During the Los Angeles Dodgers 20-4 win over the Miami Marlins, Shohei Ohtani made history as he hit a ball over the right field wall to become the first member of the 50/50 club (50 home runs/50 stolen bases in one season).
SHOHEI OHTANI HAS DONE IT
50 HOME RUNS | 50 STOLEN BASES
HISTORY pic.twitter.com/GRVJUCbpja
— MLB (@MLB) September 19, 2024
In view of this, the ball instantly became a prized piece of memorabilia as soon as it left the baseball diamond. Evidently, the fans at LoanDepot park knew this, as they fought tooth and nail for the baseball.
In the best video of the struggle for the Ohtani 50th home run ball, it looks like the roughly 30-year age difference won out.
(Credit: Justin Walka) pic.twitter.com/mFl0GuXh08
— cllct (@cllctMedia) September 20, 2024
Amid the skirmish, there was a man, wearing a black shirt, who held up his arm to show everyone what he had.
X/@ABC
After getting the baseball authenticated and refusing the Dodgers' $300k offer for it, it has now been revealed that this ball is going up for auction, with a starting bid of $500,000.
Yet there is one guy who is trying to stop the auction from taking place.
A fan has filed a lawsuit to stop the sale of Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball.
The fan claims he emerged with the baseball first and it was taken away from him due to civil battery.
The ball is set being auctioned with the opening bid at $500,000.
(via @cllctmedia) pic.twitter.com/CcWtaKNpmS
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) September 26, 2024
That is to say, 18-year-old Max Mateus thinks he is the rightful owner of that baseball, and has filed a lawsuit claiming that the man in the black shirt, Chris Belanski, stole the ball from him after he had full control of it first.
An 18-year-old has hired a pretty big Fort Lauderdale-based personal injury law firm to file suit over the rights to Ohtani's No. 50 ball, which boils down to this: https://t.co/UNDyeER6Qn pic.twitter.com/rZCsCPhsGU
— Darren Heitner (@DarrenHeitner) September 26, 2024
Baseball fans at Miami’s LoanDepot Park scrambled to grab Los Angeles Dodger Shohei Ohtani’s history-making 50th season home-run ball on September 19. https://t.co/DbTNZwbut1 pic.twitter.com/bcmzgCxDiC
— ABC News (@ABC) September 20, 2024
As of now there is no plans to halt the auction, TMZ has confirmed that Ken Goldin will have his auction house (Goldin Auctions) put the ball up for sale.
"Having reviewed the allegations and images included in the lawsuit and publicly available video from the game, Goldin plans to go live with the auction of the Ohtani 50/50 ball as planned," Golden said. "We note that while Goldin has also been named as a party in the case, there are no allegations of wrongdoing by the company."
#Shohei #Ohtani’s #5050 #homerun ball will open with @GoldinCo on Friday, starting bid: $500K. Prospective buyers "will have a chance to purchase the baseball outright for $4,500,000 exclusively between September 27 to October 9! More info https://t.co/SW95updbbv @SaraElyse128 pic.twitter.com/0QPjx8kaoF
— Flesh Gordon (@TheFleshGordon) September 25, 2024
The bidding will get underway on Friday at 9 am ET, starting at half a million, the 'buy now' price will then be listed for $4.5 million.
