs while the headliners, Ohtani and then-Angels teammate and future inner circle Hall of Famer Mike Trout, contributed with hits of their own. Entering the 9th inning, the game was still up for grabs as Team USA came to the plate for the final time.

Heading into the game, despite Ohtani being listed as a DH, the plan always was that any save situation would result in the ball being handed to Shohei. What wasn’t in the plan however, was for Trout to be due up third. Despite walking the first batter he faced, Ohtani locked in and quickly got a double play ball from Mookie Betts setting up one of the most dramatic plate appearances in baseball history.

As Trout strode in the box and Ohtani circled the mound, the exuberant crowd in Miami rose to their feet. Despite never facing off before in a game, fans and broadcasters knew that they were witnessing an all-time moment. It was, as simply as announcer Joe Davis put it, “the best against the best.”

After Trout took the first pitch, a low slider, for ball one Ohtani adjusted his approach and began to attack. In four consecutive pitches, Ohtani hit 100 miles per hour on his fastball topping out at a blazing 102 and coaxing two dramatic whiffs from one of the greatest hitters of all time. With the count full, and Trout reeling, Ohtani pulled the string on an immaculate sweeper that broke just beyond the bat. Tossing his glove and hat into the crowd in triumph, Ohtani was mobbed by his euphoric Japanese teammates while the stunned American team looked on from the bench. 

Fittingly, for someone who had already ensured a considerable measure of sporting immortality, he did this all in what might be the most watched baseball game in history.