Baseball and Hobby Supremacy on the Line
The 2024 World Series championship is a battle of the giants. And we don’t mean the Dodgers vs. the Yankees. It’s Shohei Ohtani vs. Aaron Judge for baseball card supremacy in the modern hobby.
As we look at their cheapest base rookie cards, we’re already seeing the impact of Ohtani and Judge racing toward the sport’s ultimate prize.
According to CardLadder, Ohtani’s 2018 Topps Rookie Card #700 (pitching) has increased 95% in the past three months from $100 to $195. In the past two weeks, it has increased 30% from $169 to $219 (PSA 10) as the Dodgers cemented the NL Pennant against the Mets.
Judge’s 2017 Topps Chrome #169 has been up 43% in PSA 10 the past three months (from $126 to $180). In the past two weeks, as the Yankees vanquished the Guardians for the AL crown, the card has been up a whopping 30% (from $140 to $180).
Battle of Baseball Giants
Both are historic figures, with Ohtani being downright Ruthian in his pitching and hitting prowess. And if that wasn’t enough, he added a splash of Rickey Henderson to his game this year with the first-ever 50 homer/50 steal season. He’s the odds-on favorite to win the MVP Award, his first in the National League and third overall.
Judge is just one behind Babe Ruth in most career 50-homer seasons and already has the American League single-season record with 62 homers in 2022. That was one of three loop roundtripper crowns he’s won, including one in 2024. Judge also just set a record for a right-handed hitter for the highest on-base plus slugging percentage relative to his league and adjusted for his ballpark (he was 123% better than average in 2024). Judge’s expected to win the American League MVP for the second time.
Ohtani is tops in the international market given his connection to Japan. But Judge is playing for the game’s premier franchise, one synonymous with championships, as they gun for their 28th title.
Building a Championship Brand
And those are the stakes starting Friday in this battle of Baseball titans. Who is going to wear the ring, one that has somehow eluded these two historically great players? And why does it even matter: team success as a major factor in card value?
The player is the champion, too—especially the best player on the team, which is a designation we can make since each is the best player in their entire league. Whoever gets to attend the victory parade will have a clear leg up on the other, one that cannot change for at least a full year.
There’s also a good chance that the winning player will lead his team to victory with outstanding hitting. Thus, for up to 10 days, they will capture the sports world’s attention, including the card-buying public. There’s no bigger factor in increasing a player’s card prices than the nation’s undivided attention before a national television audience. It’s akin to a Q score, the metric that determines a “quotient” of the appeal and popularity of a brand. In the collecting space, Ohtani and Judge are brands. Their Q scores are about to go through the roof.
“They both need titles,” says Joe Davis of Got Baseball Cards in Georgia, which submits about 10,000 cards per month for grading to PSA. “World Series rings. That’s what made Mantle such a legend. It’s sustained the value of Derek Jeter cards. The records are nice but secondary right now.”
