18-year-old fan claims ownership of Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50/50 home run baseball, aims to halt auction starting at $500,000
On Thursday, Shohei Ohtani sent the MLB world into a frenzy after hitting his 50th home run of the season at LoanDepot Park, becoming the first player to register 50 home runs and as many stolen bases in a season. That home run ball is up for grabs through auction but not without controversy.
New Jersey-based auction house Goldin said on Wednesday that they have acquired the memorabilia from the fan and are auctioning it in a special “Shohei Ohtani 50/50 Auction,” starting Friday at 12 p.m. ET. The opening bid is $500,000.
However, a few hours after the announcement from Goldin, 18-year-old Max Matus had his attorneys file a lawsuit against the auction house, Chris Belanski, who reportedly had the ball after the scrum and Kelvin Ramirez, who attended the game with Belanski. As per Matus, it was his ball first before it was taken away. The lawsuit was filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Dade County, Florida, according to Cllct.
The 18-year-old seeks an injunction to stop the sale of the ball while alleging potential civil battery during the gathering of the ball in the stadium. He wants the court to deem him the rightful owner.
Here's the video of the scrum for Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball:
As for the auction set up by Goldin, interested individuals can buy it outright for $4.5 million until Oct. 9. However, if the bid surpasses the $3 million mark before the deadline, the option to buy it outright will not be available, and buyers will only be able to get their hands on it by being the last bidder. The extended bidding will take place from Oct. 16 at 7 p.m. PT.
Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball has a chance to break $3.05 million mark set by Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball
While Shohei Ohtani has regularly got his name in the history books for his on-field exploits, he could also get there off the field.
The previous highest record for a baseball was for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball in 1999. It was purchased by McFarlane Toys founder Todd McFarlane, who also claims to have Barry Bonds’ 73rd from the 2001 season and Sammy Sosa’s 66th from 1999.
Goldin has previously auctioned off Aaron Judge’s AL record-breaking 62nd home run ball for $1.5 million, as per Whittier Daily News.