Shohei Ohtani put together a specific list of life goals during his high school days. Among these, breaking into MLB and getting married are now checked. He also mentioned winning the World Series, and well, that’s still to be determined. But don’t be surprised if he clenches that too after all, the Japanese star is in the World Series now. These dreams back then seemed just imaginary, but Ohtani fulfilled them one by one. But not in his wildest dreams would he have thought that the ball he would hit one day would cross Mark McGwire’s record-setting auction ball.

The ball in question is, of course, the infamous 50/50 ball where Ohtani played against the Miami Marlins. The catch itself was chaotic; it almost caused someone to fall off when attempting. But it was finally caught by a fan named Chris Belanski, who disappeared from the stadium, which caused a frenzy among fans. And now, as per Yahoo Sports, the auction started on the 27th with $500k as the starting bid. And in thirty hours, it rose to $1.2 million, and now it broke all records.

Shohei Ohtani’s RECORD-BREAKING home run ball! 

Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball was extra special. After all, he is the first baseball player in the history of the sport to have done what he did. More than 50 home runs and 50 steals in one regular season—what is he if not a unicorn, as Derek Jeter best put into words? The ball was consigned to Goldin Auctions, and the bidding crossed the $2 million mark on Tuesday.

The LA Dodgers players’s home run ball finally sold for a whopping $4,392,00. It was after an intense bidding war that stretched past midnight. And with that number, the ball is now the most expensive sports ball ever being sold. However, the identity of the buyer is still under wraps, but the sale sure has made plenty of waves in the world. The sale surpassed the previous mark set by Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball from the 1998 MLB season, purchased by spawn creator Todd Macfarlane. He had paid a whopping $3 million back in 1999. However, everything has been easy with the ball auction, and it wasn’t without controversy.

The legal battle about who owns the 5-50 ball!

The days leading up to Shohei Ohtani hitting the 50 were always full of anticipation. Every ball had people on the lookout; they wanted to catch that epic ball. It’s not every day a player gets to hit a 50th homer, and it’s not every day a fan catches one. However, that means there was also plenty of frenzy when it came to who got the ball. And this is exactly what happened.

It was Christian Zacek, who was also initially referred to as Chris Belanski in the lawsuits, who claimed to be the rightful owner. And he did sign the contract with Goldin to auction off the ball. Goldin’s website displayed the authenticity of the ball with its hologram number “431048” plus even the validation code “WSG.” However, Max Matus and Joseph Davidov, each filed a separate lawsuit, claiming them to be the rightful owners of the iconic ball.

Max claimed that he was the one who cloned the ball first before it was snatched by Zacek. Davidov said that he had full control of the ball in his left hand and is hence seeking $50,000 in damages. But attorney John Uustal said in the statement, “The contract with Goldin to sell the ball is with Christian Zacek. It is apparently the same person at the ballpark, who may have been listed as Belanski at the stadium.” But now, according to AP News, all the mentioned parties have agreed to let the audition proceed. Hence it commenced peacefully.

However, the numbers sure are far from peaceful; it has caused an uproar. Shohei Ohtani is truly something else—in a league of his own. Let us know your thoughts about this ordeal in the comments.