Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani has agreed to an exclusive long-term trading card deal with Topps that includes autographs and game-used memorabilia.
A non-exclusive signer since joining the Los Angeles Angels in 2018, the two-time AL MVP reached a new deal with Topps that goes into effect immediately. Additional details involving the agreement’s length or total value weren’t immediately announced.
“I'm happy to be exclusively partnering with Topps to give fans unique cards and collectibles for seasons to come,” Ohtani said in a statement.
According to David Leiner, president of trading cards at Fanatics Collectibles, the partnership with Ohtani will include products based in both the United States and Japan. Ohtani joins a number of current and former Japanese players, including Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Ichiro Suzuki and Hideki Matsui, under the Topps brand.
“[Ohtani’s] more choiceful in his partnerships. He’s more choiceful in his time and how he approaches things,” Leiner told cllct. “In the past, the relationship has really been throwing stacks of cards in front of these guys, and they scribble away their signatures in a hotel room. We’re trying to change that. We’re trying to develop true partnerships with guys like this.”
Ohtani will continue to appear across Topps’ portfolio of products, though a number of new concepts could be arriving soon. Along with cards focusing on Ohtani’s important moments and achievements, fans can expect something from Major League Baseball’s opener between the Dodgers and Chicago Cubs in Tokyo.
A deal with Ohtani also presents an opportunity to grow card collecting globally, especially in Japan, which has remained a key region for Topps.
“This is how you catapult the category — we’ve seen growth, but we haven’t seen astronomical growth,” Leiner said. “We’ve seen double-digit growth in Japan, but for a country of 125 million, the batting average is a little too low for us. We’ve got to take that up a notch. This is the way to do it.”
According to card data tool Market Movers, no baseball player has been more popular in terms of sales volume than Ohtani over the last year, with nearly 86,000 total sales tracked. CIncinnati Reds star Elly De La Cruz is in a distant second place with around 68,400 sales.
Ohtani joins a number of top-tier athletes who have signed exclusive deals with Topps or Fanatics in recent months, including Victor Wembanyama, C.J. Stroud and LeBron James, who had an exclusive deal with Upper Deck since entering the NBA in 2003.
“This is a guy who is transcending the sport of baseball, just like you’ve seen other athletes do — whether it’s Lionel Messi or LeBron James,” Leiner said. “They have just a bigger, broader appeal. It’s star power that drives a lot of what we do in our category. What is fun, though, is marrying the star power with the chase.”
Ben Burrows is a reporter and editor for cllct.