About 25 years ago, someone forked over a record $3.05 million for a baseball, hit by Mark McGwire for his 70th home run. That record may be broken in the coming days, thanks to a home run ball slammed by Los Angeles Dodgers designated hitter Shohei Ohtani—one that earned him props as the only MLB player in the "50-50 club," meaning he nabbed 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season. The Athletic reports that the opening bid for the ball in the week-plus auction that starts Friday is $500,000, though someone can scoop the item up for a cool $4.5 million outright.
If bids for the white leather ball—which the AP notes has "black scuffing and abrasions"—reach $3 million before the last day of the auction on Oct. 9, then the New Jersey-based Goldin auction house will take the option for private purchase off the table and leave those interested in buying the ball to a bidding war. Extended bidding will start on Oct. 16. "Ohtani is truly one-of-a-kind, and the 50-50 record may be his crowning achievement," Goldin founder Ken Goldin says in a statement.
The fan who caught the Ohtani homer is working with Goldin. Ken Goldin tells ESPN that "this was one of the easiest [consignments] ever," noting that Ohtani [hits 50] on Thursday, literally Friday we heard from the guy, he contacted Goldin on his own through social media, flew a security guard down to Miami on Monday with a representative from Goldin, met him, flew back Monday." Goldin adds, "We're honored to bring this iconic item to collectors. This is a piece of baseball history that fans and historians around the world will remember for decades to come." (More Shohei Ohtani stories.)
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