Aaron Judge to Shohei Ohtani: 5 Most Expensive MLB HR Balls Ever Sold
Sportsgrid Staff
Host · Writer
1. Shohei Ohtani - $4,390,000
If Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract wasn't enough to show the type of brand worth he has, perhaps this wild number in a down era in sports memorabilia does.
In his first year as an LA Dodger, Ohtani did the previously unfathomable, becoming the first player in league history to hit 50 home runs and swipe 50 bases.
The ball pictured above is worth more than 23 of Ohtani's 2024 teammates' annual salaries. It is a record-shattering amount from a player who continues to shatter records and set new benchmarks.
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5. Barry Bonds - $752,467
Love him or hate him, Barry Bonds could flat-out hit. Forget about the steroid allegations and Bond's plumped-up size when he hit the above MLB career record-breaking 756th home run. Many of those dingers came early in his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaking of plumping up, the $750K spent in 2007 to buy the ball that broke Hank Aaron's long-standing mark equals about $1.1 million in 2024 money. Considering public sentiment on Bonds and an oversaturated sports memorabilia market, it's hard to believe anyone would pay that amount today.
4. Babe Ruth - $805,000
It wasn't the man who held the all-time home run mark for over 40 years final long ball that brought in nearly a million dollars. However, Babe Ruth's homer from the 1933 All-Star Game did make our top-five cut. Someone with way too much disposable income shelled out over 800K on the ball in 2006. The significance? This was baseball's first every Midsummer Classic, and the Sultan of Swat launched the game's first-ever homer. While it wasn't the one he used in the '33 All-Star Game, a 1920s Babe bat went for nearly $2 million in 2023.
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3. Aaron Judge - $1,500,000
That little white blip above is encased somewhere with guard dogs, velvet rope, bulletproof glass and whatever else really, really rich people do to protect really, really expensive things. If that baseball was literally made of gold, it would not compare to the $1.5 million it fetched at auction in December 2022. With gold trading around $2700 per ounce and a baseball weighing around 5 ounces, it would take about 110 solid gold baseballs to equal that amount.
2. Mark McGwire - $3,000,000
Thankfully for Todd McFarlane, he doesn't really need the money. The man who created the comic book Spawn, which later turned into a god-awful 1997 movie (17% on Rotten Tomatoes) of the same name, just had that Hollywood cash burning a hole in his pocket.
A year after the Summer of Spawn, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were mired in a blow-for-blow battle for the single-season home run record. McGwire took control of the race and launched his 70th homer on Sept. 28, 1998. Four months later, Ol Grand Poppy Spawn paid the highest amount in sports memorabilia purchase history to acquire Big Mac's little ball.
Today, the ball is valued in the $250,000-$400,000 range. Maybe McFarlane can hit a home run with Spawn 2?
1. Shohei Ohtani - $4,390,000
If Shohei Ohtani's 10-year, $700 million contract wasn't enough to show the type of brand worth he has, perhaps this wild number in a down era in sports memorabilia does.
In his first year as an LA Dodger, Ohtani did the previously unfathomable, becoming the first player in league history to hit 50 home runs and swipe 50 bases.
The ball pictured above is worth more than 23 of Ohtani's 2024 teammates' annual salaries. It is a record-shattering amount from a player who continues to shatter records and set new benchmarks.
Swing for the Fences with SportsGrid’s free daily MLB Game Picks and MLB Prop Picks.
5. Barry Bonds - $752,467
Love him or hate him, Barry Bonds could flat-out hit. Forget about the steroid allegations and Bond's plumped-up size when he hit the above MLB career record-breaking 756th home run. Many of those dingers came early in his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Speaking of plumping up, the $750K spent in 2007 to buy the ball that broke Hank Aaron's long-standing mark equals about $1.1 million in 2024 money. Considering public sentiment on Bonds and an oversaturated sports memorabilia market, it's hard to believe anyone would pay that amount today.
