Will 55/55 Mean More? Why Fan Who Caught Shohei Ohtani 50/50 Ball Might Be Losing Thousands By The Hour

The baseball fan who caught Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani's historic 50/50 baseball had to make a quick decision on the spot: Does he hand the baseball to Major League Baseball officials in exchange for some autographed memorabilia, or does he take the ball to the open market?

The unnamed fan, who can be seen on video catching the ball, chose not to make a deal and left the Miami Marlins' LoanDepot Park with it, much to the chagrin of MLB and Dodgers officials. 

One thing's for certain: that fan better sell the ball NOW before Ohtani continues to hit more home runs and steal more bases. 

"50/50 is great, but what happens if he goes for 55/55, or 55/53, or could you imagine 60/60? That's where the real value is, and with each passing day and home run that is hit, the ball loses value," Brandon Steiner of CollectibleXchange told OutKick in an interview earlier today.

DRAMA SURROUNDING AUTHENTICATING THE BASEBALL

After Shohei Ohtani hit his 49th home run, MLB began changing out baseballs anytime Ohtani came to the plate as they awaited his historic 50th home run. 

As I exclusively reported in a 2022 story about fan Bryant Junco who caught Aaron Judge's American League right-handed hitter's record 59th home run, each potential historic baseball has three special markings: A numbered code that can be seen under a backlight; a marking that can be seen to the visible eye; as well as another identifier that ONLY MLB's proprietary technology can reveal. (In Judge's case, MLB was able to recover and/or make deals with fans for home run balls 56, 57, 58, 60 and 61, with 59 still in possession of fan and subject of the story I did, Bryant Junco, who can't get it authenticated by MLB without what he says was MLB taking full possession of it with no guarantee of getting the ball back. Judge's record-breaking 62nd home run ball went to private auction for $1.5 million).

Darren Rovell of Cllct Media reported that MLB did in fact authenticate the ball "with a hologram," and that "the guy is in the clear," should he want to sell it at auction.

"I think the ball could get $1 million because it's arguably one of the best single-game performances by a player in Major League Baseball history," Rovell told me. "When you take the totality of the situation, the lore of the story adds value." 

MLB authenticating the ball on the spot is a change in policy from recent years, as Bryant Junco experienced firsthand.

And although there will always be private collectors and auction houses that would still sell the ball without MLB's official authentication and can verify the ball via photo matching and other means, the value would be less if the Ohtani fan didn't get that special MLB hologram. 

MLB's INTIMIDATION TACTICS 

"Yes, the value of the ball significantly decreases [without MLB's proprietary authentication] by I would say 50%," Ken Goldin of Goldin Collectibles and Netflix's King of Collectibles told me.

The difference in the price of the ball could be staggering, as Goldin believes that if the ball was unauthenticated it would go for $150,000+, but now that it is indeed verified, that price just skyrocketed. He adds that Goldin Co. would be interested in speaking with the Ohtani fan to try and bring it to their auction house.

"I don’t know when Major League Baseball started doing it, but years ago they would authenticate anything; whether the team got it back or the fan kept it. Now it seems they’re trying to bully fans into saying they would only authenticate it if they give it back to the player or the team gets it," Goldin continued. ",I do not understand this. I think it is wrong, and I think Major League Baseball should change it… I hate this policy." 

Bryant Junco retrieved Aaron Judge's 59th home run ball which clearly shows MLB's "hidden" numbered markings for authenticity. 

(BRYANT JUNCO )

WHAT WOULD YOU DO?

Goldin has a point, as other MLB fans such as Junco have experienced in what he alluded to as "a shake down," or "intimidation tactics" in order to get the piece of memorabilia from the fan. One has to realize that the MLB authenticator and officials at a historic game essentially have one job - to get the ball back. The strong-arm tactics of "it's this or nothing," usually work, but clearly not Thursday night for the Ohtani 50/50 ball that was authenticated despite the fan maintaining possession of it.

It's unclear if this is a change in MLB policy regarding ALL fan-caught memorabilia or if it just happened to be different for Ohtani's game Thursday night. MLB has found themselves at the height of scrutiny by fans and on social media about their tactics when trying to retrieve record-setting mementos.

Regardless, one thing is definitely for certain and that is, time is of the essence.

As Brandon Steiner reiterated to me, "The record-breaking 50 home run ball is worth something, but the big money would be with whoever gets the final home run ball that Ohtani hits this year. Imagine if he hits 55 or 60 home runs? Or goes 60/60? That's the ball people will want and will go for the most money."

WOULD YOU LEAVE WITH AN UNAUTHENTICATED BASEBALL AND TAKE YOUR CHANCE AT THE MARKET? HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE OHTAHI 50/50 BALL GOES FOR?  TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow with your thoughts!