NEW YORK (Reuters) – An 18-year-old baseball fan has filed a lawsuit claiming he is the rightful owner of Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 home-run ball, hoping to stop a scheduled auction for the piece of memorabilia. Japanese Ohtani, 30, recorded one of baseball’s all-time greatest achievements last week when he became the […]
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Baseball-Fan sues to stop sale of Ohtani 50-50 home-run ball
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NEW YORK (Reuters) – An 18-year-old baseball fan has filed a lawsuit claiming he is the rightful owner of Los Angeles Dodgers slugger Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 home-run ball, hoping to stop a scheduled auction for the piece of memorabilia.
Japanese Ohtani, 30, recorded one of baseball’s all-time greatest achievements last week when he became the first MLB player to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season during a 20-4 victory over the Miami Marlins.
Plaintiff Max Matus said in a lawsuit filed on Wednesday in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court that he grabbed Ohtani’s 50th home run ball after it flew over the left field wall but that another fan, Chris Belanski, wrested it from his hand.
Reuters was not immediately able to locate Belanski or Kelvin Ramirez, who was also named in the lawsuit and attended the game with Belanski.
The ball is set to go to auction on Friday at Goldin Auctions, with an initial bid set at $500,000. Goldin did not immediately respond to a request for comment but told ESPN it would proceed with the auction after reviewing Matus’ claims.
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York, editing by Ed Osmond)