Whether in the United States or Japan, Shohei Ohtani is a household name known even by those who do not consider themselves fans of baseball. Apart from being widely considered the most talented and multifaceted player in the game currently, he is a cultural icon. This is especially true in his home country of Japan.
This week, Ohtani’s unending popularity was confirmed once more, this time by the world’s leading baseball card authenticator, PSA. PSA says that no single player’s card was authenticated more times than Shohei Ohtani in 2024. Already, the Japanese baseball star is closing in on Ken Griffey Jr. to become the baseball player with the most cards graded by PSA. Within a few years, there is no doubt that Ohtani will leapfrog Griffey to take top spot.
Just How Many Cards Are We Talking?
In terms of single cards, PSA has graded in upwards of 650,000 with Shohei Ohtani’s name and image on them all time. Though he remains roughly 100,000 submissions behind Ken Griffey Jr., Ohtani is far and away the most popular baseball player today, and probably the most talented too. During this MLB off-season alone, which spans from November to February, PSA was the recipient of almost 90,000 Shohei Ohtani-related submissions. To put into perspective how massive that number is, Ohtani’s submissions nearly doubled that of the second place player, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Paul Skenes. PSA saw only about 50,000 Skenes submissions.
When you consider all cards graded by PSA across all card categories (think baseball, Pokemon, Magic: The Gathering, and so on), Shohei Ohtani currently sits in 6th place, behind Lebron James and just ahead of Kobe Bryant. If that isn’t enough to convince you of Ohtani’s stardom, consider that this same all-time list is topped by Pokémon’s Charizard, a card that debuted when Ohtani was only 2 years old.
Japanese Baseball Card Collectors on the Rise
It may not be surprising given how much you now know about Ohtani’s popularity, but baseball cards are rising in popularity at a rapid pace in Japan. PSA’s 2024 list saw another Japanese star crack the top 10, with Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto coming in 9th place. Japanese players took the 20th and 21st place as well.
Shohei Ohtani is certainly not going to concern himself with how many of his cards are graded by PSA on an annual basis, but those who buy, sell, and trade baseball cards will and are. You see, with Ohtani currently being as popular as he is, there is an abundance of his cards graded PSA 8, 9, and 10. His 2018 Bowman rookie card, for example, has been graded more than 30,000 times by PSA and almost half of those submissions were determined to be at or near PSA 10. While this is great news for collectors who want to acquire an Ohtani rookie in perfect condition at a bargain price, it may not bode well for those who were hoping to sell their PSA 10 for a nice profit.
If you are in the market, there is maybe no better time than now to get your hands on a PSA-graded Shohei Ohtani card. With there being many high-grade Ohtani cards on the market today, there are endless options out there for all types of collectors. And if history is any sort of predictor of the future, there will not be thousands of PSA graded Ohtani cards on the market forever.
