What Happens To The Ohtani 50th HR Ball if he goes 60/60?
If Tom Brady’s "last touchdown pass" ball has taught us anything, it’s that timing can be everything when it comes to the sale of sports memorabilia.
Let’s go back to 2022 when it looked like Tom Brady was going to retire. His last touchdown pass ball sold for just over $500,000. Then, within days of the sale, Brady decided to unretire, meaning the ball would no longer be his last touchdown pass.
Tom Brady unretired.
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) March 13, 2022
Just last night, someone purchased his "last touchdown pass" football for over $500K 😬 pic.twitter.com/H4sYVxWau7
Although the $500,000 sale was canceled, the ball still sold for $129,657.
The Ohtani 50th home run ball sold last night for $4.4 million, but what happens if next year he hits 60 home runs and steals 60 bases?
This might sound like a crazy hypothetical, but nothing Ohtani has done in his career is something anyone thought was possible before he entered the league.
Also, what would the price of this baseball have been if it had sold during the offseason? Or, what if Ohtani were still playing for the other team in LA and wasn’t about to play in the World Series?
Before the sale of the Ohtani ball, these were the three highest-selling baseballs of all time:
- Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball in 1998: $3 million
- Babe Ruth’s All-Star Game home run ball in 1933: $805,000
- Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball in 2007: $752,000
The hypothetical about Ohtani also raises the question: If any of these baseballs were to sell today, would they surpass Ohtani’s?
The McGwire ball was sold similarly to the Ohtani ball—almost immediately after it was hit—so the hype drove up the price. That $3 million price tag seems especially high considering that Ohtani not only hit 50 home runs but also stole 50 bases.
Ultimately, this all comes down to opportunity cost. Right now, Ohtani still has a long career ahead of him, and the chance of this ball being sold again anytime soon is low. Shohei had one of the greatest seasons of all time this past year. Can he do it again? Only time will tell.
Adam has been a sports content creator since 2016, initially focusing on creating sports-related graphics for his Instagram page. In 2018, he transitioned to writing and podcasting about sports cards. Since then, he has worked both independently and with companies within the industry, producing podcasts, videos, and written content on sports cards.