Thursday afternoon, Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani He became a founding member of the 50-50 club with a monster game against the Miami Marlins (LA 20, MIA 4). Ohtani hit his 49th, 50th and 51st home runs of the season, and also stole his 50th and 51st bases. In total, he went 6-for-6 with two doubles, three homers, two steals and 10 RBIs. That's a good day's work.
Here's Ohtani's historic day. It's the first three-homer, two-steal game in baseball history:
Needless to say, the Dodgers and Ohtani (and the Hall of Famer?) would like to keep the ball that secured the club 50-50. However, they were out of luck Thursday. The fan who caught the ball took it home instead of negotiating a trade.
Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball sold for $1.5 million at auction in 2022. Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball sold for $3 million. More recently, Albert Pujols' 700th home run ball sold for $360,000. Similarly, the 50-50 ball is an important piece of history.
Ohtani is a global icon, and while the 50-50 ball may not make money for McGwire or Judge, it's worth quite a bit of money. It's not something you hand over in exchange for an autographed bat and a selfie, you know? Even if the fan wants to give the ball back to Ohtani and the Dodgers, it's smart to get the proper value. Teams rip off fans with ticket prices. This is a rare opportunity to return the favor.
The Dodgers have nine games left this season, giving Ohtani some time to continue to increase his home run and stolen base totals.
