Shohei Ohtani became a name in North America upon his arrival in MLB in 2018. In his home country of Japan, though, he was a superstar long before that. His baseball cards debut dates back to 2013.
In fact, this 2013 BBM Rookie Edition Red Foil Facsimile Signature parallel comes from the very first product he appeared in. A two-way standout from the beginning, Ohtani has both a pitching and a batting card at #42 in the base set. The pitching version is featured on this copy.
This /30 parallel uses red foil to portray a facsimile of both his Japanese Kanji and English autographs. It's important to note this is not an authentic signature, but simply the standard way for the Japanese card manufacturer to make rare parallels at the time.
Ohtani would appear in several more Japanese sets in 2013 and beyond. This rare card gives collectors a chance to go back to the beginning with his first released set.
This Gem Mint 10 is a pop 3 in the PSA registry.
The certification number on this card has been checked against the third-party grader's online database and is active as of 05/18/2026.
