Fan claiming ownership of Shohei Ohtani’s 50-50 home run ball files lawsuit to stop auction

A civil lawsuit has been filed in Florida alleging that 18-year-old Max Matus is the rightful owner of the Shohei Ohtani 50-50 home run ball, which will be auctioned off starting Friday.

After auction house Goldin announced that the ball would be available with an opening bid of $500,000, Matus’ lawyers filed suit against the New Jersey-based auction house and Chris Belanski, the man who snatched the ball, and his friend Kelvin a Ramirez.

The lawsuit alleges that during the Sept. 19 game at LoanDepot Park in Miami, Matus was able to “grip the ball firmly with his left hand and successfully obtain the 50-50 ball,” but Belanski stuck his “arm between his legs.” and ripped the 50/50 ball out of Max’s left hand,” adding that it was “forcibly taken away from (Matus).”

Matus, who attended the game on his 18th birthday, hopes to stop the sale of the historic baseball memorabilia. The lawsuit also requests that the ball be held at a mutually agreed upon safe location as everyone involved awaits the outcome of the case.

Despite the lawsuit, Goldin says the auction will continue. A Miami judge ruled Thursday that the auction can go ahead as planned, rejecting an injunction that Matus’ lawyers had filed, Clict’s Darren Rovell reports.

“We are aware of the case filed,” Goldin said in a statement to ESPN. “After reviewing the allegations and images contained in the lawsuit, as well as publicly available video of the game, Goldin plans to launch the Ohtani 50/50 Ball auction live.”

The 11th Circuit Court in Dade County is expected to allow Matus’ attorneys to present their case before the auction ends on Oct. 16. If they argue successfully, Matus could receive a portion of the profits from the sale, according to Rovell.

Goldin CEO Ken Goldin told ESPN that Belanski contacted Goldin the day after Ohtani’s record-breaking night to negotiate the deal. According to Andy Slater of Fox Sports 640, the Dodgers offered Belanski $300,000 but was rejected.

Once the auction goes live, potential buyers will have the opportunity to purchase the ball for $4.5 million through October 9th, a week before the auction is scheduled to end.

If bidding reaches $3 million before October 9th, the $4.5 million buy now option will be waived.