Congratulations, you’re the lucky fan who caught a baseball that could be worth a lot of money. You could keep the wealth and one day sell it, or you could give it to the player who reached the milestone.
That’s what someone at the Los Angeles Dodgers vs. Miami Marlins game in Miami on Thursday had to say. It was the game where Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani hit his 50th home run. He became the first player in Major League Baseball history to hit 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in the same season.
A social media post from MLB Network contributor Craig Mish said that the fan, who has not been named officially, chose to keep the ball. Mish had written earlier that the fan was “talking” about giving up the souvenir from the game.
The fan might be getting paid a lot of money. MarketWatch talked to experts in collectibles who said the ball was worth between $50,000 and $500,000. The fact that Ohtani hit a 50-50 ball in a game that was famous in other ways makes it even more important: After going 6-for-6 on Thursday, the slugger, who plans to return to the field next season as a pitcher as well, hit three home runs and drove in 10 runs.
Chris Ivy, head of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, a well-known company that sells sports memorabilia, said, “That only adds to the cachet.”
It is common for players and teams to quickly work out a deal with a fan in order to get a prized baseball. However, Stephen Fishler, CEO of ComicConnect and a well-known expert on sports memorabilia, says that the deals are usually pretty small.
Every time this happens, Fishler says, the team will quickly go back to the locker room and get a few simple things, like a bat or another ball, for the player to sign as payment. Even though Fishler said such things could be worth up to $5,000, that’s not even close to how much a history-making ball can be worth.
In a way, the team and player are asking fans to support them and be loyal, knowing that some fans might be swayed. Fishler said, “You have to be the kind of person who says, ‘It means a lot to the player.'”
But for some fans, the first thing they see are dollar signs. It looked like that was the case with Cory Youmans, the fan who caught Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run in 2022. With that famous home run, the New York Yankees slugger broke Roger Maris’s 1961 record for most home runs in a single season in the American League.
It wasn’t quite the $3 million that was expected, but the Judge ball sold at auction for $1.5 million, which is a nice amount of money. In the end, Youmans talked about the criticism he got for not giving the ball back to the Yankees star. Still, Youmans said he knew he would be criticized no matter what.
Youmans told the Dallas Observer, “No matter what I did, not everyone would agree that it was the right plan.” “I was stupid if I gave it back and greedy if I sold it.”
It’s true that not many people will be in that situation—it’s hard enough to catch a foul ball, let alone a home run for the ages. Still, Dodgers fan Rick Miramontez flew to Miami to see Thursday’s game and bought a seat in the outfield in the hopes that he could not only see but also catch baseball history.
However, Miramontez failed to catch the Ohtani ball. He stated that he would have been ready to give it up for some benefits, even if they were less than the item’s market value. Even more, Miramontez would have asked for tickets to the Dodgers’ playoff games this season, since they are going to the playoffs. He would have also liked to take a picture with Ohtani.
He said, “It’s just being a good Dodgers fan.”
