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Even the experts didn’t expect the Shohei Ohtani 50/50 baseball to go for this much.

Wednesday night’s final bidding via Goldin Auction ended with the prized baseball not only being sold for the highest price of a baseball ever, but ANY sports ball as well.

The anonymous bidder dropped a nice, cool, totally normal $4.392 MILLION at auction Tuesday night, easily surpassing the previous $3 million record set in 1999 for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run baseball.

NOBODY EXPECTED THIS

What’s wild about this amount of money is that NOBODY thought it would come close to this. When Ohtani hit the 50th home run to become the first player to hit that many home runs as well as steal 50 bases, I spoke with Ken Goldin ironically enough, who believed the ball would go in the $1 million price range. I also spoke with Brandon Steiner of CollectibleXchange and also Darren Rovell, who also didn’t put it that much higher than the million-dollar mark.

“Shohei Ohtani made history with this baseball, and now, with the highest sale price for any ball ever sold, this legendary piece of sports memorabilia has made history again,” Goldin said in a statement. “We received bids from around the world, a testament to the significance of this iconic collectible and Ohtani’s impact on sports, and I’m thrilled for the winning bidder.”

The ball did come with some controversy, however, as there is a lawsuit claiming a teenager had the ball first before being strong-armed by an older man for it. All parties agreed to allow the winning bidder to have 100% ownership of the ball. 

Apparently, the economy is doing a lot better than we thought it was! Or some economy is, as you can be sure that the Japanese and international market played a hand in bidding this thing up to the $4 million record-making mark.

It’d be quite ironic if Ohtani himself was the winning bidder. It’s not like he can’t afford it with his 10-year, $700 million contract he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers this past offseason.

And imagine if Ohtani wins a World Series or the World Series MVP? At this rate, you’d probably be able to get an extra $1.5-$2 million. He’d not only have the 50/50 milestone but also the greatest season ever in baseball. 

Meanwhile, here I am arguing about Taco Bell becoming too expensive!

IF YOU HAD THE MONEY, WOULD YOU PAY $4 MILLION FOR THE OHTANI BALL? TWEET ME: @TheGunzShow