Transcript of Bids for historic Ohtani 50-50 ball reach new heights

Baseball superstar Shohe O'Tani is not just smashing baseballs out of ballparks. He's also driving up prices at the auction house. Back in September, O'Tani became the first player ever to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season. That 50th home run ball is up for bid through Golden Auctions and has surpassed the $1.8 million threshold with just three days remaining before it goes to the highest bidder. And the CEO of Golden Auctions, Ken Golden, is joining joining us now. Ken, thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me. I appreciate it.

All right. So explain this process to us here of obtaining the ball and then starting the auction on that ball.

Sure. I mean, for us, typically I'm in a fight for high-end items. This one was actually relatively easy because of Golden Auctions reputation and the worldwide recognition from the Netflix King of Collectible show that people know what we do with high-end merchandise. We were contacted the night the gentleman caught the ball. And we spoke to him briefly Thursday night. We worked at a deal on Friday, and I dealt with him personally. And on Saturday, we were going to pick up the ball, but he had put it in a safety deposit box. So we flew down Monday, picked up the ball, flew it back to New Jersey, and literally had it on golden. Com ready to go that Friday for sale.

So you confirmed with ESPN that the Dodgers reached out to buy the Ohtani ball, but were declined. Has O'Tani himself reach out? And then can you also explain why it was declined for them to buy that ball back?

Sure. So without getting into specifics, I do know the Dodgers did try to obtain the ball, and the individual basically recognized the value. He said, Hey, I've got a ball. It could be 500,000, it could be a million dollars. And I may come back to you, but I really want to explore my options without about the pressure of doing it in the ballpark, which is something I would always recommend. Get the ball authenticated. And if you want to do a deal with the team, you don't need to do it on the spot. You can always call them back and work it out.

So it's nothing personal. It's just about the money at the end of the day, right?

Exactly. We have a history at Golden of selling high-end baseballs. Right now, as an example, this baseball, which I can go over with you in a minute, is currently The current price, including buyer's premium, is $2.2 million, making it the second most valuable ball of all time, passing the Aaron Judge 62 home run ball that we sold two years ago for $1.5, the The only baseball it is behind is the 1998 '70 home run ball of Maguire, which sold that offseason for 3 million. The auction ends on golden. Com October 22nd. At 10:00 PM Eastern, it goes into extended bidding. And my personal belief is that it will end as the most valuable baseball of all time.

So do you have a sense of how high this could go? What do you think the final bid will be?

Shohe is really a different... You're dealing with a different personality and a different, almost more like a mythical figure. I've not experienced this in baseball in my career from the standpoint that he has a worldwide audience, and And people in Asia are so passionate for him and his collectibles, as well as in the United States. So we really have two continents that are battling for the baseball. So I believe it's going to go for over three. It would not shock me if it goes seven, $8 million. What?

I mean, so incredible. Like an outsider just, you know. And then who buys these balls? And then what do they do with them? They put them on on the shelves? Who are the types of people that you see making these bids?

Well, you do have... First of all, you've got long-time collectors who are just... They want to collect everything, and they're pretty wealthy. A lot of people, doctors, lourders, people in the financial world, do buy this stuff. The other thing that an item like this attracts, and this is a little bit different than the common piece, is you have people who have never bought a sports collectible in their life, but they are so fascinated by Shohe, and they recognize this incredible accomplishment that owning this baseball to them is capturing their own piece of history. They're the caretaker of a true historic moment. I've spoken to one person. They may loan it to the Base Hall of Fame. There might be a situation where somebody actually tries to meet Shohe and give him the baseball. You got to be pretty wealthy to spend five million and give it away. That's quite the There is somebody else I'm aware of. They own retail locations, and they want to use that as something to draw in crowds. So there's a lot of different things. It's a piece of history, but it's also potentially a promotional tool.

Yeah, and a generational talent at that, too. Ken Golden, such a pleasure talking to you, giving us an inside look at how this all works out. We'll be looking forward to seeing what that final bid ends up to be.Thank you.Thank you.

Do you have a moment for something really cool in the ball?

Sure. Go for it.

This is how they were able to tell that this was the actual pitch thrown to him. Before a ball was thrown to Shohe after he had 49 home runs, they secretly marked the ball. So when the ball went into the stands, they wouldn't have trouble identifying.

That's amazing. So we got the official marker and everything. Ken, again, thank you for your time. We really appreciate it.Fascinating stuff.Thank you for having.