A rare Ohtani rookie parallel is back in the spotlight
A little-known purple parallel of Shohei Ohtani’s 2018 Topps rookie card has suddenly become a much more visible piece of the Ohtani collecting market. Four graded examples have surfaced, including all three PSA 10s known to exist.
The card is the 2018 Topps Series 2 No. 700 rookie, which shows Ohtani in his Angels uniform in the pitching pose used on the standard flagship rookie. The purple version was distributed through specially marked retail packs and is far scarcer than the base card.
How the purple parallel was distributed
The rarity of the card is tied in part to the unusual way it reached collectors. Topps originally planned the purple parallel as an exclusive for Toys “R” Us. But the retail chain closed its U.S. stores in 2018 before Series 2 was released.
The packs were later distributed through Meijer stores, primarily in the Midwest. That made the cards available, but only in a limited retail setting that kept them out of sight for many collectors at the time.
The packaging made the promotion clear, stating: “One exclusive purple parallel base card inside! Only available at Meijer!”
Because the 2018 Series 2 checklist included 350 cards, pulling an Ohtani was difficult even before considering the parallel’s limited distribution. For collectors who targeted Ohtani or other rookies from the set, the purple cards were effectively hidden in plain sight.
Why the card is so hard to find in high grade
The purple version is now extraordinarily difficult to locate in top condition. According to PSA population data, only 12 examples of the Ohtani purple have been graded by PSA.
That figure is only part of the picture. Across PSA, SGC, CGC and Beckett, the purple Ohtani has just 14 graded examples. By comparison, there are approximately 30,500 graded copies of the regular 2018 Topps Ohtani pitching rookie.
The card is not serial-numbered, which makes its scarcity harder to recognize from the card itself. Unlike many modern parallels that clearly state a print run, the purple variation simply presents as another version of the familiar Topps design.
The combination of a flagship rookie, retail-only distribution, an unnumbered parallel and a very small graded population has made the card stand out among Ohtani’s early issues.
All three PSA 10s are now in one lot
The biggest reason the card is drawing attention now is that all three PSA 10 examples are being offered together in a single lot as part of a Marquee sale promoted by eBay. The asking price is $549,999.
That lot places the complete PSA 10 population of the card into one offering, a rare setup for any modern rookie parallel tied to a player of Ohtani’s stature.
A fourth PSA-graded copy, a PSA 9, is also on the market in Fanatics Collect’s Weekly Sunday Auction. As of Thursday night, the card had drawn 31 bids and reached a current bid of $5,250.
How the purple compares with other Ohtani rookies
Ohtani has several scarce rookie cards, including serial-numbered parallels and limited issues from products such as Topps Chrome. Even so, among his non-numbered 2018 Topps rookie cards, the purple Series 2 variation appears to be in a category of its own.
The 2018 Topps checklist confirms that purple was a parallel of the flagship set. Series 1 purple cards were originally exclusive to Toys “R” Us, while Series 2 purple cards were distributed through Meijer after the Toys “R” Us shutdown.
That makes the card an unusual mix of factors that collectors tend to chase: a flagship rookie, a retail-exclusive parallel, an unnumbered issue and a tiny surviving population in high grade.
As Ohtani’s career has moved from Angels rookie to two-way superstar and perennial MVP candidate, interest in his earliest cards has only grown. At the same time, population data has made unusual retail parallels easier to identify and compare against more familiar flagship rookies.
Why collectors are paying attention now
The purple Ohtani is a good example of how a card can sit in relative obscurity for years before suddenly becoming a focal point once graded copies surface. The card was always part of the 2018 Topps checklist, but its retail-only distribution and lack of serial numbering made it easy to overlook.
Now, with four graded examples visible on the market and all three PSA 10s bundled into one high-profile lot, the card is getting renewed attention from collectors who track Ohtani’s earliest and rarest issues.
Based on the current grading populations, it may be the rarest non-numbered Ohtani rookie card in existence.
The Fanatics Collect auction closes Aug. 16.
Source: Original source (www.sportscollectorsdaily.com)
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