Teen who claims to have caught Ohtani’s historic 50-50 ball sues sellers
By Bryan Ke
An 18-year-old man who purportedly caught Los Angeles Dodgers hitter Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50-50 season baseball is suing the auction house and individuals trying to sell it. Setting the starting bid at $500,000, auction company Goldin is running the auction from Sept. 27 until Oct. 16. Collectors can also buy the ball outright for $4.5 million until Oct. 9.
- Driving the news: Max Matus filed the lawsuit in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court on Wednesday, naming Goldin, Chris Belanski and Kelvin Ramirez as defendants. The suit includes purported video evidence filmed by other fans during the historic moment on Sept. 19. The document claims he was the first to catch the ball and that Belanski trapped his “arm in between [Belanski’s] legs and wrangled the 50-50 Ball out of Max’s left hand.” Furthermore, it claimed that Belanski “wrongfully and forcefully obtained control of the ball” and left the arena with it when he was escorted out by security. Ramirez, who reportedly attended the game with Belanski, allegedly claimed ownership of the ball as well. Matus, who was celebrating his 18th birthday at the time, claims he cannot recover the irreplaceable “one-of-a-kind” ball if it is sold at Goldin and that “no monetary damages will be adequate to replace it,” the suit noted.
- Catch up: With the regular season over, Ohtani, 30, fell short of the Triple Crown, which is awarded when a player leads the league in batting average, home runs and runs batted in (RBIs). While he led the National League in home runs at 54 and 130 RBIs, he missed the batting title by .004 points against San Diego Padres’ Luis Arraez, who finished with a .314 average. The Dodgers will play against either the San Diego Padres, Atlanta Braves or New York Mets in the National League Division Series Game 1 on Saturday for the postseason.
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