Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman homers sell for obscene prices at auction

Catching a baseball in the stands while attending a game is an absolute thrill. It’s exciting no matter your age (whether you openly admit it or not).

My first came at Fenway Park. I don’t know the year offhand, though I could probably figure it out with a little effort. I know the Red Sox were playing the Blue Jays. Our seats were up along the first base line and I was fascinated with John Olerud, Toronto’s first baseman. He was smooth at first defensively but he also stood out because he wore a helmet on the field. I knew it was for safety reasons, but it would probably be years before I understood it was because he’d suffered a brain aneurysm in college.

I was maybe 9 or 10 when this all happened.

We — it was at least me, my father, my uncle, and my grandfather, I think; I’m really not sure who was there with us exactly — were in our seats watching the game, as one does. Boston’s first baseman, Mo Vaughn, came to the plate and turned on an inside pitch early, lining it foul into the stands. This was long before nets went up around ballparks, so the liner came near where we were sitting, just a few rows down. The ball hit the cement stairs and shot straight in the air.

Now, Dad used to tell the story that I pushed a man over to get to the ball. I never remembered it that way. It didn’t seem like me, even at that age.

There was indeed a man, however.

As I remember it, he was sitting near where the ball hit the stairs. As it shot up in the air, he fell over into the aisle where he was waiting for it to come back down. I got up from our seats, ran down a few steps, held my glove over the man, and then promptly returned back to our seats with my new prize in hand. I likely had an enormously silly grin on my face.

I have no idea how this guy may have reacted when this all happened.

I probably didn’t care at the time.

There have been other foul balls I’ve gotten my hands on at games. Twice I caught one while attending games at Pawtucket, the former home of Boston’s Triple-A affiliate. There was almost a third instance, but the sun got in my eyes at the last moment and the guy a row behind us grabbed it before I could. My daughter even got a ball tossed up from the PawSox bullpen after one game.

While these all only hold sentimental value — I still have them all, except the Vaughn ball — none of them would ever sell for anything at auction. These were run-of-the-mill foul balls. Dozens of them happen every game.

The balls hit in historic moments though? Now those can sell for an exceptional price at auction.

Freddie Freeman hit a first-pitch homer to center field in Game 1 of the World Series, the first walk-off grand slam in WS history. The reaction by the Dodgers faithful was understandably intense.

The ball hit by Freeman wound up at the feet of 10-year-old Zachary Ruderman, who attended the game with his father. Ruderman’s family elected to sell the ball at auction through SCP Auctions, according to MLB.com’s Paul Casella, and it sold on Saturday for $1.56M.

Only two baseballs have ever sold for a higher price: Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from this season and Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball from 1998.

Shortly after setting a new single-season home run record, McGwire’s 70th homer ball was famously sold at auction to comic book artist Todd McFarlane (the creator of Spawn) for an astounding $3.05M. The sum seemed absurd at the time and that was long before baseball’s (and the world’s) economics became what they are today (the average MLB salary in 1998 was $1.4M, in 2024 it was $5M).

McFarlane also purchased Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run in 2001 (though that one only cost $500,000).

The ball from Ohtani’s 50th homer, however, is a different animal.

September 19 at Miami’s LoanDepot Park was simply a historic night for Ohtani. He had six hits on the night, including two doubles and three home runs, driving in ten. He also stole a pair of bases. The Dodgers won handily, 20-4.

The second homer of Ohtani’s night was the 50th of his season, making him the first player in MLB history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in the same year. The ball wound up in the hands of a fan identified as Christian Zacek, according to Abby Montanez at Yahoo! Sports, though it’s worth noting there are ongoing lawsuits challenging the ball’s initial ownership.

Despite the suits, the ball was sold through Goldin Auctions for a final price of $4.392M. (Though technically the sale price was closer to $3.6M; Goldin charges a 22% fee to the buyer which brought the final price to that $4.4M mark).

The next most expensive baseballs ever sold:

• Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run in 2022 sold for $1.5M

• Babe Ruth’s home run in the 1933 All-Star Game sold for $805,000

• Barry Bonds’ 756th career home run sold for $752,000

Do you still want to deny that catching a ball at a game could be pretty awesome??