Rare Shohei Ohtani Jersey Goes to Auction With $5,000 Starting Price Tag

Grey Flannel Auctions, contrary to popular belief, is open to auctioning flannels in a variety of colors.

That should come as welcome news to collectors of Shohei Ohtani memorabilia. Before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a then-record $700 million in December 2023 — even before he signed with the Angels six years earlier — Ohtani played in Nippon Professional Baseball, the highest league in Japan.

Ohtani used his time with the Nippon Ham Fighters as a springboard to fame in Major League Baseball. Once, he used it to wear the same Fighters jersey and hoodie that fans can bid on via the Grey Flannel website in June, when bidding is open.

The items are accompanied by a letter of authenticity from "a team source." Here's the rest of the description:

"Inside the back tail is the Mizuno-Pro label, with tags below: 17 - / 11. Inside the back of the neck is a “star” label, with “06 16 06 07 09 12 16”. Team name (FIGHTERS) across the front, done in blue tackle twill, with gold/bronze, white and black embroidery. Player name (OHTANI) and player number (11) on the back - both done in black tackle twill with gold embroidery. NPB patch on the back of the neck. The right sleeve is adorned with a Japanese patch and a Nipponham patch. NIPPON-HAM FIGHTERS patch on the left sleeve. Inside the neck of the black hooded sweatshirt, is the DESCENTE label. Player number (11) emblazoned in white on the left sleeve, along with a baseball logo further up the arm. This ensemble is properly tagged, presented to us as game-used / player worn, and in our opinion shows appropriate wear."

Ohtani memorabilia is a hot commodity, his game-used items chief among them. Any Ohtani jersey from his time in Japan is particularly rare. As noted by cllct.com's Will Stern, Grey Flannel sold one game-worn Ohtani Fighters jersey in December for $65,000.

Ohtani was only 18 and straight out of high school when he made his Fighters debut, opting to stay in Japan as a two-way player rather than try his hand in MLB despite advances from the Dodgers and other teams at the time.

Last October, the baseball Ohtani used to hit his 50th home run of the 2024 season sold for $4,392,000 at auction, exceeding the previous record for a baseball sold at auction by more than $1 million.