A Florida teen celebrating his 18th birthday at a baseball game says he caught the Shohei Ohtani historic 50th home run ball about to be put on auction by the man who allegedly stole it.
Max Matus was in the stands on Sept. 19, his birthday, at the Miami Marlins game where Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani made history as the only player in Major League Baseball to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in one season. The teen filed a lawsuit wherein Matus claims he caught he caught the ball, but it was ripped from his hands by Chris Belanski, who was also in attendance.
Belanski has turned the ball over to New Jersey auction house, Goldin, who plans to put the ball on auction Friday with an opening bid of $500,000.
Matus is requesting a temporary injuction to prevent the auction.
The tussle between Belanski and the teen boy was recorded on video, and screenshots from the video are included in the lawsuit, which alleges that Belanski put his "arm in between his legs and wrangled the 50/50 Ball out of Max's left hand."
In the best video of the struggle for the Ohtani 50th home run ball, it looks like the roughly 30-year age difference won out.
— cllct (@cllctMedia) September 20, 2024
(Credit: Justin Walka) pic.twitter.com/mFl0GuXh08
"We are aware of the case that has been filed," a spokesperson from Goldin told cllct.
"Having reviewed the allegations and images included in the lawsuit, and publicly available video from the game, Goldin plans to go live with the auction of the Ohtani 50-50 ball."
For parties interested in foregoing the auction process, Goldin is offering the ball for immediate purchase at $4.5 million.
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