At Least Three People Claim Ownership of Ohtani 50/50 Ball in Lawsuits

On Sept. 19, Shohei Ohtani hit a home run to left field in Miami, making him the first baseball player ever to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in the same season.

After a scrum for the historic ball, Chris Belanski emerged with it and put it up for auction with Goldin a few days later. The courts will have to decide what happens next. 

At least three people are claiming ownership of the ball, with two of them suing Belanski and each other in Florida courts. Earlier this week, Joseph Davidov filed a suit in Florida’s 11th judicial circuit court against Belanski, Belanski’s friend Kelvin Ramirez, and 18-year-old Max Matus. Davidov is seeking possession of the ball, an injunction to stop the auction and more than $50,000 in damages. 

Davidov’s suit follows a similar one from Matus, who is suing Belanski, Ramirez, and Goldin, and also seeking an injunction against selling the ball. Both Davidov and Matus claim they had possession of the ball and lost it by having their arm pinned, with Matus’s suit specifically naming Belanski for trapping his arm between his legs while Davidov’s suit says “an unknown fan” did him in. 

The highest bid for the ball is currently sitting at $1.8 million, with the auction set to close Oct. 22. The ball can’t formally be sold until after a hearing scheduled for Oct. 10, which stems from Matus’s suit in Miami-Dade County Court. 

“We are aware of the cases that have been filed,” a Goldin spokesperson said in a statement to Front Office Sports. “Having reviewed the fan’s allegations and images included in the latest lawsuit, and publicly available video from the game, Goldin will continue with the auction of the Ohtani 50/50 ball. While Goldin has been named as a party in the new case, there are again no allegations of wrongdoing by the company. We remain excited to bring this item to the market.”

Attorneys for Matus and Davidov didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. 

It’s not the first time an ownership dispute over a historic baseball has reached the courts. Barry Bonds’s 73rd home run ball in 2001 and his 700th career dinger three years later both went from the bleachers to the court. The $450,000 paid for the 73rd home run ball was ultimately split between the two owners who claimed they got the ball, which has made the case a go-to when it comes to home run ball ownership. Bonds’s 700th career home run ball sold for $800,000, but the money went to just one person despite similar ownership disputes. 

Both Ohtani lawsuits reference the video of the ball chase, shot by Kaylan Knitowski, who told The Washington Post she works with Matus’s father and attended the game with him. The video shows a man jump over the railing and fall on top of Davidov, who was already in a scrum with Matus and Belanski. The video shows Belanski with Matus’s arm in between his legs, as the suit alleges, before Matus pulls his arm back, allowing Belanski to emerge with the ball.