Aaron Judge’s historic home run ball wasn’t exactly a grand slam financially for the baseball fan that caught it in Texas.
The Yankees’ superstar slugger’s 62nd home run ball was sold at auction on Saturday night for a whopping $1.5 million by Goldin Auctions, according to the New York Post. While the large chunk of change will be happily accepted by Corey Youman, the man who caught the ball at Globe Life Field, the ball auctioned off for less than the $3 million private offer he had turned down last month.
In an interview with The Action Network, Youman explained why he passed on the private offer.
“While a private sale is certainly appealing, and there’s nothing wrong with $3 million, people may not appreciate that this is not Hal Steinbrenner calling and say, ‘Hey, I’ll write you a check for $3 million or Aaron Judge saying, ‘I’ll write you a check,” Youmans said. “This comes through art dealers and law firms and there’s not a lot of transparency. And I have concerns about selling the ball that way.”
The buyer who did win the auction said that he was not a Yankee fan and made the purchase for the historical significance.
“Obviously this is American baseball history,” said Joe, who would only identify himself by his first name to The Action Network. “The most storied franchise in baseball. Babe Ruth, Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle and Aaron Judge.”
Judge set the new single-season home run record in the American League on Oct. 4 against the Texas Rangers. He passed Roger Maris’ previous record of 61 and had set off a vigorous debate over who was the true home run king in Major League Baseball.
The most expensive price paid for a baseball was $3 million for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run during the 1998 home run chase. Todd McFarlane, a comic book artist and writer, purchased the McGwire ball as well as Barry Bond’s 73rd home run ball during the 2001 season.
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That ball went for $517,500 the following year.
Judge’s historic season was capped by being named the American League MVP and signing a nine-year, $360 million contract extension with the Yankees earlier this month,
