Aaron Judge-Shohei Ohtani baseball card worth millions purchased at CardVault by Tom Brady in East Hampton
The storefront of CardVault by Tom Brady in East Hampton is seen on May 15, 2025. Credit: Gordon Grant
Unknowingly, East Hampton was home to one of the most valuable pieces of modern sports memorabilia this summer.
Now, it’s in the hands of a father and son whose lives will change forever.
An upstate New York man, who was reached by Newsday but asked to remain anonymous, said he was visiting the Hamptons in July when he decided to stop by CardVault by Tom Brady in East Hampton, one of several sports memorabilia stores owned by the NFL legend across the country. The man has been collecting baseball cards with his 8-year-old son since summer 2025.
The man and his son, diehard Yankees fans, purchase all the new card releases, but the son was at sleepaway camp when 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball came out.
So the man bought a 2026 Topps Chrome Baseball hobby box, which CardVault store manager Cole Benedict said sells for roughly $515, to open when his son returned from camp in August.
The redemption card for the Aaron Judge / Shohei Ohtani Topps card that could fetch around $5 million on the resale market. Credit: Topps
What came next would be life-changing: a redemption card — a placeholder that later can be redeemed for a high-value card — for what is called a one-of-one dual gold MLB Logoman patch card of Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, autographed by each of the superstars.
The 2025 Topps Chrome version of the one-of-one card reportedly sold for $2.16 million in March, and this one is expected to go for even more.
The plan, the man said, is to sell the card at auction later this year.
“We were in our hotel room halfway through from the camp, and we just started opening the box,” the father said in a recent phone conversation with Newsday. “It was kind of late at night, and I think it was the third pack. We always alternate packs. We do it together, and he's like, ‘I think I got something crazy.’ I was in shock. He was in shock. My wife is in the other room. She's impartial to this whole thing. She doesn't know what the heck’s going on. And then she goes, ‘What is it worth?’ I'm like, I have no idea."
He speculated it is worth $4-6 million. A separate autographed 1-of-1 gold Logoman card of Ohtani reportedly sold for $11 million in July.
“We knew that it was a 1-of-1 dual gold Logoman from Ohtani and Judge," he said." He's super excited about Judge. He's been chasing an [autographed card] forever . . . [I had to explain] to him why he can't keep an auto, but for obvious reasons. In general, the hobby's been really great. We started it, honestly, so he could sort cards and read the backs. I had no idea that this was going to turn into something like this.”
So, what exactly is this card?
“It's the only one in the world,” Benedict said. “It's a dual Logoman, meaning that the patches used in the card are the MLB emblem from the back of their uniforms from the first game of the season. And compared to the normal MLB emblem, they make it gold-embroidered because they both won MVP for AL and then NL in 2025, and in 2024 they also won.
“So the unique thing about the card is that it's the first time that two players went back-to-back on the same card in two consecutive years, and the card is signed by both of the players.”
The “obvious reasons” that the card owner is choosing to sell it are simple.
“This kind of money can take care of his college, and then some,” the card owner said. “We hit this incredible, I don't know, stroke of fortune. I feel like our job as parents is to make sure that that money grows and is there to make him secure, and that’s really what we're focused on. We'll still do one box every time it comes out for a new product because he loves it. But this is going to hopefully set him up for life.”
The card owner said that Trove, a media platform in the sports collectibles space, is serving as the broker for the card’s sale. In an Instagram video posted by the company describing the story of the card on Aug. 18, Trove head of content Frank Hrelja said the card is “truly an irreplaceable grail.”
Brady himself commented on that post, writing, “What a story,” with three heart emojis.
Benedict also appreciated having his store associated with the card.
“It's definitely an amazing story, especially because a lot of myself and my team that work here, we’re avid collectors,” he said. “So knowing that a card that is most likely going to go down is a piece of baseball history, and even collecting history, and having it hit from our store is very, very cool.”
The 8-year-old hopes to meet Judge one day and tell him that he pulled the Logoman card. He said he has learned a lot from the experience, and he knows the earnings will go to good use.
“I’ll spend it for [my parents] to retire,” he said.
His dad quickly shut that down with a “no.”
“Get into college,” the 8-year-old responded. “And maybe buy an island.”
Ben Dickson is Newsday Sports' general assignment reporter. He joined Newsday’s high school sports staff in 2023 after graduating from Maryland, where he covered several of the Terrapins' teams.
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