Judge allows Ohtani 50/50 ball auction to go on
-
Dan Hajducky, ESPN
Goldin Auctions will proceed with its scheduled auction of the coveted Shohei Ohtani 50/50 home run ball following a Florida judge’s ruling late Thursday.
Max Matus, an 18-year-old fan who says he is the rightful owner of the ball, had filed a civil lawsuit Wednesday seeking a temporary injunction to halt the auction, which is scheduled to open Friday.
Matus’s lawyer, John Uustal, said Thursday the auction will go live Friday, but that the judge scheduled a full evidentiary hearing for Oct. 10 and that the Ohtani ball cannot be sold before that date.
“The judge asked us to try to work it out,” Uustal, of the Kelley-Uustal law firm in Florida, told ESPN. “We were asking for an emergency injunctive relief, saying, ‘If the ball is sold, there’s no way to put the horse back in the barn and make disappear’ — and there would be irreparable harm, so, we want to maintain the status quo.”
Uustal said the auction house wanted to start the auction Friday and keep the scheduled end date, which is Oct. 16, but that the judge was willing to have a full hearing before the end of the auction.
“So, as long it was absolutely clear that the ball could not actually be sold — which it now is, by court order — until after this hearing, then we were agreeable to that,” Uustal said. “So, I think everybody’s protected now. The court’s going to make his ruling based on our evidence on Oct. 10.”
A spokesperson from Goldin told ESPN that the auction house is “excited to bring this item to the market.”
The Matus lawsuit, which also names Chris Belanski and Kelvin Ramirez, says Belanski “wrongfully and forcefully” obtained possession of the ball from Matus in the stands and that Belanski and Ramirez have indicated on social media their plans to sell the ball.
Matus’ lawsuit said that on Sept. 19, he was at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Florida, to celebrate his 18th birthday and recording the game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and Miami Marlins on his phone when Ohtani hit his 50th home run. The suit says he was standing by the fence in left field when he saw the ball coming toward him. When he went to try to get it, the suit says, he “successfully grabbed” it in his left hand and intended to keep it.
Matus says “a muscular, older man” then trapped his arm “in between his legs and wrangled the 50/50 Ball out of Max’s left hand.” The suit says Matus was the rightful owner of the ball before it was “forcefully taken away from him” by Belanski.
“If defendants are allowed to sell the 50/50 Ball, Plaintiff will be irreparably harmed as the 50/50 Ball is a unique one-of-a-kind item that cannot be replaced. Once the 50/50 Ball is sold, Plaintiff will likely be unable to get it back and no monetary damages will be adequate to replace it,” the lawsuit reads.
The suit asked that the ball be kept in a secure location mutually agreed upon by both parties pending the outcome of the litigation.
Video of the moment the ball landed in the stands has been posted on social media.
The opening bid with Goldin, now owned by eBay, is $500,000.
Belanski and Ramirez could not be reached.
Ohtani is the only player in baseball history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in the same season. He hit three home runs and stole two bases in the same game against the Miami Marlins on Sept. 19 to achieve baseball history.
-
Alden Gonzalez
LOS ANGELES — Tyler Glasnow was put on the injured list Monday with what the Los Angeles Dodgers described as shoulder inflammation, joining fellow frontline starter Blake Snell, who has been sidelined by a similar injury.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Glasnow’s right shoulder is structurally sound but is also dealing with what Roberts called “overall body soreness.”
Glasnow gave up back-to-back homers in Sunday’s first inning against the Pittsburgh Pirates, then was removed from the game after experiencing discomfort while warming up for the second. Afterward, Glasnow expressed frustration at his constant string of injuries and speculated that his latest ailment might stem from the mechanical adjustments he made to improve the health of his elbow.
Glasnow sat out the 2½ months of last season — including the playoffs — with what was initially diagnosed as an elbow sprain, a big reason why the Dodgers were relegated to only three starting pitchers in their march toward a World Series title. Now, he is one of eight starting pitchers on the Dodgers’ injured list.
One of those arms, Tony Gonsolin, will be activated Wednesday to make his first major league start in 20 months. But the Dodgers are short enough on pitching that they’ll have to stage a bullpen game the day before.
“Pitching is certainly volatile,” said Roberts, who added journeyman right-hander Noah Davis to the roster in Glasnow’s place. “We experienced it last year and essentially every year. I think the thing that’s probably most disconcerting is the bullpen leading Major League Baseball in innings. When you’re talking about the long season, the starters are built up to go take those innings down. That’s sort of where my head is at as far as trying to make sure we don’t redline these guys in the pen.”
Dodgers relievers entered Monday’s series opener against the Miami Marlins having accumulated 121⅓ innings, 7⅔ more than the Chicago White Sox, who are already on a 122-loss pace.
Glasnow and Snell aren’t expected to be out for a prolonged period, but their timetables are uncertain. Clayton Kershaw could return before the end of May, but Shohei Ohtani might not serve as a two-way player until after the All-Star break. Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Roki Sasaki could temporarily assume a traditional five-day schedule, as opposed to the once-a-week routine they’ve been following, but the Dodgers have only four starting pitchers on their active roster.
Glasnow, 31, is in his 10th year in the big leagues but has never compiled more than 134 innings in a season, a mark he set last year. The Dodgers acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays and subsequently signed him to a five-year, $136.56 million extension in December 2023 with the thought that his injury issues might be behind him.
“Tyler said it — very frustrating,” Roberts said. We’re just trying to get to the bottom of it.”
-
Sports3 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway