A rare 2018 Shohei Ohtani rookie baseball card sold for $2,562,229 at a Goldin Auctions public sale on Sunday night.
The sale marks a historic milestone for unautographed trading cards.
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The 2018 Topps Chrome SuperFractor card, graded 9.5 out of 10 by BGS, became the second-most expensive Ohtani collectible ever sold.
According to Goldin Auctions, this one-of-a-kind parallel card previously changed hands for $139,200 in 2022.
The current sale represents the first time a publicly known Ohtani card without an autograph or game-used patch has surpassed the $1 million threshold.
Data from trading card database CardLadder indicates that the record for any Ohtani card remains held by a 2025 Topps Chrome MVP Award Gold MLB Logoman patch autograph card, which fetched $3 million in December.
LeBron James Card Also Sells for Millions
The same auction featured another major transaction, where a 2003-04 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection LeBron James rookie patch autographed card sold for $2.93 million.
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CardLadder reported that this transaction set a new auction record for a James card, although four higher private sales have been recorded.
Data from GemRate shows massive financial interest in Ohtani memorabilia, with $68.8 million spent on his individual cards on eBay alone from January through May of this year.
Basketball legend Michael Jordan ranked second with $52 million, while baseball stars Aaron Judge and Mickey Mantle followed further behind at $13.7 million and $13.2 million, respectively.
The high-value transactions reflect a broader trend in the collectibles market, with CardLadder recording 21 sports card sales of $1 million or more during the first six months of 2026, compared to 29 total sales in the previous year.
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Additionally, a newsstand copy of the June 18, 1956 issue of Sports Illustrated featuring Mickey Mantle graded a PSA 9.6 sold for $328,180 at the same event, breaking the previous magazine record held by a 1983 Michael Jordan issue that sold for $229,360 in March.
