Shohei Ohtani 50-50 Home Run Ball Sells For Record Price Of Nearly $4.4 Million At Auction
Image credit: MIAMI, FLORIDA - SEPTEMBER 19: Shohei Ohtani #17 of the Los Angeles Dodgers hits a two-run home run, his 50th of the season, becoming the first player with a 50/50 season in MLB history, during the seventh inning against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot park on September 19, 2024 in Miami, Florida. (Photo by Megan Briggs/Getty Images)
Article provided by Sports Collectors Daily
You can buy an official National League baseball made by Rawlings for about 20 bucks. It cost one buyer a few million more to get one hit by Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani Tuesday night.
The ball Ohtani belted into a crowd of fans in Miami just over a month ago to become the first player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season sold for $4,392,000 at Goldin Auctions Tuesday night. It’s the most ever paid for any game-used ball in any sport ever sold at public auction.
There was no immediate word on the identity of the buyer.
The auction opened Sept. 27 with a starting bid of $500,000. On Oct. 10, bidding surged past the $1.5 million one buyer spent in 2022 for the ball Aaron Judge hit to break Roger Maris’ single-season American League home run record. It cleared $2 million on Sunday night and settled at around $2.5 million heading into extended bidding at 10 p.m. ET. Nine bids were made in the last hour of the extended bidding period.
“We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder,” Goldin Founder and CEO Ken Goldin said.
Goldin says the Ohtani 50/50 baseball was the most viewed listing, and the highest-priced item sold via auction, in company history.
The record for any home run ball had stood for 25 years. Comic book creator Todd McFarlane bought the one Mark McGwire hit for his 70th of the 1999 season for $3 million—the equivalent of $5.6 million today.
Ohtani hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs in the Dodgers’ 20-4 beatdown of the Miami Marlins on Sept. 19, becoming the first member of baseball’s ’50-50 club.’ It was the second homer of the day that gave him 50 for the year.
Ohtani’s milestone home run ball landed in an area with tables and chairs just behind the left field fence at LoanDepot Park. The consignor of the ball was Christian Zacek, a Florida man who emerged from a scrum holding it and quickly agreed to a deal to have Goldin sell it for him after Major League Baseball authenticated it. Goldin officials traveled to Miami to secure it and set up the single item auction.
Within days, two other fans filed suit, claiming Zacek used physical force to snatch it away. Their actions threatened to halt the auction.
Earlier this month, however, attorneys for 18-year-old Max Matus and another South Florida fan, Joseph Davidov, reached a deal to exonerate Goldin and give clear ownership to the winning bidder, without threat of a legal challenge.
The two plaintiffs have kept their legal options, open, however, when it comes to who had the rights to sell it.
According to Miami radio host Andy Slater, the Dodgers made an offer of $300,000 before it was turned over to Goldin.
The auction house, which was acquired by eBay earlier this year, says the ball “exhibits excellent game use, with black scuffing and surface abrasions present throughout the white leather surface.
Ohtani finished the regular season with 54 home runs and 59 stolen bases and is expected to easily win the National League Most Valuable Player Award.
Goldin is also selling Ohtani’s 51st home run ball, hit the same night, in an auction that ends Nov. 2.
The company sold Ohtani’s 40th home run ball last month for $251,320. During a game against Tampa Bay on August 23, it bounced off a fan sitting in the stands at Dodger Stadium and onto the field. However, Rays center fielder Jose Siri tossed it back into the crowd, where Troy Beunteo, who was attending his first Dodger game, pinned it between his foot and the concrete under his seat and then picked it up.
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