Shohei Ohtani 50th HR ball sells for record $4,392,000 at Goldin

Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball, which made him the sole member of baseball's 50-50 Club, sold for $4,392,000 at Goldin Auctions on Tuesday night, an all-time record for any baseball.

The sale surpassed the previous high-water mark set by Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball, which sold for $3.05 million in 1999.

And just like Ohtani’s historic season, it couldn’t have happened in more dramatic fashion.

After a total of 40 bids, the auction finally closed just before 12:30 a.m. ET.

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Why the ball is so historic

Though the entire baseball world was on high alert for Ohtani to reach the previously unreached heights of a season with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases, nobody could have predicted it would come with such a bang.

Heading into the Dodgers' Sept. 19 game against the Miami Marlins at loanDepot Park, Ohtani sat at 48 homers and 49 steals, seemingly poised to hit the 50-50 mark on an upcoming homestand back in Los Angeles.

But Ohtani had other plans, delivering arguably the greatest singular offensive performance in baseball history by belting three home runs, stealing two bases and driving in 10 runs in a six-hit masterclass as the Dodgers routed the Marlins 20-4.

Shohei Ohtani is the 1st player with at least 5 hits, multiple HR & multiple SB in a game since at least 1901

AND HE DID IT TO REACH 50-50!!!
— Sarah Langs (@SlangsOnSports) September 19, 2024

Longtime baseball writer Joe Posnanski summed it up perfectly: “Shohei Ohtani is a fictional character.”

Of course, it would be the second of Ohtani's three home runs, struck on an opposite field drive to left-center, which made history.

In the immediate aftermath, a man named Chris Belanski emerged with the ball. He left the ballpark with the ball after reportedly failing to reach a deal with the Dodgers, according to Miami Herald contributor Craig Mish.

Immediately, price tags were placed on the record-setting ball. Goldin Auctions CEO Ken Goldin originally estimated the ball, as well as the bat, would be worth around $250,000.

SCP Auctions President David Kohler, who brokered Barry Bonds' and Alex Rodriguez’s 500th home runs, placed a value of up to $500,000 on the ball.

Harlan Werner, an L.A.-based memorabilia dealer and agent was a bit closer: “I think seven figures is realistic.”

Darren Rovell and Will Stern talk about why Shohei Ohtani's 50th ball sold for a record price.

Why the price soared to a record height

It truly was a perfect storm.

When Mark McGwire’s 70th homer sold for $3 million in 1999, it came more than three months after McGwire eclipsed the single-season HR record with an unthinkable performance. In the memorabilia world, timing is everything — the quicker an item can go from history to the auction block, the better the result.

In the case of Ohtani’s 50th home run, the stars aligned incredibly.

It took just 33 days from the time the ball landed in the stands in Miami to the final hammer at Goldin.

During that month-plus, Ohtani’s star power did more than merely sustain, it thrived.

The soon-to-be NL MVP advanced to his first World Series, where he will lead the Dodgers against their longtime rivals, the New York Yankees, with Game 1 slated for Friday night.

If the series didn’t need any more hype, this marks the 12th Fall Classic between the Yankees and Dodgers, five more than any other pairing (Yankees and Giants).

Then, there’s the international appeal of Ohtani the player.

The Japanese-born phenom has drawn unprecedented attention from his home country, with CNN reporting the “Ohtani effect” drew a dozen new Japanese sponsors to Dodger Stadium, and between 80 and 90% of Japanese tourists to L.A. visiting the stadium at least once during their stay.

Last spring, Ohtani led Japan to the gold medal in the World Baseball Classic, even striking out longtime Angels teammate Mike Trout to seal the win.

The international intrigue was possibly apparent in the bidding at Goldin, which saw multiple bids come in during the early hours of the morning in the U.S. — smack in the middle of the day in Japan.

Ohtani reached the World Series in the first playoff appearance of his seven-year career.

A legal cloud clears

Amid all the fanfare, there was a possibility of disaster — at least for Goldin Auctions and the seller of the ball.

Hours after Goldin announced his auction house secured the ball for consignment, attorneys for 18-year-old Max Matus filed a lawsuit against Goldin and Belanski, as well as his friend marketing the ball, Kelvin Ramirez, alleging the ball was Matus’ first.

The suit, filed in the 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Dade County, Florida, sought injunctive relief to stop the sale of the ball, which Matus claimed was taken from him as a result of civil battery during the chaotic fight for the ball.

Then came another suit, this time filed on behalf of plaintiff Joseph Davidov, who claimed video evidence showed him “grabbing and possessing” the ball before an unknown fan jumped a railing and “attacked” Davidov, knocking the ball loose into the possession of Belanski.

Ultimately, all parties agreed to allow the auction to continue as planned and allow the winner to retain “free and clear” title to the ball. With the price going into the stratosphere Tuesday, that fight will only intensify now.

The matter of who will receive the payout is still to be determined, with a court still set to decide the rightful owner ... or owners.

There is precedent for such an arrangement, as a similar case arose surrounding the sale of Barry Bonds’ 700th home run ball, with a court ultimately ruling two parties would split the sale evenly.

Though, by the time that lawsuit was complete, more money was spent in legal fees than the actual worth of the ball.

Ohtani's box-office appeal now extends all around the globe. (Credit: Getty Images)

A record year in memorabilia market

The Ohtani sale marks the latest eye-popping figure recorded in the collectibles markets in recent months.

Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” jersey sold for more than $24 million in August, smashing the record for the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history.

Fittingly, the man dubbed the “Japanese Babe Ruth” would enjoy a similarly shocking record sale mere months later, on the heels of a season that rivals any of the best recorded by the Sultan of Swat.

Tuesday afternoon, hours prior to the sale of the ball and days before Game 1 of the World Series, Yankees slugger Aaron Judge, the odds-on-favorite to win AL MVP and the only player in the sport to possibly rival Ohtani’s numbers in 2024, called him, “the best player in the game.”

Taking Judge’s word for it, the best player in the game now owns the record for the most expensive ball in the history of the game.

The sale beat out Judge’s own $1.5 million sale of his 62nd home run ball in 2022, Ruth’s home run in the inaugural All-Star Game which sold for more than $800,000 in 2006 and every other ball that has ever sold since the dawn of the sport in the 19th century.

How long will the record stand?

That depends on plenty of factors. Perhaps most importantly: When will the 60-60 season arrive?

Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.