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Shohei Ohtani 50th HR ball going to auction at Goldin

Opening bid is $500,000 for ball that made Dodgers star first 50-50 player

Cover Image for Shohei Ohtani 50th HR ball going to auction at Goldin
Shohei Ohtani watches the flight of his historic 50th homer during his six-hit, 10-RBI performance. (Credit: Getty Images)

Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball finally has landed — at an auction house, that is.

Goldin Auctions, along with its parent company eBay, announced Tuesday it will be auctioning off the milestone ball that made Ohtani the first player in major-league history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases. The Dodgers superstar currently has 53 homers and 55 steals, with five games remaining in the regular season.

Bidding will open Friday at noon ET, and close Oct. 16.

There is no estimate on the ball, but the starting bid is $500,000. The auction house said potential buyers can also buy the baseball for $4.5 million between up until Oct. 9, as long as the bidding does not reach $3 million.

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"For my entire life I have been a baseball historian," Goldin founder Ken Goldin told cllct. "I've admired pure hitters like Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr. and Ted Williams. And yet, Shohei Ohtani is the most unique athlete we have ever seen play this game.

"He can win the Triple Crown, and when healthy, win the Cy Young. He's got international appeal. and he's playing in Hollywood. And he didn't just cruise into 50-50. He crushed it by hitting three homers in one game in what many say is the greatest game in baseball history."

Original estimates on the Ohtani ball were in the $250,000 range, but as many began to absorb the impact of Ohtani's 6-for-6 game, which included three homers and two steals, the price has been given a bump. Not only did the Dodgers designated hitter become the first 50-50 player, he also did it in arguably the greatest performance in a game by a player.

After he secured home run No. 50, the man who caught the ball, whose name is still unknown and is not being released, was escorted to a private room in loanDepot Park in Miami, where authenticators matched overt and covert markings on the ball to determine it was the genuine article.

The auction house said that the overt marks were the numbers "4" and "3" written in pencil. A hologram was affixed to the ball that matches the MLB Authenticated database. The man then walked out of the stadium and had a friend broker the deal with Goldin.

If the ball sells for more than $1 million, it will put it in rarified air.

It would join the Mark McGwire 70th home run ball from 1998, which sold at Guernseys in 1999 for $3.05 million, and Aaron Judge's 62nd home run to break the American League record, which sold at Goldin last year for $1.5 million.

Darren Rovell is the founder of cllct.com and one of the country's leading reporters on the collectible market. He previously worked for ESPN, CNBC and The Action Network.