18-year-old wants to stop selling baseball worth tens of millions – believes it is his

During the Los Angeles Dodgers’ road game against the Miami Marlins on September 19, Ohtani became the first to hit three home runs and two stolen bases in a game, and the first to reach 50 and 50 in a season. That makes the ball extremely valuable.

The ball will be put up for auction on Friday with a starting bid of 500,000 dollars. The auction will last for several weeks, but with the proviso that whoever bids 4.5 million dollars (47.5 million kroner) by 9 October will receive the award immediately.

18-year-old Max Matus demands in his lawsuit that the auction be stopped. He claims that it was he who caught the ball, and that it therefore belongs to him.

The lawsuit is directed against Chris Belanski, the spectator who brought the ball home from the match, one of Belanski’s friends and the auction company Goldin.

– Took it by force

Matus claims that he grabbed the ball when it landed in the stands. According to the lawsuit, Belanski used both of his legs to lock his arm and then wrestled the ball out of his hand. If necessary, he wants a trial with a jury about the ownership.

The lawsuit has been filed in Dade County, Florida. Attached are photographs taken by other spectators who, according to Matus, support his version of what happened. One of them is of Belanski showing off the ball while a shocked Matus looks on.

– We are aware of the lawsuit, but after reviewing the allegations and the attached photos, as well as available video footage from the game, we intend to start the auction of Ohtani’s 50-50 ball as planned, a spokesperson for Goldin told ESPN.

Can beat the record

In the lawsuit, Matus demands that the court order the ball to be kept in a safe place and that Goldin, Belanski and his friend be prohibited from selling it.

In baseball, it is a tradition that the spectator who catches a ball gets to keep it. When a player achieves a milestone, he will often want the ball as a memento. The gkerme is then exchanged for various souvenirs, autographs and a meeting with the player.

However, at special milestones, the ball will have great sales value among collectors, and then it often happens that the spectator chooses to sell it instead. The record for a baseball is probably $3 million for the ball Mark McGwire hit his 70th home run with in 1998, but many believe that the Ohtani ball will go for more than that.