Sports Media Report
The excitement of Shohei Ohtani coming to MLB has already been captured onto collectibles. Topps issued one of the first items featuring Ohtani with a TOPPS NOW® trading card announcing his signing with the Los Angeles Angels.
The Japanese superstar’s first TOPPS NOW® broke the program’s print-run record with 17,323 copies sold in just a 24-hour period.
The Aaron Judge card featuring his record-breaking 50th home run held the previous TOPPS NOW record, which sold 16,138 copies.
Ohtani was a much sought after player from Japan. While he is known for his pitching – he had 624 strikeouts in 543 career innings in Japan – he is also quite the hitter, making him a hot commodity this offseason. Over the last two seasons in Japan, Ohtani hit .326 with 30 home runs and 98 RBI in 169 games.
