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Dan Hajducky, ESPN Staff WriterDec 15, 2024, 12:05 PM ET
- Dan Hajducky is a staff writer for ESPN. He has an MFA in creative writing from Fairfield University and played on the men’s soccer teams at Fordham and Southern Connecticut State universities.
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman‘s walk-off grand slam ball from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series sold for $1.56 million — including buyer’s premium — at SCP Auctions late Saturday night.
It’s the third-most expensive baseball ever sold, behind Shohei Ohtani‘s $4.392 million 50/50 home run ball and Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball, which sold for roughly $3 million in 1999.
Freeman’s homer surpassed Aaron Judge‘s 62nd home run ball, which sold for $1.5 million in 2022.
The Dodgers won the series in five games, with Freeman named MVP, his second World Series title in four seasons.
“We are so honored to have handled one of the most important artifacts in World Series history, dating back to 1903,” SCP Auctions president David Kohler said in a statement.
Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam baseball from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series was the third most expensive baseball ever sold behind Shohei Ohtani’s $4.392 million 50/50 home run ball and Mark McGwire’s $3 million 70th home run ball. SCP Auctions
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Freeman’s slam “might be the greatest baseball moment” he’s ever witnessed.
The fan who caught the ball was of some note: Zachary Ruderman, 10, was told he was leaving school early to get his braces off, but his parents surprised him by taking him to Game 1 instead. When Freeman’s historic blast — the second walk-off grand slam in MLB postseason history — rattled around under the seat in front of Zachary, he batted it to his father, who jumped on it.
The Ruderman family, in a statement from SCP Auctions, said they hoped the baseball would one day be displayed in Dodger Stadium.
In the same auction, the only Lou Gehrig World Series jersey to ever surface, worn in several games in the 1937 season, including the World Series, went unsold. It was expected to fetch upward of $4 million, but bidding didn’t meet the set reserve price — which a spokesperson from SCP Auctions told ESPN they could not disclose.
