Dan HajduckyNov 24, 2025, 09:56 AM
CloseDan Hajducky is a staff writer for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men’s soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities.
A quartet of Los Angeles Dodgers items sold at California-based SCP Auctions for just under $900,000 over the weekend, including the 2025 World Series Game 7 tying and winning home run balls caught by father and son duo John and Matthew Bains.
Miguel Rojas ‘ Game 7-tying home run ball sold for $156,000 while Will Smith ‘s Game 7-winning home run ball sold for $168,000; both prices included buyer’s premium. Shohei Ohtani ‘s 2025 National League Championship Series Game 4 home run — which left Dodger Stadium — sold for $270,000, also including buyer’s premium.
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In the same auction, a bat Ohtani used during his 2024 50/50 MVP season, photo-matched to five home runs in a 12-game stretch from late August to early September by PSA Photo Match, sold for $300,000 including buyer’s premium.
After years of being undervalued in the collectibles space, Ohtani is finally having his day: Ohtani’s first $1 million card sale came in March — a collector paid $1.067 million for a 1-of-1 numbered, on-card autographed card featuring the MLB logo from Ohtani’s pants worn while hitting his 49th, 50th and 51st home run of the 2024 season — and a collector paid $542,900 for another 1-of-1 numbered and signed Ohtani card earlier this month.
The ownership of Ohtani’s 50/50 home run ball that Taiwainese investment company UC Capital made the most expensive baseball of all-time at $4.39 million last October is also still being litigated — including a name correction of one of the original claimants — in the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida court, with a hearing scheduled for January 13, 2026.