Shohei Ohtani made history in 2024 with a 50-50 season. So did his 50th home run ball.
The auction for the baseball that sealed the first 50-homer, 50-stolen base in MLB history ended Tuesday night at Goldin Auctions, for a listed price of $3.6 million. With an additional 22% buyer’s premium, the full price tag comes to $4.392 million.
That shatters the record for the most expensive baseball ever sold at auction, beating the $3.005 million fetched by Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball (a figure that includes the buyer’s premium).
Goldin’s website also lists an insurance fee of 0.9% and shipping costs of $19. Apparently breaking a twenty-year-old record doesn’t get you free shipping and handling.
Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 ball saw 15 bids on the final night
Bidding began on September 27 at $500,000, with a total of 40 bids for the ball. The price was $2.1 million for the last two days until two bids came in the last three minutes of bidding on Tuesday – of $2.2 million and then $2.3 million. That triggered an extended bidding period during which 13 more bids came in to push the price to $3.2 million.
The bidders kept trying to wait until the last minute to enter their new price, but with each bid the clock was reset to 30 minutes. It was basically a rich version of eBay users trying to swoop in at the last minute for a baseball card.
The bidding finally ended at 9:26 PM PT, almost two and a half hours after it was scheduled to end.
The total also handily surpasses the $1.5 million spent on Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball of 2022, which received a $3 million private bid before the auction.
In the century-plus history of the MLB, Ohtani’s 2024 performance stands out as one of the greatest the league has seen in a single season, with the ball sold as the centerpiece.
After joining the Dodgers with a record $700 million contract, Ohtani exceeded all expectations in his first season, first with the fastest 40-40 season of all time and then by reaching a threshold that seemed mythical before the season. Not only did Ohtani reach 50-50, he also achieved one of the best single-game performances ever. On September 19, 2024 at Marlins Park, Ohtani went 6-for-6 with three home runs, two steals, two doubles, four runs scored and 10 RBI.
Ohtani’s regular season ended with 54 home runs and 59 steals, while his postseason exploits were still ongoing. Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for Friday at 5:08 PM PT in Los Angeles (Fox).
Lawsuits have been filed against Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 ball
The path of the 50-50 ball from Ohtani’s bat to the auction house was a little more eventful than usual.
First, a Marlins fan came tantalizingly close to grab him. Then there was the battle that led to the eventual seller, Chris Belanski, getting his hands on it and not letting go. With even conservative estimates of the ball’s value reaching six figures, fans knew life-changing money was at stake.
When a ball is caught during an MLB game, it becomes the legal property of the fan who caught (or picked up) the ball. The Dodgers tried to get the historic ball, but Belanski understandably opted to take the ball and see what he could get at auction.
A minor legal battle then ensued over whether the seller actually deserved the ball, as 18-year-old fan Max Matus subsequently filed suit claiming that Belanski forcibly took the ball from him. The teenager claimed to be the rightful owner of the ball and demanded that the auction be halted and that the ball be kept in a secure location while the legal proceedings concluded.
The other lawsuit was filed by a man named Joseph Davidov, who claimed that a fan mistakenly jumped over a railing and attacked him, causing the ball to come loose from his hands. So those are three different people publicly claiming to be the rightful owners of the ball.
Goldin opted to go ahead with the auction despite that lawsuit, so it remains to be seen how much of that record-breaking money Belanski will ultimately come away with.
