Murakami MLB Tokyo Collection Nets Resellers Thousands

Do you smell that? Take a deep whiff. The crisp, cold winds of winter are fading, and that old familiar scent is rising. Fresh cut grass. Greasy hot dogs. Beer and troughs overflowing with piss. It’s almost time for baseball.

And what better way to kick off a season than blowing a bunch of money on merch. Normally, we’d take a pass on the latest MLB drops, but they’ve done something really special this week.

What do you get when you cross the work of a renowned Japanese artist with a hypebeast sweetheart and a collecting powerhouse AND some of the biggest names in the league today? A perfect honeypot for resellers and fans with too much money.

Introducing the Murakami X MLB Tokyo Series. This is a three-way collaboration between Murakami, Fanatics, and Complex; mixing distinctive, Japanese-oriented artwork on classic MLB merch.

We’ve got cards, we’ve got jerseys, we’ve got hats, we’ve even got pimped out baseball bats. The collection largely focused on the Dodgers and the Cubs, but was also a celebration of Japan’s impact on the sport.

The entire collection consisted of 59 different items, most of which were clothes. Prices started at $40 for balls and bags and ranged all the way up to $400 for premium bats.

We’re not going to pore over every item. Instead, we’ll focus on some of the most popular items, and take a look at what resellers are flipping them for.

If you’re going to do a Japanese-inspired collaboration with the MLB, you have a pretty clear frontrunner for your leading man. Shohei Ohtani is an easy pick for the most impressive athlete of the 21st century, so you can believe that a lot of this collection had his name stamped or stitched on it.

The most notable Ohtani-related items from the Murakami MLB collection were the jerseys. These were in Dodgers Away White patterned with distinct cherry blossoms, and available in both English and Kanji letterings.

The Murakami Shohei Ohtani Jerseys retailed for $250, the same as the other jerseys from the collection. These were an obvious target for resellers, and among the first items to sell out.

And once they disappeared at retail, they were quickly relisted on StockX and eBay for remarkable prices. Right now they’re reselling for $400 to $500.

But what’s baseball without baseball cards? Alongside the hypebeast-approved threads in this collection, Murakami also worked with Topps for a 25 card set featuring star players from the Dodgers and Cubs.

Each set guaranteed at least one rare parallel, and collectors would be able to hunt for autographs from players like Blake Snell, Clayton Kershaw, and of course Shohei Ohtani.

Not only that, but there is also one ultra-rare, double-autographed card featuring signatures from both Ohtani and Murakami. Whoever pulls that will have their lunch covered for the next few decades.

Right now, the Murakami MLB Topps Trading Card Sets are reselling for around $450 after retailing for $120. It’s not clear how many were made, but they sold out very fast.

Like we said, this was a big collection. If you were too slow to nab an Ohtani Jersey or a pack of cards, there was still a lot of good stuff to load up on.

Takashi Murakami X MLB and T-shirts retailed for $75 to $130, and these would prove extremely popular on drop day. Available in black, white or Dodger Blue, these shirts and hoodies were quickly marked up and resold on eBay for $200 or more over their retail prices.

A damn good flip, once again. As of this publication, just about two-thirds of the Murakami MLB Tokyo Series collection is sold out. It’s mostly Cubs gear at this point, but you’re not too late to grab a Freddy Freeman T-shirt or Ohtani bobblehead at retail.

To put it simply: this was a massive cook. With so many hot items dropping at once, well-informed resellers that got in early and loaded up on the right products plated themselves a serious feast, and the profits are right there for everyone to see.

Missed out? Don’t beat yourself up. There all kinds of hyped collections dropping every week, and keeping up with them can be serious task. Of course, RC Elite members had no issue getting in on this flip, as they were alerted early and informed exactly what they should be going for.

If you want that kind of early warning before the next big flip, it’s time that you joined RC Elite too. After all, knowledge is half the battle.

And you’re not interested in making money, you can always subscribe to our newsletter and stay informed on what RC Elite members are cooking. Watching from the sidelines is almost as fun as playing, right?