A lawsuit by a high school senior has been filed to prevent the sale of Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball, which was scheduled to go up for auction Friday with a starting bid at $500,000.
Max Matus, an 18-year-old resident of Broward County, Fla., filed a lawsuit Wednesday in Florida’s 11th Judicial Circuit Court stating that he is the rightful owner of the ball hit by the Dodgers superstar Sept. 19 during a game against the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park.
Matus is seeking an injunction preventing the three defendants — Goldin Auctions LLC, and Florida residents Chris Belanski and Kelvin Ramirez — from “transferring, encumbering, selling, or concealing the 50/50 Ball.”
In addition to ownership of the historic ball, Matus is seeking actual and compensatory damages.
Matus was attending the game on his 18th birthday with his father. Ohtani went six for six with three home runs, 10 runs batted in and two steals as the Dodgers claimed a 20-4 victory. The second home run hit by the Japanese star was his 50th and made him the first MLB player to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season.
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Matus was in the left-center field stands when the ball cleared the wall and, according to the lawsuit, “was able to firmly grab the ball in his left hand, successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 Ball.”
The suit goes on to state: “However, shortly after [Matus] obtained possession, Defendant 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. This interaction between Max and Defendant Belanski was captured on video by multiple fans who were at the game.”
In addition to the count for injunctive relief — which was filed against all the defendants — counts of conversion, trespass to chattel and battery were filed against Belanski. The Times was unable to reach Belanski for comment.
According to the lawsuit, “Defendant Ramirez attended the game with Defendant Belanski and has (wrongfully) claimed ownership interest in the 50/50 Ball on social media.” Ramirez also was unable to be reached for comment.
Goldin did not respond to a request for comment from The Times but told ESPN in a statement it was aware of the lawsuit.
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“Having reviewed the allegations and images included in the lawsuit, and publicly available video from the game, Goldin plans to go live with the auction of the Ohtani 50/50 ball,” the auction house stated.
On Thursday, Matus filed a motion for an emergency temporary injunction to prevent the sale of the ball pending the result of the lawsuit. Judge Spencer Eig deferred the motion until an Oct. 10 hearing, writing that the auction can start Friday at 9 a.m. as planned but the “Defendants will not sell, conceal or transfer the 50/50 Ball pending the Court’s ruling on Plaintiffs’ Motion.”
The auction is still listed on Goldin’s website as starting Friday at 9 a.m., although language indicating a closing date (previously listed as Oct. 16) and a $4,500,000 option to buy the ball privately has been removed.
Matus’ father talked to The Times about the incident Sept. 20.
“I’m actually glad my son didn’t get hurt,” Greg Matus said. “He ended up with his hand between the guy’s legs, which is one of the most awkward things I’ve ever seen. … Maybe that guy was a big Dodgers fan and he was trying to get the ball. I don’t know what his motivation was, but it was a little crazy.”
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At that time, Greg Matus said his son was “obviously upset” and “disappointed that he had a ball in his hands and some guy took it away from him.”
“I think it’s totally unfair. It’s not right,” Greg Matus said. “We don’t feel good about it at all.”
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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
