Cody Snavely
The 2024 Major League Baseball season has been over for well over a month now, with the Los Angeles Dodgers defeating the New York Yankees in the 120th Fall Classic. However, as savory as the win was for Los Angeles, as the team brought home the eighth championship in their historic history, it was equally as heartbreaking for the Yankees.
After the Dodgers won the National League Championship Series over the New York Mets, the team got off to a commanding three-games-to-none lead over the Yankees in the World Series thanks to clutch performances by Freddie Freeman, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Walker Buehler.
With their backs against the wall, the Yankees got the best of the Dodgers bullpen in game four, thanks to an Anthony Volpe grand slam off veteran right-handed pitcher Daniel Hudson.
With the win, the Yankees were able to force a game five and send their ace Gerrit Cole to the mound.
Cole would cruise through the game, pitching four scoreless innings, and with an implosion of Jack Flaherty on the mound as he surrendered four runs in 1.1 innings pitched, it seemed as though the Yankees would get this series back to Los Angeles for a game six.
But then, the improbable happened. In the bottom of the fifth inning, Kiké Hernández would lead off with a sharp single, the Dodgers’ first baserunner of the night.
Up next to bat was utilityman Tommy Edman, who would hit a routine flyball to 2024 American League Most Valuable Player Aaron Judge, who would proceed to drop it on a now infamous error.
That was only the first of three significant defensive misplays for the Yankees that inning. Shortstop Anthony Volpe bounced a throw to third on the next play to load the bases with no outs; after getting two outs, pitcher Gerrit Cole failed to cover first base on a ground ball from Mookie Betts.
The Betts blunder, which wasn’t ruled an error, scored one run. Two more came on a single by World Series MVP Freddie Freeman, then Teoscar Hernández tied the game with a double.
And we know how this story ends: the Yankees choke away game five, unable to force a game six, and the Dodgers celebrate the glory of a championship.
Fast-forward to now, and that botched ball has officially been sold at auction nearly two months after the conclusion of the World Series.
The auction for the hit ball that bounced off the glove of New York Yankees center fielder Aaron Judge in Game 5 of the World Series ended on Thursday, with an unidentified buyer winning the memorabilia with a bid of $43,510.00. The proceeds from the auction, run by the Dodgers, will go to the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.
The ball represents the turning point in the game that earlier this year won the Dodgers their eighth Fall Classic, as well as the start of one of the most humiliating innings in the Yankees’ history.
While it wasn’t the most expansive ball hit this season for the Dodgers, as that honor goes to Shohei Ohtani‘s historic 50th home run ball, which sold for $4.392 million, making it the most expensive baseball sold in history, it may be the most impactful ball hit for the Dodgers this season.
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