The lucky fan who ended up with Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball — which made the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar the first MLB player ever to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season — faced a potential $200,000 payday for that piece of history.
While the identity of the fan who ended up with the home run ball after a scrum in the left-field stands at Miami’s LoanDepot Park wasn’t clear, one unlucky spectator did not get his hands on the ball, and that happened in plain view of Bally Sports Florida cameras.
Ohtani’s second home run of the game flew over the Dodgers’ bullpen in left field into the “Recess Sports Lounge” section. The ball initially landed out of reach of a fan wearing a teal tank top. Then it bounced toward him for another opportunity at history and potential prosperity.
But the carom barely eluded his left hand as he reached for the ball.
From this camera angle, it’s uncertain just how close the fan was to getting the ball. On TV, the ball appeared to be inches away from his fingers. Should he have stretched out a bit more or even attempted to dive for the ball, as Tommy Hutton joked on the Bally Sports Florida telecast? Or would he have risked falling over the railing and getting injured? (Presumably, the fan would not have wanted that potential $200,000 to go toward medical bills.)
Nevertheless, baseball history and a six-figure reward — presuming the fan wouldn’t have generously given the ball back to the Dodgers and Ohtani — appeared to be tantalizingly close yet painfully out of reach. The moment will surely always be memorable, but not for the reasons this fan would have preferred.
