Shohei Ohtani‘s name is etched in MLB history and he continues to add significant performances to his career, as in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series when the Japanese player hit three home runs while pitching six innings and striking out 10 opponents, a performance that amazed fans by declaring himself ready for the World Series and leaving three souvenirs in the stands that ignites the collectors’ market.
David Kohler, founder of SCP Auctions, told TMZ Sports that each of those home run balls could easily fetch $3 million for collectors:
The market is poised to capitalise on the greatest achievement of the world’s most dominant athlete today
This figure does not sound far-fetched, as Shohei Ohtani’s HR 50 ball previously sold for $4.39 million in 2024.
Who caught Ohtani’s home run balls? Here’s what they plan to do with them
So far, two of the three souvenirs courtesy of the Japanese at Dodger Stadium already have a recognized owner. David Flores, a boxing trainer, claimed on his Instagram social network that he caught the third ball, while Carlos Mendoza, claims to have caught the second. However, the whereabouts of the first ball is still unidentified, there is no trace of it.
Flores has already expressed that he intends to put it on the collectors’ market and Mendoza commented in an interview with USA Today that he first thought about giving it back to Shohei, but with a juicy figure in a sale could make him change his mind quickly because these situations, in many cases, can change the lives of fans.
Shohei Ohtani: the sports market icon and driver of historic auctions
Shohei Ohtani broke the market with his 50th home run ball that sold for $4.39 million in 2024 and could now increase the figure further with his three home runs he hit in the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers. It is not the first time that SCP Auctions has handled memorabilia of this caliber, in 2024 they sold Freddie Freeman’s Grand Slam ball in Game 1 of the Dodgers World Series for $1.56 million.
However, the fact that the player in question is Ohtani adds value to the balls because he is a Dodgers star who shines in the batter’s box and on the mound with his pitching. This duality makes him “the most dominant athlete in the world today,” as Kohler describes him, and elevates any object related to the Japanese to the category of modern relic.
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