The home run baseball that Shohei Ohtani launched into stands at LoanDepot Park in Miami Thursday to become the first player in MLB history with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a single season sparked a scramble among fans, and it may just be getting started.
One adult man walked away with the ball, which could be worth more than $1 million. Several media, including the New York Post, detail how several fans came up short in trying to snag the souvenir. Memorabilia website Cllct told of an 18-year-old high school senior who said he initially had the ball before it was taken from him by force.
“The ball bounced off the table, and it went under, and I grabbed it,” Max Matus told Cllct. “Then the other guy had my hand between his legs holding my arm and took the ball from my hand.”
The man who obtained the ball reportedly had it authenticated by MLB officials and left the ballpark with it. He was evidently unwilling to relinquish the ball to MLB or Ohtani.
Whether a fan who claims they had the ball pursues legal action remains to be seen, but there is case law on record-breaking baseball ownership disputes.
Before a home run ball is blasted into the stands, MLB and teams “own” it as a piece of equipment. After it leaves the playing field, it is considered abandoned until it is possessed by whoever grabs it. Sometimes teams try to negotiate with the lucky fan, such as when a player hits his first MLB home run—the ball is a memento the player and his family obviously would like to keep.
A legal dispute can emerge when more than one spectator claims they possessed the home run ball in a way that should have conferred ownership.
When Barry Bonds belted his record-breaking 73rd home run of the 2001 season, two men, Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi, claimed they were its owner. The ball was hit at Pacific Bell Park in San Francisco. Popov appeared to secure the ball first in his glove but was almost instantly confronted by what was later described as an “out of control mob, engaged in violent, illegal behavior.”
That “mob” consisted of ball-hungry fans who were vying for the milestone homer. They knocked into Popov, and he lost possession of the ball as he and several others fell. A court would later say “Mr. Popov was buried face-down on the ground under several layers of people. At one point he had trouble breathing. Mr. Popov was grabbed, hit and kicked. People reached underneath him in the area of his glove.”
The ball rolled for several seconds before Hayashi, who had also been knocked over by the aggressive fans and was thus, a judge wrote, “a victim of the same bandits that attacked Mr. Popov,” picked it up, put it in his pocket and wisely exited the scene.
Popov later sued Hayashi, claiming ownership. Video evidence and witness testimony were crucial in revealing what really took place.
After weighing the dueling arguments, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy reasoned that “neither can present a superior argument as against the other.” McCarthy determined that both men acted lawfully, intended to possess the ball and had physical contact with the ball. Although Hayashi left the ballpark with the ball and although Popov couldn’t “demonstrate full control” of that ball, Popov nonetheless obtained a “pre-possessory interest.”
Ultimately the judge held the two men’s “legal claims are of equal quality, and they are equally entitled to the ball.” McCarthy then ordered Popov and Hayashi to sell their ball (since neither could own it on his own) and split the proceeds. Comic book creator Todd McFarlane bought the ball for $450,000 in an auction held in 2003.
Perhaps the experience of Popov and Hayashi provides solace to Matus that he could be deemed a co-owner of the Ohtani ball. But he’d need video evidence and eyewitness testimony to corroborate his account. He’d also need to figure out who claims to be the owner of the ball.
