MLB’s official trading card partner launched its third season of TOPPS NOW on Friday with ten cards created from Opening Day. Two of those featured the first American base hit for Japanese rookie Shohei Ohtani–one version in English and a second in Japanese.
It’s the first time a NOW card has been offered in Japanese but it’s not likely to be the last.
“We plan to make two versions of any TOPPS NOW card featuring Ohtani throughout the season,” stated Topps spokeswoman Susan Lulgjuraj.
Ohtani singled in his first major league at-bat on Thursday.
Among the other cards issued on Day One were those featuring Giancarlo Stanton, who belted two homers for the Yankees, George Springer of the World Series champion Astros, who also started his season with a bang and Ian Happ of the Cubs, who hit the first homer of the new season. Topps also offered signed versions of Happ’s card.
Topps will once again release print runs for each card produced through the program once that day’s sales close.
You can see all of the cards currently for sale here. They’ll only be available until mid-day on Saturday, March 31.