Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball sells for record $4.4M - What now?
LOS ANGELES - The person who won Shohei Ohtani's historic 50th home run ball at auction is from Asia, according to Ken Goldin, the man who heads up the auction house that sold the ball.
Goldin, the CEO of Goldin Auctions, said the ball that sold Tuesday night, "for a new all-time record" $4.4 million. But, the Ohtani ball is not your regular baseball, Goldin says.
"This baseball is the actual 50th home run baseball that was hit by Shohei Ohtani the night he joined the 50 steals/50 home run club, and he did it on a night [when] he had three home runs, 10 RBIs, went 6-for-6 with two stolen bases... The greatest single game offensive performance in history," Goldin said.
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According to Goldin, there were millions of people viewing the auction page, over 1,000 registered to bid, 40 active bidders from five countries, including the U.S. and Japan, and in the end, more than two bidders were trying to outbid each other for the ball.
"The person buying this ball loves baseball and loves what happened, and they want to be part of history," Goldin said.
On the legal side of things, Goldin said he struck a deal with the man who caught the ball, and two other people who've filed lawsuits claiming they sold the ball, in order to put it up for auction.
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"This guy is going to give us the money," Goldin said, about the auction winner. "We're going to give him the ball. He's done. He's completely done forever. Goldin Auctions is done forever."
After that, Goldin said the money will be held in Miami, where the three parties who claimed ownership of the ball before the auction will have to figure out how and if the money is split. "They can either agree on a split or a settlement, or they can fight it out in Miami court," Goldin said. Miami will hold their money until they do that.
The person who won the ball, Goldin said, plans to watch the World Series in Los Angeles and New York, and then he will be revealed.