Shohei Ohtani made history in 2024 with a 50-50 season. His 50th home run did as well.
The baseball auction that sealed the first 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in MLB history Ended Tuesday night at Goldin Auctionswith a listed price of $3.6 million. Adding in the 22% buyer’s premium, the full price comes to $4.392 million.
This breaks the record for the most expensive baseball ever sold at auction, beating the $3.005 million brought by Mark McGwire’s 70th ball.This is the number that includes the buyer’s premium).
Goldin’s website also mentions a 0.9% insurance fee and a $19 shipping fee. Obviously, breaking a two-decade-old record doesn’t give you the freedom of shipping and delivery.
The Shohei Ohtani 50-50 ball saw 15 performances on the final night
Bidding began on September 27 at $500,000, with a total of 40 bids coming in to get the ball rolling. The price was at $2.1 million the last two days, until two offers — at $2.2 million and then $2.3 million — came in in the final three minutes of bidding on Tuesday. This triggered an extended window in which 13 additional offers were submitted to raise the price to $3.2 million.
Bidders kept trying to wait until the last minute to submit their new price, but each bid reset the clock to 30 minutes. It was basically a rich version of eBay users trying to jump in at the last minute to get a baseball card.
Bidding finally ended at 9:26 PM PT, roughly two and a half hours after it was scheduled to end.
The total also easily beats the $1.5 million spent on Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run in 2022, which received a special bid of $3 million before the auction.
In MLB’s century-plus history, Ohtani’s feat in 2024 stands out as one of the greatest the league has seen in a single season, with a sold ball serving as the focal point.
After joining the Dodgers with a record $700 million contract, Ohtani exceeded all expectations in his first season, first with the fastest 40-40 season ever and then by reaching a seemingly mythical preseason threshold. Not only did Ohtani get to 50-50, he got there with one of the greatest single-game performances of all time. On September 19, 2024 at Marlins Park, Ohtani went 6-for-6 with three homers, two steals, two doubles, four runs scored and 10 RBI.
Ohtani’s regular season ended at 54 digs and 59 steals, with his postseason performance continuing. Game 1 of the World Series is scheduled for Friday at 5:08 PM PT in Los Angeles (FOX).
Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 ball has been the subject of lawsuits
The 50-50 path of the ball from Ohtani’s bat to the auction house was a little more eventful than usual.
First, a Marlins fan came tantalizingly close to grabbing it. Then, there was the scramble that led to the final seller, Chris Belansky, who got his hands on it and wouldn’t let go. With conservative estimates of the ball’s value reaching six figures, these fans knew that life-changing money was at stake.
When a ball is caught in an MLB game, it becomes the legal property of the fan who caught (or caught) it. The Dodgers attempted to purchase the historic ball, but Belanski understandably chose to take the ball with him and see what he could get at auction.
A small legal battle then broke out over whether that seller actually deserved the ball, with 18-year-old fan Max Matos filing a lawsuit claiming that Bilanski had forcefully taken the ball from him. The teenager claimed that he was the legal owner of the ball, and demanded that the auction be stopped and that the ball be kept in a safe place while the legal procedures are underway.
Another lawsuit was filed by Joseph Davidoff, who claimed that a fan wrongly jumped over the fence and attacked him, causing the ball to go out of his hands. So, there are three different people who publicly claim to be the rightful owners of the ball.
Goldin chose to go ahead with her auction despite that lawsuit, so it remains to be seen how much record-breaking money Bilanski will make when all is said and done.
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