ESPN MLB insider Author of “The Arm: Inside the Billion-Dollar Mystery of the Most Valuable Commodity in Sports”
Aaron Judge‘s record-setting 62nd home run ball is headed to auction later this month, with the attorney for the Texas man who caught it telling ESPN he already turned down a $3 million offer for the prize snagged Oct. 4 at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas.
Cory Youmans, a 35-year-old from Dallas, told ESPN that “after weeks of a lot of deep conversations” with his wife, sports reporter Bri Amaranthus, and his lawyer, Dave Baron, they decided to sell the ball with the Goldin Auctions house.
“It seems fair in the sense it gives anyone that is interested and has the means the opportunity to own it,” Youmans said. “As a fan, I’m curious to see what it’s worth, who buys it and what they do with it.”
Discussions with a Yankees security official on the night Youmans caught the ball were pleasant, he said, but did not lead to a deal to return to Judge the home run that broke the American League record that had held since 1961.
Judge, who is expected to win the AL MVP award Thursday, said the night of the home run: “It’d be great to get it back, but that’s a souvenir for a fan. They made a great catch out there, and they’ve got every right to it.”
The most expensive baseball ever sold at auction was Mark McGwire’s then-record 70th home run in the 1998 season, which went for $3.05 million to comic book artist Todd McFarlane.
“We’ve already had an offer for $3 million,” said Baron, Youmans’ attorney. “Talking to the auction people, they don’t really commit to a number, but they said it just could be significantly higher based on New York, the New York fan base and how crazy it could get at an auction.”
The night Youmans caught the home run indeed was wild. The congratulations from nearby fans. The misinformation about him that circulated almost immediately on social media. Sneaking out of the stadium. And the realization that he was in possession of the sports equivalent of a winning lottery ticket.
It all started when a friend offered a ticket to the game and Youmans agreed to go for one particular reason.
“This game was all about seeing Aaron Judge in person,” Youmans said. “I am still in awe of his ability. As a baseball fan and an American, I’m just so happy Aaron is the face of America’s pastime. It’s his moment, and he’s the right man for it.”
Judge had stalled on 61 home runs going into the Yankees’ 161st game of the season. Leading off in the first inning, he hit the third pitch he saw — an 88 mph slider from Texas Rangers starter Jesus Tinoco — toward the left-field seats. When the ball cleared the infield, Youmans realized it was coming in his direction. He had never caught a baseball at a game. He kept telling himself not to drop it.
“I have this fear of ending up on SportsCenter Not Top 10,” Youmans said, “so my initial feeling was pure relief that I wasn’t the guy that dropped No. 62 or ended up wearing my beer.”
He did neither. His glove extended in front of one on the hand of a Grand Prairie, Texas, man named Todd Smith, and when the ball popped in it, fans patted Youmans on the back, congratulated him and watched security whisk him toward a room where he paced for a few minutes.
Yankees executive director of security Eddie Fastook arrived and said if Youmans wanted to meet Judge and exchange the ball for memorabilia, photographs and tickets, he would be the one to arrange that. Youmans said he preferred not to decide on the spot — “Eddie is great at his job,” he said, “so telling him no was really hard” — and waited for an authenticator to check the ball. The special markings on balls thrown to Judge as he approached Roger Maris’ record confirmed Youmans was holding No. 62, and an authentication sticker affixed to the ball endorsed that.
With the ball verified, Youmans asked if he could leave the stadium. Two security personnel spirited him to a golf cart and snaked through the interior of the stadium so Youmans could avoid any hassle. He stopped to meet Rangers owner Ray Davis and president Neil Leibman before departing through the players’ entrance.
On the drive home, Youmans received a text from Amaranthus asking if he was near their apartment. Someone had shared their address on social media. Rather than stay the night and risk any issues, Youmans and Amaranthus packed their dog in the car and spent a few days at a friend’s house.
The social media speculation alluding to Youmans’ wealth, he said, was spurious. While he does work in financial services, he said, “We are not millionaires, and we enjoy the $3 red blend from Trader Joe’s as much as anything.” He and Amaranthus, he said, have been saving to buy their first house, and Youmans hopes to build a shop for his grandfather, a retired welder who works on classic cars, recently celebrated his 50th wedding anniversary and had been planning to move. Youmans moved in with his grandparents at 13, he said, and his grandfather delayed retirement to send him to private school, following which Youmans became the first college graduate in his family.
After being diagnosed with melanoma earlier this year, Youmans said he and Amaranthus refocused their priorities, vowing to travel the world. “Meeting people from different cultures is a major priority for us at this stage of life,” Youmans said, and selling the ball would allow for such adventures.
Youmans said he wanted to lend the ball to the Yankees to display during the postseason, “but unfortunately it didn’t materialize.” He remained silent publicly, he said, not to distract the Yankees during their playoff run, which ended in an AL Championship Series sweep by the Houston Astros.
Ideally, Youmans said, the ball would wind up with Judge, the Yankees or the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but the conduit will need to run through the auction, which Goldin said on its Instagram page would start Nov. 29.
Some of the money could find its way to Judge’s All Rise Foundation — similar to the large donations of Philip Ozersky, who caught McGwire’s 70th home run and supported multiple charities. Youmans said he contacted the foundation and that its “mission really resonates with me: to inspire children to have hope for their future.
“It’s a full-circle moment for me,” Youmans said, “because 25 years ago, I would have benefited from their help and would love to pay it forward.”
