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.”
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Austin Cindric was docked 50 points and fined $50,000 by NASCAR on Wednesday for intentionally spinning Ty Dillon in last weekend’s Cup Series race at Circuit of the Americas.
Dillon moved Cindric up the track early in the race and Cindric quickly retaliated by hooking Dillon in the right rear, spinning Dillon’s car.
NASCAR has made clear they will not tolerate drivers hooking competitors in the right rear to spin them because of the potential hazards. Bubba Wallace and Chase Elliott have both previously been suspended for similar actions.
The penalty drops Cindric of Team Penske from 11th to 35th in the standings heading into this weekend’s race at Phoenix Raceway.
NASCAR fined Carson Hocevar $50,000 and penalized him 25 points for intentionally wrecking Harrison Burton last year. Hocevar hooked Burton in the right rear while under caution at Nashville Superspeedway.
One of the reasons Cindric was not suspended, per a NASCAR official, is because it happened on a road course with lower speeds and tight confines — and the result didn’t draw a caution flag.
Wallace and Elliott both hooked other drivers on ovals with higher speeds that led to cautions.
In additional penalties announced Wednesday, NASCAR said two members of Kyle Larson‘s pit crew had been suspended two races for a tire coming off his car during last weekend’s Cup race at COTA. Brandon Johnson, the jackman, and front tire changer Blaine Anderson were both suspended.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Chase Briscoe and Joe Gibbs Racing won their appeal Wednesday when the National Motorsports Appeals Panel said his Toyota did not have an illegally modified spoiler when he won the Daytona 500 pole.
The victory restores the 100 points and 10 playoff points NASCAR had penalized Briscoe for the spoiler violation. The team also gets its 100 points and 10 playoff points back, and crew chief James Small’s four-race suspension was rescinded, as was the $100,000 fine to the team.
Briscoe is now tied for 14th in the season standings with Carson Hocevar headed into Sunday’s race at Phoenix Raceway. They are one point ahead of Kyle Larson, who is 16th in the season standings.
“The panel believes that the elongation of some of the holes on the number 19 Cup car spoiler base is caused by the process of attaching that specific spoiler base to the rear deck and not modification of the single source part,” the panel wrote.
Joe Gibbs said he was appreciative of the process “NASCAR has in place that allowed us the opportunity to present our explanation of what led to the penalty issued to our No. 19 team.
“We are thankful for the consideration and ruling by the National Motorsports Appeals Panel,” the team owner added. “It is obviously great news for our 19 team and everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. We look forward to focusing on the remainder of our season starting this weekend in Phoenix.”
Briscoe also thanked the panel and NASCAR on social media “for giving us the option to show our evidence.” He also thanked Joe Gibbs Racing for preparing his car for his debut season with the team.
The appeals panel consisted of former motorsports marketing executive Dixon Johnston, former Speed Channel president Hunter Nickell and former South Boston Speedway general manager Cathy Rice.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — NASCAR’s revenue-sharing charter system is under threat of being disbanded according to a Wednesday counterclaim filed by the stock car series against Michael Jordan-owned 23XI Racing and Front Row Motorsports that singles out Jordan’s longtime business manager.
The contentiousness began after more than two years of negotiations on new charter agreements — NASCAR’s equivalent of a franchise model — and the 30-page filing contends that Jordan business manager Curtis Polk “willfully” violated antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the most recent charter agreements.
23XI and Front Row were the only two organizations out of 15 that refused to sign the new agreements, which were presented to the teams last September in a take-it-or-leave-it offer a mere 48 hours before the start of NASCAR’s playoffs.
The charters were fought for by the teams ahead of the 2016 season and twice have been extended. The latest extension is for seven years to match the current media rights deal and guarantee 36 of the 40 spots in each week’s field to the teams that hold them, as well as other financial incentives. 23XI and Front Row refused to sign and sued, alleging NASCAR and the France family that owns the stock car series are a monopoly.
NASCAR already has lost one round in court in which the two teams have been recognized as chartered organizations for the 2025 season as the legal dispute winds through the courts.
