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Topps to honor Japanese home run king Sadaharu Oh with special cards
With Shohei Ohtani dominating Major League Baseball and Japanese star Ichiro Suzuki on the verge of possibly being elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, it brings to mind baseball’s all-time home run king, Japan’s Sadaharu Oh.
Oh, who played for the Yomiuri Giants in the Nippon Professional Baseball Organization, hit 868 home runs during his 22-year career. He was the league home run champ 15 times, an 18-time Central League All-Star, and won nine MVP awards. The first baseman also was a five-time batting champion and won two Triple Crowns.
Fanatics and Topps have partnered with the Japanese star to release several Sadaharu Oh cards over the next two years. Topps will release Oh cards in 13 different sets in 2024 and 2025.
The 2024 Topps Chrome Update set released last week includes six autographed parallels, including a #1/1 that has already been pulled by a collector.
The Oh cards will include 24 autographs, all stickers. Two of the sets featuring Oh will be released this year—2024 Definitive (Dec. 11) and 2024 Luminaries (Dec. 27).
Oh’s cards will also include some special dual and triple autos featuring: a Oh/Hank Aaron dual 1/1 in 2024 Topps Definitive; an Oh/Aaron/Ruth triple-subject 1/1 in 2024 Topps Transcendent; an Oh/Ohtani 1/1 in 2025 Topps Sterling; and an Oh/Ichiro/Ohtani 1/1 in 2025 Topps Definitive.