OCEANPORT, N.J. — Journalism launched a dramatic rally to win the $1 million Haskell Invitational on Saturday at Monmouth Park.
It was Journalism’s first race since the Triple Crown. He was the only colt to contest all three legs, winning the Preakness while finishing second to Sovereignty in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes.
Heavily favored at 2-5 odds, Journalism broke poorly under jockey Umberto Rispoli and wound up trailing the early leaders. He kicked into gear rounding the final turn to find Gosger and Goal Oriented locked in a dogfight for the lead. It appeared one of them would be the winner until Journalism roared down the center of the track to win by a half-length.
“You feel like you’re on a diesel,” Rispoli said. “He’s motoring and motoring. You never know when he’s going to take off. To do what he did today again, it’s unbelievable.”
Gosger held on for second, a neck ahead of Goal Oriented.
The Haskell victory was Journalism’s sixth in nine starts for Southern California-based trainer Michael McCarthy, and earned the colt a berth in the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar on Nov. 1.
DOVER, Del. — Chase Elliott took advantage of heavy rain at Dover Motor Speedway to earn the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race.
Elliott and the rest of the field never got to turn a scheduled practice or qualifying lap on Saturday because of rain that pounded the concrete mile track. Dover is scheduled to hold its first July race since the track’s first one in 1969.
Elliott has two wins and 10 top-five finishes in 14 career races at Dover.
Logano is set to become the youngest driver in NASCAR history with 600 career starts.
Logano will be 35 years, 1 month, 26 days old when he hits No. 600 on Sunday at Dover Motor Speedway. He will top seven-time NASCAR champion and Hall of Famer Richard Petty by six months.
The midseason tournament that pays $1 million to the winner pits Ty Dillon vs. John Hunter Nemechek and Reddick vs. Gibbs in the head-to-head challenge at Dover.
The winners face off next week at Indianapolis. Reddick is the betting favorite to win it all, according to Sportsbook.
DOVER, Del. — NASCAR race team owner Denny Hamlin remained undeterred in the wake of another setback in court, vowing “all will be exposed” in the scheduled December trial as part of 23XI Racing’s federal antitrust suit against the auto racing series.
A federal judge on Thursday rejected a request from 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports to continue racing with charters while they battle NASCAR in court, meaning their six cars will race as open entries this weekend at Dover, next week at Indianapolis and perhaps longer than that in a move the teams say would put them at risk of going out of business.
U.S. District Judge Kenneth Bell denied the teams’ bid for a temporary restraining order, saying they will make races over the next couple of weeks and they won’t lose their drivers or sponsors before his decision on a preliminary injunction.
Bell left open the possibility of reconsidering his decision if things change over the next two weeks.
After this weekend, the cars affected may need to qualify on speed if 41 entries are listed – a possibility now that starting spots have opened.
The case has a Dec. 1 trial date, but the two teams are fighting to be recognized as chartered for the current season, which has 16 races left. A charter guarantees one of the 40 spots in the field each week, but also a base amount of money paid out each week.
“If you want answers, you want to understand why all this is happening, come Dec. 1, you’ll get the answers that you’re looking for,” Hamlin said Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway. “All will be exposed.”
23XI, which is co-owned by retired NBA great Michael Jordan, and FRM filed their federal suit against NASCAR last year after they were the only two organizations out of 15 to reject NASCAR’s extension offer on charters.
Jordan and FRM owner Bob Jenkins won an injunction to recognize 23XI and FRM as chartered for the season, but the ruling was overturned on appeal earlier this month, sending the case back to Bell.
Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 winner driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, co-owns 23XI with Jordan and said they were prepared to send Tyler Reddick, Bubba Wallace and Riley Herbst to the track each week as open teams. They sought the restraining order Monday, claiming that through discovery they learned NASCAR planned to immediately begin the process of selling the six charters which would put “plaintiffs in irreparable jeopardy of never getting their charters back and going out of business.”
Hamlin said none of the setbacks have made him second-guess the decision to file the lawsuit.
“Dec. 1 is all that matters. Mark your calendar,” Hamlin said. “I’d love to be doing other things. I’ve got a lot going on. When I get in the car (today), nothing else is going to matter other than that. I always give my team 100%. I always prepare whether I have side jobs, side hustles, more kids, that all matters, but I always give my team all the time that they need to make sure that when I step in, I’m 100% committed.”
Reddick, who has a clause that allows him to become a free agent if the team loses its charter, declined comment Saturday on all questions connected to his future and the lawsuit. Hamlin also declined to comment on Reddick’s future with 23XI Racing.
Reddick, one of four drivers left in NASCAR’s $1 million In-season Challenge, was last year’s regular-season champion and raced for the Cup Series championship in the season finale. But none of the six drivers affected by the court ruling are locked into this year’s playoffs.
Making the field won’t be an issue this weekend at Dover as fewer than the maximum 40 cars are entered. But should 41 cars show up anywhere this season, someone slow will be sent home and that means lost revenue and a lost chance to win points in the standings.
“Nothing changes from my end, obviously, and nothing changes from inside the shop,” Front Row Motorsports driver Zane Smith said. “There’s not typically even enough cars to worry about transferring in.”
Smith, 24th in the standings and someone who would likely need a win to qualify for NASCAR’s playoffs, said he stood behind Jenkins in his acrimonious legal fight that has loomed over the stock car series for months.
“I leave all that up to them,” Smith said, “but my job is to go get the 38 the best finish I can.”