Shohei Ohtani 50/50 ball auction continues despite new lawsuit

MLB artifact hunters still get the chance to bid Shohei Ohtani‘s historic 50th home run ball on Friday…despite a new lawsuit reportedly trying to halt the proceedings.

According to Cllct’s Darren Rovellthe charges were filed in Florida on Wednesday evening, just hours later Ken Goldin revealed his auction house will put the ball up for sale at the end of this week with a starting bid of $500,000.

Rovell reported that the accuser is an 18-year-old Max Matus …who is convinced he is the rightful owner of baseball. Matus claims in his lawsuit, according to Rovell, that he previously had full control of the ball Chris Belanski wrongly stole it from him during a scrum.

Rovell stated that Matus is suing Belanski and Goldin, in part to stop their upcoming sale of the memento.

But, Goldin said in a message to TMZ Sports on Thursday, there are currently no plans to pause things… and the bidding will still take place at 9 a.m. PT on Friday.

“After reviewing the allegations and images in the lawsuit,” Goldin said, “and the publicly available video of the match, Goldin plans to go live with the auction of the Ohtani 50/50 ball as planned.”

“We note that while Goldin has also been named as a party to the case,” he continued, “there are no allegations of wrongdoing by the company.”

“Otherwise we will not comment on the ongoing litigation.”

Ohtani hit the ball over the fence at LoanDepot Park during the seventh inning of the Dodgers’ tilt with the Marlins on September 19 – becoming the first player in MLB history to record a season with 50 home runs and 50 stolen bases.