The most expensive Yoshinobu Yamamoto card ever sold for $72,000 at Fanatics Collect on Thursday, breaking the previous record for the Dodgers right-hander by more than $30,000.
What is even crazier about the sale though, the consignor of the 2024 Topps Inception MLB logo patch 1/1 rookie card was New York Knicks star Karl-Anthony Towns.
Towns' presence is growing quickly in the hobby.
Last month, he participated in a Topps NBA Debut Night at the official NBA Store in New York alongside teammates Josh Hart and OG Anunoby to celebrate the return of Topps NBA cards, which hadn't been produced since 2009.
He now has social media channels solely dedicated to the hobby and ripping packs. Most recently he opened an Instagram page titled Big Bodegas Cards.
According to the YouTube video Towns posted opening the box, which contained the Yamamoto card, Towns paid $300 for it. It is part of an ongoing series where he estimates if he can pull cards to equal the total value of the price of the box. That card alone is 240 times as expensive as the box, 2024 Topps Inception Baseball.
While the card is currently Yamamoto's record seller, that mark almost certainly will fall as soon as his Topps Rookie Debut Patch is discovered. The current record for any Rookie Debut Patch is $1.11 million, belonging to Paul Skenes of the Pittsburgh Pirates, while No. 2 on the list is Baltimore Orioles infielder Jackson Holliday at $198,000.
While it might be tough for Yamamoto to take down Skenes' record, all signs indicate he will overtake Holliday.
Additionally, we might see another mega price paid for a Yamamoto World Series card, though it is not him alone. The card is a 1/1 triple auto of the three Japanese stars on the Dodgers, Yamamoto, Roki Sasaki and four-time MVP Shohei Ohtani.
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Matt Liberman is a reporter and video producer for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.