The latest piece of Shohei Ohtani’s baseball history is up for auction!
The Los Angeles Dodgers star’s home ball — from last week’s game in which he became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season — is up for sale, perESPN and The Athletic.
Goldin Collectibles is ready to entice potential buyers with a starting bid of $500,000 starting Friday, September 27th.
Ohtani became a founding member of the select club on September 19 when he hit three home runs and stole two bases in a game against the Miami Marlins.
Dodgers Fan Who Caught Shohei Ohtani Hit First Home Run Ball Says Team ‘Pressured’ Her To Quit
The fan who grabbed the ball — which landed in the stands after briefly bouncing off the fence — turned down the Dodgers’ $300,000 offer for the piece of memorabilia, according to KTLA-TV .
Instead, the anonymous person passed the ball to the auction house.
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“This was one of the easiest [consignments] ever,” Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin, told ESPN. “Ohtani [hits 50] on Thursday, literally Friday, we heard from the guy, he contacted Goldin himself via social media, on Monday he sent a security guard to Miami with a Goldin representative, met with him and came back on Monday.”
Ohtani’s achievement is just his latest in an already historic season. The 2024 MLB National League MVP presumptive is batting .301 and has 123 RBIs and 53 home runs as of Wednesday, Sept. 25, according to ESPN.
The ball is already likely to give the fan more than he would get from the Dodgers, a different outcome than the other fan who caught the historic ball two seasons ago.
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When Cory Youmans caught Aaron Judge’s record-breaking home run in October 2022, he turned down a private offer of $3 million for the ball, ESPN reported at the time.
The ball was later sold at auction to the highest bidder for $1.5 million. But Youmans was more interested in making the transaction “transparent,” he said.
“Congratulations to Joe! Given the historical significance of #62, it was important to me that the sale process be fair, affordable and transparent,” Youmans said of the transaction, adding that the seller “seems like a great man and the perfect steward for this a special part of MLB history.”
Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education