a few different ways to 50/50

shohei ohtani surpassed his 2024 home run total in 2025, but he didn't steal nearly as many bases so his 55 home runs this past season were largely unheralded. in 2024, you'll recall, he exceeded both 50 home runs (54) and 50 stolen bases (59), becoming the first player to post a 50/50 season.

there were plenty of opportunities to be reminded of that fact in 2025. here's a 2025 topps finest finest timelines insert

that uses joe davis' call to mark the occasion.

topps put out a special 50/50 shohei ohtani set in 2024, and i've added a couple more to my collection - one stolen base and one home run

2025 topps included ohtani's achievement in the "2024 greatest hits" insert set

noting that he reached the milestone as part of a historic single game offensive performance. his 6 for 6, 3 home run, 10 rbi line was the subject of a 2024 topps now card

here's the back that gives more detail

note that i already had his topps now 50/50 card - two cards for one game is par for the course for topps now.

of course, he didn't reach 50/50 without hitting 40/40 first. that achievement was also marked with a "2024 greatest hits" insert

the other members of the 40/40 club are all true 40/40 except for ronald acuna jr who is 40/70. i wonder if shohei purposely stopped at 59 stolen bases as 50/50 sounds better than 50/60.

however, this post is about different ways to 50/50. sometime last year, i picked up this 2020 topps tyler white card

it's his mother's day pink parallel that is numbered to 50. this one is numbered 50/50

as is this 2021 topps joc pederson father's day blue parallel

i would imagine that ohtani 50/50 parallels go for a hefty sum - these were both pretty cheap. i don't expect any 2026 cards to focus on ohtani's 50/20 season in 2025, but we can be sure that there will be plenty of his cards throughout every release.

pace checker

it's april 6th and shohei ohtani is already ahead of his 2024 home run pace. this card comes from the topps 50/50 shohei ohtani set

and it shows him hitting his third home run of the season on april 8, 2024 at target field in minnesota. here's the back:

not a lot of information - not even the pitcher's name (it was jay jackson) - but it's at least photo correct. that was his 13th game of the season, by the way. this season, ohtani hit home run number 3 on april 2nd - his 8th contest of the year. that homer was a walk-off against raisel iglesias and the braves. he's also 1 stolen base ahead of his pace from last year.

i wound up picking up this single card (two of them, actually) because i was in attendance at the game and i am always on the lookout for cards that feature games i witnessed in person. the other card goes in my dodger collection. there's no chance of me collecting the entire set unless prices come down drastically at some point, so i drew the line at the one game i attended that is represented in the set.

i'm not sure if i am going to get to a dodger game this year, but i do have a couple of games coming up the next few weeks at which i am hoping for something exciting to happen. stay tuned!