Most Expensive Yoshinobu Yamamoto Card Sold at Auction

Card collecting has risen in popularity over recent years, and it's seen products of Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto set various records.

The latest of which was a Yamamoto rookie card that sold for $461,160 at auction through Goldin. It's the most expensive Yamamoto card of all-time.

The Bowman Chrome Image Variation Autographs Superfractor card includes Yamamoto's signature in blue ink and features the right-hander posed from his introductory press conference with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December 2023.

Autographed image-variation Superfractors are an extremely rare pull in hobby packs of 2024 Bowman Chrome baseball.

The Yamamoto rookie card, graded a MINT nine by Beckett Grading Services (BGS), garnered a total of 50 bids before the auction closed. The sale comes months after Yamamoto authored one of the most impressive postseason performances in MLB history.

Yamamoto threw a complete game against the Milwaukee Brewers in the National League Championship Series, and pitched three times during the World Series. Included in that stretch was a second consecutive complete game as he shut down the Toronto Blue Jays to help the Dodgers even the World Series.

In doing so, Yamamoto became the first pitcher with back-to-back complete games in the postseason since Curt Schilling accomplished the feat in 2001.

Yamoto was on the verge of appearing out of the bullpen in Game 3 before Freddie Freeman delivered a walk-off home run in the 18th inning, and he started in Game 6 as the Dodgers staved off elimination.

Yamamoto then saved his best for last, improbably pitching 2.2 innings in relief to close out the World Series. The heroic effort earned him World Series MVP honors.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto starting Opening Day

Next for the 27-year-old is making a second career Opening Day start with the Dodgers, but his first at Dodger Stadium.

Yamamoto is scheduled to duel against Zac Gallen and the Arizona Diamondbacks on March 26. Yamamoto's first time starting in a season opener came last year in the Tokyo Series, which saw him hold the Chicago Cubs to just one run over five innings at the Tokyo Dome.

Blake Snell took the mound when the Dodgers played their first home game in 2025, and Tyler Glasnow held the honor in 2024.

Yamamoto is set to join Scott McGregor (1984 Baltimore Orioles), Josh Beckett (2004 Florida Marlins), Madison Bumgarner (2015 San Francisco Giants) and Chris Sale (2019 Boston Red Sox) as pitchers who started the first game of the season after ending the one prior.