What is NASCAR counterclaiming?
In the new counterclaim, Polk is repeatedly singled out as the ringleader against the current charter proposals. NASCAR attorney Christopher Yates went so far as to tell The Associated Press that Polk, who in addition to being Jordan’s business manager is a co-owner of 23XI along with three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin, does not understand the NASCAR business model.
“Curtis Polk basically orchestrated and threatened a boycott of one of the qualifying races for a major event and others did not go along with him,” Yates said. “He got other teams to boycott a meeting that was required by the charter. When you have a threatened boycott of qualifying races that are covered by media that’s not a good thing for other race teams, not a good thing when you are trying to collectively grow the sport.”
The qualifying race in question was the 2024 pair of 150-mile duels that set the field for the Daytona 500.
“I don’t think Mr. Polk really understands the sport,” Yates told the AP. “I think he came into it and his view is it should be much more like the NBA or other league sports. But it’s not. No motorsport is like that. He’s done a lot of things that might work in the NBA or might be OK in the NBA but just are not appropriate in NASCAR.”
Who is violating the antitrust act?
NASCAR’s complaint alleges “the undisputed reality is that it is 23XI and FRM, led by 23XI’s owner and sports agent Curtis Polk, that willfully violated the antitrust laws by orchestrating anticompetitive collective conduct in connection with the terms of the 2025 Charter Agreements.”
“It is truly ironic that in trying to blow-up the Charter system, 23XI and FRM have sought to weaponize the antitrust laws to achieve their goals,” the counterclaim says, alleging Polk’s threats are “attempting to misuse the legal system as a last resort to secure new terms.”
Bob Jenkins, an entrepreneur, owns Front Row Motorsports and joined 23XI in the lawsuit when he declined to sign the 2025 charter agreement last September.
NASCAR’s counterclaim asks for an injunction eliminating guaranteed starting spots for charter teams. NASCAR wants the four combined charters held by 23XI and Front Row before the lawsuit to be returned to NASCAR, and it wants to dissolve the two charters each team purchased ahead of the 2025 season for their own individual expansion.
“There’s a misperception out there that somehow 23IX and Front Row might achieve something that other teams can take advantage of, and that’s just not right,” Yates told the AP. “This is not going to be a renegotiation. NASCAR has no intent of renegotiating the terms of the charter. Front Row and 23XI are threatening the charter system and its continuation, and NASCAR is fine without the charter system.
“The charter system was created at the request of the teams. That was before 23XI and Curtis Polk’s time, I don’t think they understand that history. But if they succeed with their lawsuit and the charter system goes away, that’s OK.”
What do 23XI and Front Row want?
Yates told the AP he’s asked Jeffrey Kessler, the attorney representing 23XI and Front Row, what is it the two teams want and cannot get a straight answer.
“The mere fact that the lawsuit calls the system into question, I really think 23XI and Front Row are being pretty selfish in terms of what they are trying to do, and I don’t think they are taking into account the 32 teams that have signed the charters and think it is a good deal for them,” Yates said. “Do some of them think they should have gotten more? I’m sure. Does NASCAR think it should have gotten more? Absolutely. But NASCAR does not see the charter system as necessary.”
Jordan has said he’s suing NASCAR on behalf of all the teams so that even the smallest ones can receive equal footing in terms of benefits as a participant in the top motorsports league in the United States.
Among the improvements in the 2025 charters is a more equitable revenue share, but missing is the demand that teams wanted the charters to become permanent. NASCAR at its discretion can claw back charters from underperforming teams or eliminate the system completely. Yates said NASCAR has no intention of renegotiating the charters signed in September by 13 organizations, nor did he see a scenario in which NASCAR settles the lawsuit.
“Polk and 23XI’s other owners openly professed that they wanted to change NASCAR’s economic model by demanding more money for the teams from NASCAR media revenues, instead of teams competing against each other,” Yates said. “However, 23XI and FRM did not merely reject the terms of the 2025 Charters. Rather, those teams embarked on a strategy to threaten, coerce, and extort NASCAR into meeting their demands for better contract and financial terms.”