Shohei Ohtani cleats set all-time record after fetching eye-watering sum at auction

While the Dodgers have been in a bit of funk this month, the market for memorabilia belonging to their best player has still remained red hot.A pair of game-used, signed Shohei Ohtani cleats sold for a staggering $440,055 in an auction that closed on Sunday.Officials at The Realest, which facilitated the sale, said in a statement to the California Post on Monday that the item’s final, eye-watering price tag ended up setting “a new all-time pubic auction record for the most expensive baseball shoes ever sold.”The previous high, according to the reps, belonged to Michael Jordan, whose game-used, signed Birmingham Barons cleats netted $93,000 in 2020.In any sport, only two other pairs of athletes’ shoes have ever garnered more than $400,000 in a public sale — ones belonging to Jordan and Kobe Bryant.Ohtani donned the New Balance cleats during the 2025 MLB Tokyo Series, when the Dodgers faced off with the Cubs to open the ’25 season.The red, white and blue spikes featured dirt from the Tokyo Dome and also paid homage to the two-way star’s dog, Decoy, in a couple different ways.There were images of the famed Kooikerhondje on both the back of the shoes as well as the bottom.Following the historic event in Japan, Ohtani autographed the pair with his Japanese Kanji signature and wrote the words, “GU Opening Day Tokyo Series.”The sale is just the latest instance of the incredible demand for Ohtani-themed items.

Just a couple weeks ago, one of his trading cards garnering over $10 million.And, over the weekend, a base from his record-setting 50/50 game in September 2024 sold for $73,000....