A new chapter in sports memorabilia history has been written. Shohei Ohtani’s game-used and personally signed New Balance Ohtani 1 cleats, worn during the opening game of the 2025 MLB Tokyo Series on March 18, 2025, have sold for an astounding $440,055 on The Realest.
The record-setting public auction sale makes the pair the most expensive baseball shoes ever sold, nearly quintupling the previous benchmark of $93,000 set in May 2020 by Michael Jordan’s game-worn 1994 Birmingham Barons cleats. In achieving the historic price tag, Ohtani surpassed footwear worn by all-time legends and modern stars alike, including Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, Derek Jeter, and Aaron Judge.
With the sale, Ohtani joins Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant as the only three athletes in history to have game-used footwear fetch more than $300,000 at public auction.
“Obvious in Hindsight”
Speaking in an interview four days before the auction officially closed, Scott Keeney (professionally known as DJ Skee), Founder and CEO of The Realest, foresaw the record-breaking trajectory of the listing.
“Whatever price these go for, it’ll be an all-time record,” Keeney noted during the interview four days prior to the final bid. “We’re gonna be sitting here like, ‘Why didn’t we just pool our money together? We knew this was gonna happen.’ It’s so obvious in hindsight.”
Keeney emphasized that the convergence of sneaker culture, global stardom, and undeniable physical history made these cleats a tier above standard memorabilia.
“You can make the argument that it is his most important cleats ever to hit the market,” Keeney explained. “When you look at game-worn as a category, our thesis is that it’s the next frontier. It’s true scarcity, not manufactured… These are things that would have every right to live in a museum 100 years from now telling the story and the history of baseball. Regardless if there’s another player, he is the Babe Ruth of our time.”
What Made the Tokyo Series Cleats a $440K Grail?
The record-breaking cleats represent a perfect storm of cultural, personal, and athletic significance:
The Homecoming: Worn during Ohtani’s first MLB game in his home country of Japan following his World Series championship season. The game stood as the most-watched baseball game in Japanese history.
The Rare Kanji Inscription: The pair features Ohtani’s autograph in his traditional Japanese Kanji script—a style he rarely uses compared to his standard signature.
Inaugural Signature Shoe: As the Ohtani 1, the pair represents his first official signature model with New Balance, mirroring the historical weight of the original Air Jordan 1.
Personalized Pop Culture Touches: The cleats feature custom artwork on the heels of Ohtani’s famous dog, Decoy (Deko-pin), drawn from his best-selling Japanese children’s book.
Physical Provenance: The soles still carry genuine, embedded infield dirt from the Tokyo Dome from game action.
Memorabilia as the New Fine Art
To highlight the piece’s museum-grade nature, The Realest hosted an exclusive private viewing at Yamashiro Hollywood prior to the auction’s close. During the interview four days before the sale, Keeney discussed how curated experiences are reshaping how high-net-worth collectors and institutions view sports artifacts compared to traditional fine art.
“The passion that invokes is far superior than any art or painting ever will for me personally,” Keeney said four days before the auction concluded. “I was in New York at the biggest banking institutions in the world showing me their incredible new offices with art collections. I said, ‘If you had Jalen Brunson’s jersey in here from the Finals… as a New Yorker, you would get more attention than a Picasso.’ People would be logging up and taking pictures. I’m just so bullish on the space. It feels like the most obvious thing in the world sitting right in front of us.”
The strategy paid off. The cleats served as the flagship item for The Realest’s new “Certified” pilot program, drawing 89 total bids and becoming the highest-selling item in the company’s history.
Top-10 All-Time Baseball Shoes Sold at Auction
Following the historic result, here is how the top of the all-time baseball footwear leaderboard stands:
$440,055: Shohei Ohtani’s 2025 MLB Tokyo Series Cleats (The Realest, 2026)
$93,000: Michael Jordan’s 1994 Game-Used, Signed Birmingham Barons Cleats (2020)
$81,563: Babe Ruth’s 1918 Red Sox Single Cleat (2021)
$72,000: Babe Ruth’s Game-Used ‘Professional Model Cleats’ (2019)
$70,745: Ted Williams’ 1960 Final Career Game Red Sox Cleats (2021)
$12,438: Mickey Mantle’s 1960 Yankees Game-Used Rawlings Cleats (2023)
$10,800: Hank Aaron 1965 Game-Used Cleats
$9,950: Shohei Ohtani’s Game-Used, Signed ASICS Cleats
$3,112: Derek Jeter 2011 Game-Used Yankees Cleats (2026)
$3,045: Kyle Schwarber 2023 Game-Used World Baseball Classic Cleats (2026)
What’s Next for The Realest?
Will we be looking back on this sale as the bargain of the century? Let us know on Mantel.
