Auction of Shohei Ohtani 50/50 ball to proceed amid legal dispute

An agreement reached Monday over the fate of the Shohei Ohtani 50/50 home run ball will allow the auction of that ball to proceed while the legal dispute over its ownership continues.

According to a statement from Goldin Auctions and lawyers for plaintiffs in the case, the agreement allows the auction house to continue receiving bids for the ball. Bidding as of Monday was $1.5 million, or $1.83 million with a buyer’s premium. The money eventually paid for the ball will be placed in an account until the pending ownership litigation is resolved. Bidding is scheduled to close Oct. 22.

Two lawsuits have challenged who owns the ball. Max Matus, 18, filed a civil lawsuit in late September claiming he had possession of the ball and asking for a temporary injunction to halt the auction. Judge Spencer Eig of Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court did not grant the injunction. Instead, he scheduled an Oct. 10 hearing and ordered that the ball couldn’t be sold before that date. Then a second fan, Joseph Davidov, filed suit claiming he was the rightful owner of the ball.

Goldin Auctions, in a statement Monday, said the parties involved in litigation agreed that the auction could continue as planned, “without any interference by the pending litigation.” Goldin Auctions said, under the agreement, “all parties want the 50/50 ball to be auctioned by Goldin, and have agreed to convey any and all of their ownership interests in the 50/50 ball to the winner of the auction, giving the winner full assurance that they will receive free and clear title to the 50/50 ball.”

A lawyer with the firm representing Matus confirmed the agreement, which was discussed during a brief hearing Monday in the Florida courtroom. Devon Workman of Workman Injury Law, representing Davidov, also confirmed the details of the agreement to ESPN.

Last week, ESPN asked several legal experts and lawyers involved in previous legal battles over home run ball ownership what issues might arise with Goldin putting the Ohtani ball up for auction while legal disputes play out. Those experts said controversy could affect the potential sale price and raise questions about the eventual clear title of the ball.

“It’s difficult to try to figure out how to proceed, there’s no perfect way,” attorney John Uustal of the Kelley-Uustal law firm in Florida, which represents Matus, told ESPN. “The auction will proceed and whoever wins will have free and clear title. The dispute over ownership will continue in a regular lawsuit instead of an abbreviated, emergency fashion. The downside is the ball is going to get sold. It’s the best way forward, all the parties agreed. … [Judge Eig] asked us to get together to talk about it. [This] just resolves whether the auction can proceed; the lawsuit was still going to proceed either way. There’s still got to be a full lawsuit with a jury trial over ownership.”

With the auction agreement, the Oct. 10 hearing was canceled.

Both Davidov’s and Matus’s lawsuits say their respective plans would have been to keep the ball as a keepsake.

“We’re grateful for the trust and support of all parties regarding the auction of the Shohei Ohtani 50/50 ball,” Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin, said in a statement.

As of Monday, the $1.83 million sum for the Ohtani ball would rank it as the second most expensive baseball auctioned, beating  Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball from the 2022 season, which sold for $1.5 million in late 2022.