What would fans give to own a piece of the ground that Shohei Ohtani walked on?
At least $99, the Dodgers hope.
Dirt from the batter’s box taken from the Dodgers’ first home game of 2024, and their April 21 game against the New York Mets, are now being sold at Dodger Stadium. The dirt has been authenticated by Major League Baseball, a common procedure for Major League Baseball memorabilia sales.
Images taken by Bill Shaikin of the Los Angeles Times and Bleacher Report, and shared on social media, reveal the ground Ohtani walks on isn’t cheap. One vial of authenticated dirt is being sold for $99, another for $149:
The $149 vial was taken from the game in which Ohtani his his 176th career home run to surpass Hideki Matsui as the all-time career home run leader among Japanese-born MLB players.
Ohtani’s third-inning home run off Mets pitcher Adrian Houser added two runs to the Dodgers’ ledger in an eventual 10-0 win.
The Dodgers beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-1 on March 28 in Ohtani’s first home game wearing a Dodgers uniform.
While some might scoff at the concept of dirt as a collectible, to say nothing of the price, it’s getting harder and harder to overestimate the price of Ohtani memorabilia.
Last Thursday in Miami, Ohtani went 6 for 6 with three home runs and two stolen bases to become the first player in major league history to hit 50 homers and steal 50 bases in a season. The Dodgers reportedly offered the fan who retrieved the ball $300,000. The fan declined the offer.
Friday, the ball will go to auction with a minimum starting bid of $500,000. The ball Ohtani hit for his 176th home run also went to auction but did not sell.
On the two occasions of Ohtani bobblehead giveaways at Dodger Stadium this year, some fans waited in line for hours to ensure they left with the pricy memorabilia.
Given the astronomical prices his memorabilia is fetching at auction, it’s become more remarkable to see fans forego the chance at obtaining a princely sum for anything Ohtani-related that comes their way. Ohtani isn’t just rewriting the baseball record books, he’s carving out an exception to the dictionary definition of “dirt cheap.”
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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