Max Matus, an 18-year-old baseball enthusiast, has plunged into a legal tussle to thwart the impending auction of Shohei Ohtani’s noteworthy 50th home run ball, scheduled for Friday with expected initial bids soaring at $500,000.
In a lawsuit launched in Florida, Matus contends that the ball, currently in possession of fellow fan Chris Belanski, was surreptitiously seized from him during the September 19 game at loanDepot Park in Miami. The legal action also implicates Belanski’s acquaintance, Kelvin Ramirez, asserting that Matus originally held the ball before Belanski wrested it from him forcefully.
According to the legal documents, Matus, present at the game to commemorate his 18th birthday, firmly clutched the ball with his left hand, only to have Belanski intervene, using his arm to snatch it away. Matus is now determined to impede the auction and is advocating for the ball to be secured at a mutually agreed location until the court reaches a verdict.
Despite Matus’s legal maneuver, the New Jersey-based auction house Goldin Auctions is adamant about proceeding with the sale. A Miami judge, on Thursday, thwarted Matus’s plea for a temporary restraining order to halt the auction, thereby greenlighting the event to proceed unimpeded.
In response to the lawsuit, Goldin Auctions conveyed to ESPN, “We acknowledge the filed case. After scrutinizing the claims and evidence from the lawsuit, along with available game footage, Goldin is gearing up to launch the auction for the Ohtani 50/50 ball.”
The 11th Judicial Circuit Court in Miami-Dade County has granted Matus’s legal representatives the platform to present their arguments before the auction wraps up on October 16. Should they emerge victorious, Matus stands a chance to garner a share from the ball’s sale proceeds.
Ken Goldin, Goldin Auctions’ CEO, disclosed that Belanski reached out to them the day after Ohtani’s pivotal game to initiate the auction process. Sources mention that the Los Angeles Dodgers proffered Belanski $300,000 for the ball, a bid that he opted to decline in favor of the auction route.
The auction debuts with a “buy-it-now” rate of $4.5 million, running until October 9. If the bids hit $3 million before this date, the buy-it-now choice will be rescinded, propelling the auction to continue until October 16.
As the auction unfolds, Matus’s lawsuit injects a fresh perspective into the enthralling narrative of one of the year’s most momentous sports collectibles sales. Audiences comprising collectors, baseball buffs, and legal pundits alike are on tenterhooks as the legal drama unfolds.
Don’t miss your chance to bid on the ball at Goldin Auctions!
