MIAMI – A Broward man who celebrated his 18th birthday at a Miami Marlins game says he is the rightful owner of Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50th home run — which made him the first player in Major League Baseball history to have 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases in a season.
Max Matus is trying to keep the ball from going to auction Friday and requested a temporary injunction in Miami-Dade County court Thursday. New Jersey-based auction house Goldin is setting an opening bid at $500,000.
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The suit claims that Matus successfully caught the ball during the Sept. 19 game at loanDepot Park, but it was taken away from him in a scrum by another spectator, Chris Belanski. The lawsuit claims that Belanski put his “arm in between his legs and wrangled the 50/50 Ball out of Max’s left hand.”
The lawsuit contains screengrabs of the video which shows the scrum. Matus is seen wearing a Marlins jersey.
Matus is suing Goldin, Belanski and Belanski’s friend, Kelvin Ramirez, who attended the game with Belanski.
A Goldin representative told trade website cllct that it’s “aware of the case” and plans to continue with the auction, saying that there are no allegations against the company.
Attorney information was not yet listed in Miami-Dade court records for Belanski or Ramirez.
Miami-Dade Judge Spencer Eig has been assigned the case.
Read the lawsuit:
Injunction motion: