LOS ANGELES: The ball hit by Japanese celebrity Shohei Ohtani for his fiftieth house run of the season bought for a record-breaking US$4.39 million, public sale home Goldin stated on Wednesday (Oct 23).
The house run noticed Ohtani grow to be the primary participant in Main League Baseball (MLB) historical past to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the identical season.
“Shohei Ohtani made historical past with this baseball, and now, with the best sale value for any ball ever bought, this legendary piece of sports activities memorabilia has made historical past once more,” Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of the public sale home, stated in an announcement to ESPN.
“We obtained bids from world wide, a testomony to the importance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s influence on sports activities, and I am thrilled for the profitable bidder.”
The file value for a baseball was beforehand the US$3.05 million paid for Mark McGwire’s seventieth house run ball of 1998.
Ohtani’s fiftieth house run of the season got here throughout a spectacular offensive outing for the Los Angeles Dodgers towards the Marlins in Miami on Sep 19.
He had six hits in six at-bats, together with two doubles, for a complete of 5 extra-base hits.
He drove in 10 runs, scored 4 himself and stole two bases to assist the Dodgers clinch a postseason berth that can mark Ohtani’s first journey to the MLB playoffs.
Ohtani had already stolen two bases within the first two innings to take his tally to 51 for the season when he turned up the ability on the plate.
He smashed his forty ninth house run of the season within the sixth inning then established the 50-50 membership with a second homer within the seventh – belting a curveball from Mike Baumann into the left area stands at LoanDepot Park.
The fan who caught it reportedly turned down the Dodgers’ provide to buy it for US$300,000 and wasted little time in consigning it with Goldin.
