Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball could be worth $500,000. It slipped through these fans’ hands
Ryan Wold nearly had history within his grasp. Instead it grazed off his fingertips.
Max Matus actually had history in his hand, but eventually lost his grip.
Both of them were on hand Thursday for the Dodgers-Miami Marlins game at LoanDepot Park, where L.A. superstar Shohei Ohtani became the first MLB player to reach 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
Perhaps you’ve seen videos of the mad scramble in the left-center field stands following Ohtani’s 50th home run. Wold is the guy in the Marlins tank top who had the first two shots at snagging the historic ball.
“It went above us and I saw it ricochet. I tried to get it at that time, but I was a little far at that point,” Wold told The Times in a phone interview Friday. “And then it pretty much bounced right off the table in front of me, and as it was right there, I stuck my hand out and it grazed the very tips [of my fingers]. By the time it fell down off the table, there were three people right on top of it.
What unfolded at loanDepot Park on Thursday transcended what many thought ever possible in the sport — even for someone like Shohei Ohtani.
“It’s just such a crazy moment because it happens so fast. I thought I had the reach for it — I didn’t. And then some other guy got it, and by that point it was kind of too late to jump down and try and get in the scuffle.”
Asked if he thinks there was anything more he could have done to pull in the ball while it was so close, Wold laughed.
“For sure. I could’ve just plunged out, I guess — definitely would’ve gotten hurt,” said Wold, a Palm Beach, Fla., resident who attended the game with a group of his co-workers from Franklin Street real estate.
“It was really just cool just being there for that moment.”
By becoming the first player to achieve 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season, Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani deserves to be MVP for a third time.
Matus was there celebrating his 18th birthday with his father, Greg Matus, a co-worker of Wold’s. Wearing a red shirt and powder blue hat, Max Matus can be seen in video footage struggling for the ball with a man in a black T-shirt.
That man, who appears to be in his 40s, eventually emerged with the ball, as a clearly frustrated Max Matus looked on. Greg Matus told The Times on Friday that his son is “obviously upset about it, but he’s doing fine.”
“I think he was disappointed that he had a ball in his hands and some guy took it away from him,” Greg Matus said. “Obviously after the fact, everybody’s talking about hey the ball’s worth millions of dollars or whatever they’re saying. But in the moment I think he was just a kid trying to catch a ball in the outfield at the game.”
Overall, he said, the game was a positive experience. Ohtani put on a show, going six for six with three home runs, 10 runs batted in and two steals as the Dodgers claimed a 20-4 victory and clinched a 12th straight National League postseason berth.
“We had a great time,” Greg Matus said. “Obviously super disappointed about not catching that ball now, knowing how it’s going to affect history, but totally just a great, crazy atmosphere. When that ball got hit, it was just mayhem. People jumping over tables, landing on people. … I’m actually glad my son didn’t get hurt.”
The man who got the 50-50 ball immediately was whisked away by security. Darren Rovell of cllct reported that the fan was taken to an undisclosed location where the authenticity of his ball was verified by the league.
Craig Mish, senior baseball correspondent at the Miami Herald, reported that the fan kept the ball rather than give it to the Dodgers. Ohtani said after the game that he hadn’t received the ball.
The Dodgers declined to comment for this story. The Marlins and MLB did not respond to messages from The Times.
Former Dodgers star Shawn Green calls Shohei Ohtani the greatest player who has ever lived after Ohtani broke Green’s franchise home run record.
Brendan Wells, vice president at SCP Auctions in Laguna Niguel, said Friday his company believes the ball “is worth half a million dollars, maybe even more based on the significance of that milestone,” provided that the owner acts quickly while Thursday’s events still are fresh in everybody’s minds.
Wold acknowledged that the ball is “very valuable” but said he probably would have kept the memento had he pulled it in.
“My dad’s a big baseball fan and [so are] his brothers, so I definitely would have wanted to involve them in the experience of it just because it’s such a big part of history,” Wold said.
He added: “I think something like that is unique. I mean, maybe eventually I’d sell it, but my parents live in New Jersey, I live in Florida, so maybe give them a chance to touch it, something like that.”
Shohei Ohtani has made plenty of money for the Dodgers, but with his 50-50 accomplishment coming in Miami, the Dodgers missed out on some additional revenue.
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