The baseball Shohei Ohtani hit to earn his 50th home run this season, making the LA Dodger the only player in the "50-50 club"—50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in one season—was set to go on the auction block Friday, with an opening bid of $500,000. There's a wrench in those plans now, however, after a teen filed suit to stop the sale, claiming he was the one who originally retrieved the ball, until someone else wrested it away.
- The suit: Lawyers for Max Matus say their client was the one at the Sept. 19 game between the Dodgers and Miami Marlins who first got the ball after Ohtani hit it, and they've filed a complaint in Florida against auction house Goldin; Chris Belanski, the fan who ended up leaving the stadium with the ball; and another individual in charge of marketing the ball, per cllct.
- Wrongful possession? Per the suit, Matus was at the game to celebrate his 18th birthday with some of his dad's colleagues and scrambled for the homer ball, along with others (apparent video here). The complaint notes Matus was able to "firmly grab the ball in his left hand, successfully obtaining possession," but that Belanski then "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." Belanski was the one who had the ball authenticated by MLB before leaving the stadium.