Shohei Ohtani's 50th Home Run Ball Sold For a Record Price

Stephen Douglas | Oct 23, 2024

Shohei Ohtani celebrates his 50th home run of the season. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

Shohei Ohtani created the 50/50 club this season when he became the first MLB player in history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same year. Ohtani's 50th home run came on September 19th against the Miami Marlins in one of the greatest hitting performances in baseball history.

In that game, Ohtani went 6-for-6, hit three home runs, had two doubles, and drove in 10 runs. It was spectacular, which only makes the 50th home run ball cooler.

That's probably why it sold for a record $4,392,000 at auction. Like many of Ohtani's numbers is a record that beats the price of Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball which sold for $3.05 million in 1999.

The man who put the ball up for auction, Chris Belanski, was originally offered $300,000 for the ball but turned it down. Now that the ball has been sold for 14 times that, all he has to do is win a couple of lawsuits filed by other fans who think they should be the rightful owners of the ball.

As for Ohtani, if he really wanted the ball, it only would have cost him a tiny fraction of his 10-year, $700 million contract, but the way he's deferred money, maybe he didn't have the cash on hand to make a winning bid.

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