The historic 50th home run ball hit by Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani is set to be auctioned, but a new lawsuit could bring the auction to a halt before it begins.
18-year-old Miami native Max Matus has filed a lawsuit claiming that the ball belongs to him, not Chris Belanski, who left LoanDepot Park with the coveted item. Attorneys for Matus filed the lawsuit on Wednesday in Dade County, Florida, against Belanski and the man marketing the ball, Kelvin Ramirez, claiming the ball was “taken from him as a result of civil battery.”
Matus is seeking an injunction to stop the sale of the ball and asking the court to stipulate that he is its rightful owner.
He was seated among a group from the Miami real estate firm Franklin Street at a staff appreciation event, just outside the bullpen at last Thursday’s game between the Dodgers and Marlins. Matus is the son of Franklin Street’s managing director.
According to a report by Darren Rovell and Will Stern, Matus was not the first person to put his hands on the ball. That distinction belonged to Ryan Wold, director of multifamily sales at the firm.
“It just grazed right off my fingertips,” Wold said. “By the time I missed it, there were like three people right there on top of it. It was so fast.”
One of those people was Max Matus.
"The ball bounced off the table, and it went under, and I grabbed it," Matus said. "Then the other guy had my hand between his legs, holding my arm, and took the ball from my hand."
Attorneys for Matus claim that he was "able to firmly grab the ball in his left hand, successfully obtaining possession" before 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 entire scrum was captured on video and posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Goldin Auctions, who will oversee the auction, had no comment on the lawsuit. Bidding is scheduled to begin on Friday, September 27, on eBay with an opening bid of $500,000. Bidders may purchase the ball outright for $4.5 million before October 9 unless bids top $3 million.
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