The 18-Year-Old Suing for Possession of Shohei Ohtani's 50th HR Ball That Got Taken From Him Can Piss All the Way Off
The Shohei Ohtani home run that gave him exclusive membership in baseball's 50/50 club was a moment never to be forgotten. Majestic. Historic. Indelible. Unforgettable.
And if there's one thing that is certain when it comes to sports for every adjective you can apply to a piece of memorabilia, the price of the object goes up. It's simple Adam Smith, supply and demand, laissez-faire capitalism. Scarcity leads to value. If someone could flood the market with 50th home run balls from the bat of a guy who also stole his 50th base in a game where he had three homers, six hits and drove in 10 runs, then they'd lose all their value. But there's only this one. And it will be the only, from today until the ending of the world. So it's worth a lot.
It follows then that when an object as valuable as this sports souvenir Golden Ticket lands into a big crowd, people were going to go to war over it. And they have:
Source - Goldin Auctions CEO Ken Goldin announced Wednesday his auction house had secured Shohei Ohtani's 50th home run ball from the man who came away from a scrum with the valued piece of memorabilia last week.
Hours later, attorneys for 18-year-old Max Matus filed a lawsuit against Goldin and the man who emerged with the ball, Chris Belanski, and his friend who is marketing the ball, Kelvin Ramirez, saying the ball was in fact Matus' first. ...
Matus is seeking injunctive relief to stop the sale of the ball, which the suit claims, among other things, was taken from him as a result of civil battery. He is asking the court to stipulate Matus is the rightful owner of the ball.
Goldin Auctions is set to begin taking bids Friday, with the opening bid at $500,000. The ball also can be purchased immediately for $4.5 million at any point up until Oct. 9. ...
The suit says Matus was able to "firmly grab the ball in his left hand, successfully obtaining possession of the 50-50 ball."
Belanski, who had remained anonymous before the lawsuit, "wrapped his legs around Max's arm and used his hands to wrangle the ball out of Max's hands, stealing the ball for himself," the suit claims. Belanski then had the ball authenticated by Major League Baseball before the leaving the ballpark with the piece of history. ...
"He's not an aggressive person," father Greg said of Max in an interview with cllct. "He was a kid at a baseball game trying to catch a ball."
I have so many thoughts. But I'll begin with a story. It's from former Yankee pitcher Jim Bouton's controversial tell-all Ball Four. Early in the book, Bouton describes how as a kid, he was at a game and went chasing after a foul ball in the stands. Only to get there at the same time as another kid, who was obviously poorer and likely from a much worse neighborhood than the suburban Bouton. That kid came away with the ball. "I wanted that ball," Bouton explains. "He had to have it."
The point being, that in this life, most of the time things go to the ones who desire them most. The ones who are willing to pay the price and do whatever it takes to get that they want.
Greg Matus' son is "not an aggressive person"? Who's fault is that? A little aggressiveness and he might be sitting on $4.5 million.
"He was a kid at a baseball game trying to catch a ball"? Tough shit. First of all, "kids" of 18 years old are leading platoons in hostile territory around the globe. Second, let's not pretend this was some batting practice ball at your nearby Single-A affiliate. Everybody in those stands knew exactly what was at stake. That there were millions stitched into that cowhide. And to the victor was going the spoils. If you can't get a voting age adult male to savagely fight tooth and nail in order to make himself instantly wealthy, I don't know what to tell you. Consider this a teachable moment.
Why should we feel bad for Max? The whole history of the world has been about younger, stronger, healthier males challenging older ones for dominance. In wars. For control of tribes and kingdoms. For power, wealth, women. And in sports memorabilia. Sometimes youth and vigor win out. Sometimes age and experience seizes the opportunity. Life is a meritocracy. It's Adam Smith, but it's also Darwin. The fittest survive. And the weaker, less aggressive betas have their dads hire lawyers. Consider me on Team Belanski all the way.