A Florida man filed a lawsuit Thursday aimed at stopping the planned auction of the ball Shohei Ohtani hit for his 50th home run, claiming it was wrested from him and that he is the owner.
Max Matus is seeking an injunction to stop the auction, scheduled to be conducted beginning Friday by Goldin Auctions.
Matus said he was in the crowd at loanDepot Park in Miami, celebrating his 18th birthday on Sept. 19, when the Los Angeles Dodgers superstar hit the historic home run in a 20-4 win over the Marlins. In the game, Ohtani homered three times and stole two bases to become the first player in baseball history to hit the 50 home run/50 stolen base in a season milestone.
In the lawsuit, Matus contends he grabbed the ball in his left hand after it went over the left-field fence. It was briefly in his possession before a man identified as Chris Belanski “wrapped his legs around Max’s arm and used his hands to wrangle the ball out of Max’s hand, stealing the ball for himself.”
The suit names the auction house, Belanski and Kelvin Ramirez, a Belanski friend, as defendants in the case filed in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Dade County.
The filing includes photos taken by other fans that Matus contends support his claim, including one that shows Belanski showing off the ball in front of a stunned Matus.
Goldin, which has set the opening bid at $500,000, told collectible media site cllct that it intends to go through with the auction. Anyone who wants to buy the ball outright can do so for $4.5 million until Oct. 9.
“We are aware of the case that has been filed,” a Goldin spokesperson 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. While Goldin has been named as a party in the case, there are no allegations of wrongdoing by the company.”
Matus’ case also asks the court to order that the ball be kept in a secure location and to prevent Goldin, Belanski or Ramirez from selling it.
“Max has suffered irreparable harm because of the nature of the unique, irreplaceable 50/50 Ball,” the lawsuit reads. “Ohtani is currently the best baseball player in the country, and this ball represents a new record established by Ohtani. As a result, there is no adequate remedy at law that can replace this unique and extraordinary 50/50 Ball.”
