During his team’s game against the Miami Marlins on September 19, the 30-year-old Japanese hitter became the first player in baseball history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a single season.
A sports ball has never sold for more at auction than the £3.39 million the unidentified bidder paid.
The previous highest amount ever paid for a baseball at auction was £2.3 million ($3 million) in 1999 for Mark McGwire’s historic ball from the 1998 Major League Baseball season.
The ’50-50 ball’, which is Ohtani’s ball, is contested as having full possession.
In a lawsuit, 18-year-old Max Matus claimed that he caught Ohtani’s 50th home run and that another spectator yanked it away.
A man named Chris 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” after Matus momentarily had possession of it.
