Oct 4, 2024
On Sept. 19, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run to left field in Miami, making him the first baseball player ever to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season.
After a scrum for the historic ball, Chris Belanski emerged with it and put it up for auction with Goldin a few days later. The courts will have to decide what happens next.
At least three people are claiming ownership of the ball, with two of them suing Belanski and each other in Florida courts. Earlier this week, Joseph Davidov filed a suit in Florida’s 11th judicial circuit court against Belanski, Belanski’s friend Kelvin Ramirez, and 18-year-old Max Matus. Davidov is seeking possession of the ball, an injunction to stop the auction and more than $50,000 in damages.
Davidov’s suit follows a similar one from Matus, who is suing Belanski, Ramirez, and Goldin, and also seeking an injunction against selling the ball. Both Davidov and Matus claim they had possession of the ball and lost it by having their arm pinned, with Matus’s suit specifically naming Belanski for trapping his arm between his legs while Davidov’s suit says “an unknown fan” did him in.
The highest bid for the ball is currently sitting at $1.8 million, with the auction set to close Oct. 22. The ball can’t formally be sold until after a hearing scheduled for Oct. 10, which stems from Matus’s suit in Miami-Dade County Court.
Source: Front Office Sports