You may have read about what is perhaps the second largest gambling scandal in baseball involving Shohei Ohtani and his translator to the tune of $4.5 million (the most well known being Pete Rose and it cost him entry into the Hall of Fame despite holding the most hits in baseball).
This post is not about that; instead, something more infuriating took place on Wednesday night April 3 when Ohtani hit his first home run as a Dodger after signing a $700 million deal in the offseason. This is no small thing as this specific home run and the ball in question was off the bat of arguably both the greatest hitter and pitcher of all time embodied in one human being. Reports put the ball at an estimated value of $100,000. The longtime Dodgers fan who received the ball, however, walked away with two signed hats and a signed bat and ball. Nice for sure but certainly not a fair exchange.
The story gets worse: the fan was strong armed into accepting this relative pittance of a payout as the team refused to authenticate the ball (making it worthless) if she refused the terms. The translator for Ohtani (a new one as the previous one is in deep shit for his shenanigans) said that Ohtani “talked to” and “met” with the fan. The problem is that didn’t happen (and it makes you ponder both the quality of the translating or perhaps Ohtani’s tendencies for prevarication). It’s also worth noting that the Dodgers organization is worth an estimated $5.45 billion and Ohtani too isn’t hurting for cash.
Every fan who attends any baseball game agrees often unbeknownst to them an “adhesion” contract. Specifically, somewhere on the back of every ticket there is fine print that says “the ticketholder assumes all risk, danger and injury incidental to the game of baseball” such as foul ball or broken bat. And that’s fine and fans should and most know that but, at the same time, a ticketholder of a baseball game is purchasing a number of entitlements as well (namely, the right to sit at an assigned seat, to watch the game without interference and the to keep balls hit into the stands). This last right is an implicit part of the contract stemming from a longstanding practice in baseball dating back to the 1920s. And this isn’t true in all sports—you ever see a fan hold onto a basketball at a professional game?
Sure, this ball is a keepsake for Ohtani and certainly the fan could have kept the ball and deprived him of memorabilia marking the milestone but she did the “right” thing assuming no doubt that there would be a fair exchange. There was not. And for that, shame on the Dodgers and shame on Ohtani!
Sources:
MSN. (n.d.). https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mlb/chris-russo-blasts-dodgers-and-shohei-ohtani-for-treatment-of-fan-who-caught-home-run-ball/ar-BB1l9pQV
Fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first Dodgers home run says she didn’t even get to meet superstar - CBSSports.com. (2024, April 5). CBSSports.com. https://www.cbssports.com/mlb/news/fan-who-caught-shohei-ohtanis-first-dodgers-home-run-says-she-didnt-even-get-to-meet-superstar/
(2023, October 12). Who is Liable if I am Hit by a Foul Ball at a Major League Baseball Game? Rand Spear the Accident Lawyer.
https://www.randspear.com/blog/who-is-liable-if-i-am-hit-by-a-foul-ball-at-a-major-league-baseball-game/#The%20Baseball%20Rule%20&%20Liability
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