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#pounditWednesday, December 25, 2024

Fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first Dodgers HR gives it up for comically little

A Dodgers fan holding up Shohei Ohtani's HR ball

The art of negotiation was apparently lost on the fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s historic home run ball on Wednesday night.

Ohtani blasted his first homer as a Los Angeles Dodger during Wednesday’s 5-4 win over the rival San Francisco Giants. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the two-time MVP Ohtani took Giants left-hander Taylor Rogers deep into the L.A. night, cracking a 3-1 offering 430 feet into right-center.

The home broadcast also showed the lucky fan who came down with Ohtani’s dinger — an excited woman wearing Dodgers gear.

After the game, Ohtani told reporters that he was able to get the baseball back from the fan. He said that he gave the fan another ball, two caps, a bat, and a quick chat in exchange for it.

While that may have been all that the woman wanted for the ball, that still seems like a pretty meager return for a such a significant home run ball off the bat of an all-time super-talent like Ohtani. Even if she wasn’t looking to hold out for money, asking for Dodgers season tickets or something similar would have made for a much better deal.

The fan does still walk away with the memory of a lifetime (plus it is possible that Ohtani autographed some of the items that he gave her). But given what other such historic baseballs have gone for in the recent past, perhaps a bag was fumbled there.

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