A collector from Dallas pulled an incredible one-of-one autographed card of Shohei Ohtani on a spur-of-the-moment visit to a card shop. The discovery arrives amid a deeply personal moment, as he was visiting his father who recently suffered a stroke.
The pull was a 1-of-1 Shohei Ohtani Bat Knob Autograph Card from 2022 Topps Tier One, and it’s likely worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
A Family Emergency Leads to an Unexpected Moment
When Dallas native Rick Fayter received a text in June saying his father had suffered a stroke, he rushed to get his 12-year-old son ready for a flight to Cincinnati. The next hours were critical.
“He had about 15 minutes to get one of those clot busters in his body,” Fayter told WGN-TV’s Chris Boden. “That has about a 30% success rate. Otherwise, he probably would have passed away.”
Miraculously, the treatment worked. Fayter and his family spent two days in the ICU as his father began recovering from the blood clot in his brain.
After the emotional ordeal, Fayter and his son left the hospital exhausted. On their way back to his sister’s home in Mason, Ohio, a simple idea came to him.
“I said, ‘Hey man, we love baseball. We love cards. You want to go down to a local card shop and rip a box? Maybe a few boxes? I don’t care what we spend, let’s just go down there and have some fun.’”
A Lucky Choice at a Local Card Shop
Inside the card shop, Fayter picked up a 2022 Topps Tier One box.
“I said, ‘Pick a box. I don’t care,’” Fayter recalled. The shopkeeper asked a coworker which one to choose. “Pick the middle one,” the employee said.
What came next is the kind of story collectors dream about.
“The first thing I saw was the name. I saw Shohei Ohtani,” Fayter said. “I turned, flipped it over, and he said, ‘That could be the auto.’”
The pack held three cards: a Dylan Carlson relic, a Jazz Chisholm autograph, and then-something extraordinary.
“I said, ‘You guys ready?’ And I pulled it. There it was, a 1-of-1 bat knob autographed Shohei Ohtani.”
Likely One of the Most Valuable Ohtani Cards Ever
It’s one of only three Ohtani bat knob autos ever produced-each completely unique. The card includes a game-used bat knob personally signed by Ohtani, with a manufacturing date that may trace back to his rookie season.
“I’ve looked up a lot of the bat knobs,” Fayter said. “It says ’01-09-18,’ which could be a possibility that it could be his rookie year bat knob.”
Comparable Ohtani bat knob cards have fetched massive prices. A 2020 Topps Tier One Ohtani Bat Knob Auto sold on Fanatics Collect on October 24 for $132,000. Given the rarity and rookie-year connection, the 2022 version could sell for up to $500,000 or more.
The current all-time record price for an Ohtani baseball card is $1,067,500, paid for a 1-of-1 2024 Topps 50/50 Logoman Patch Autograph card earlier this year.
Heading to Auction
A single father, Fayter decided to consign the card to Goldin’s November Elite Auction, running Nov. 7–9. The choice was personal-Goldin is based in New Jersey, the state where his father grew up.
“We saw the one card sell, and I’m a single father. It’s just my son and I,” Fayter said. “I said look, we can really maybe get a good benefit out of this.”
