The ball that soared into the left field stands at loanDepot Park in Miami to make Shohei Ohtani the sole member of the 50-50 club is going up for auction beginning this week.
Goldin, an auction house based in New Jersey, will open bidding on the historic piece of baseball memorabilia on Friday, Sept. 27. The opening bid is $500,000. Potential buyers will have the opportunity to purchase the ball for $4.5 million through Oct. 9, one week before the auction is scheduled to end.
Should bidding reach $3 million before Oct. 9, the $4.5 million buy it now option will disappear.
🚨 BREAKING NEWS 🚨
It’s HERE. We got it! Presenting Shohei Ohtani’s 50th HOME RUN BASEBALL from his HISTORIC Game when he became the inaugural member of the 50/50 Club. ⚾️
This one-of-a-kind Baseball will be available in our special “Shohei Ohtani 50/50 Auction”, which Opens… pic.twitter.com/uIQviGUHdH
— Goldin (@GoldinCo) September 25, 2024
The fan who ended up with the ball contacted Goldin the day after Ohtani’s record night to set up the deal, Goldin CEO Ken Goldin told ESPN. According to Fox Sports 640’s Andy Slater, the Dodgers offered the fan $300,000 but were turned down.
“It’s never easy to predict the price at auction of a piece without any comps to consider, but that’s also what makes it the ideal auction piece,” Chris Ivy, director of sports collectibles at Heritage Auctions, told Yahoo Sports’ Jeff Eisenberg this month before Ohtani’s historic blast.
The Los Angeles Dodgers star hit his 49th, 50th and 51st homers and stole his 50th and 51st bases all in a single game against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 19, bursting into history with a 6-for-6 game with three homers, two doubles, two steals, four runs scored and 10 RBI in a 20-4 Dodgers win that clinched Ohtani’s first trip to the MLB playoffs.
Ohtani has not stopped since and with five games to play in the regular season he is up to 53 homers and 55 stolen bases.
Should the historic ball sell for over $1 million, it would join a unique list of pricey home run balls.
Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball hit in 1998 sold for $3.05 million a year later. Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball hit in 2022 sold through Goldin last year for $1.5 million. A home run ball off Babe Ruth’s bat during the first MLB All-Star Game in 1933 sold for $805,000 in 2006.
