$10 million bounty placed on new Shohei Ohtani card as the search intensifies
This story was originally published on July 21, 2026. It has been updated to reflect the latest information about the card.
In the history of Major League Baseball, there’s never been two consecutive MVP winners at the same time in both the American and National League before now. And Topps has figured out a way to create unique cards of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani and New York Yankees’ Aaron Judge to mark the unprecedented moment.
The recent release of 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball features Back-to-Back Gold Logoman patch autographed one-of-a-kind cards of Ohtani and Judge, taking those relics from jerseys worn in each of their 2024 and 2025 MVP seasons. The set also includes a third Back-to-Back Gold Logoman to honor the Detroit Tigers’ Tarik Skubal for winning consecutive Cy Young awards. Redemption cards for each were randomly inserted in packs, and the Ohtani one is now the subject of rapidly increasing offers to whoever finds it.
Hong Kong-based trading card venture Grade 10 upped the ante Monday by placing a $10 million bounty (a preemptive, public offer to buy the card at a stated price).
Hours earlier, Secure Collectibles, a high-end trading card investment firm founded by Kevin O’Leary, Matthew Allen (also known as “Shyne”) and Paul Warshaw, vowed a $6.5 million payday for the person who pulls the Ohtani card. This group bought the $12.9 million Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant 2007-08 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection dual NBA Logoman autographed patch card last year, which still stands as the most expensive publicly known sports card sale. There was also an offer of more than $5.9 million from China-based Pokecolor Inc. for the Ohtani card in the mix.
The inclusion of Gold Logoman patch cards in Topps sets began in last year’s Topps Chrome set to honor each league’s 2024 MVP, Rookie of the Year and Cy Young award winners. Each player had special gold embellished versions of the silhouetted MLB logo patches on the back of all their jerseys throughout the following season to mark their achievement.
Those patches usually match the color scheme of each team’s jersey, so the gold patches stand out from those worn by every other player in the league. And when Ohtani, Judge and Skubal, repeated their accomplishments, something had to be done to commemorate that.
“The goal for the gold Logoman, the idea of the card was really to celebrate and acknowledge players at their highest levels of achievement,” Fanatics Collectibles CEO Mike Mahan said prior to the set’s release. “So at the peak of whether it’s the MVP, the rookie of the year, Cy Young, it’s the pinnacle of achievement and you’re celebrating the biggest stars at their biggest moments.
“And then OK, but what happens when they win back-to-back MVPs, right? What happens when they do something extraordinary? You want to celebrate that with extraordinary cards. And for us, we want to find the right way to be part of these narratives at the pinnacle of achievement.”
An extra unique aspect of Ohtani’s double gold Logoman card is the autographs — one with his standard signature at the top of the card, by the 2024 patch, and one in Kanji at the bottom, by the 2025 patch.
Shohei Ohtani’s double autographed Back-to-Back gold Logoman card. (Photo courtesy of Topps)
The current record sale for an Ohtani card is held by his 2025 Topps Chrome Baseball Gold MLB logoman autographed card, which sold for $3 million in December 2025 through a Fanatics Collect auction to become his most expensive card of any kind to date. The dual MLB Gold Logoman autographed card with both Ohtani and Judge featured sold for $2.16 million in March 2026 also through a Fanatics Collect auction. The bounties offered for the new Ohtani card would make it one of the most valuable trading cards of all time, if a deal is completed.
“I think the Gold solo Logoman is of significant importance; it will always be the first one ever done,” Goldin Auctions CEO Ken Goldin told The Athletic prior to the escalating bounties being announced. “However, people may view the dual Logoman as the ‘best’ Ohtani Logoman because it is two Gold Logomen from two different seasons — and is signed in both English and Kanji.”
Adopting the gold logo patch concept for NFL and NBA products has also yielded seven-figure sales in the past couple of months. A Josh Allen 2025 Topps Chrome Gold NFL Shield autographed card representing his 2024 MVP season fetched $1.35 million through Fanatics Collect less than two months ago. In June, a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander 2025-26 Gold NBA Logoman autographed card honoring his MVP year in 2024-2025 sold for $1.06 million through Fanatics Collect.
“For the Back-to-Back gold Logoman, we’ve chosen special games for each of these cards where they’ve done something special and to bring it to life on one card,” Mahan said. “We will only do this when you have that back-to-back dynamic. That’s exciting for collectors because they know not only is this card visually appealing, but the fact that there’s two on one card only happens when there is a back-to-back award-winning achievement. That tells you that it’s generational in nature. And that’s what we’re striving to achieve here.”
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