Dan Hajducky, ESPN journalist
Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie FreemanA grand slam ball from Game 1 of the 2024 World Series sold for $1.56 million – including buyer’s premium – at an SCP auction late Saturday night.
It is the third most expensive baseball ever sold, right behind him Shohei Ohtania $4.392 million 50/50 home run ball and Mark McGwire’s 70th home run ball, which sold in 1999 for approximately $3 million.
Freeman’s homer topped it Judge AaronThe 62nd home run ball sold for $1.5 million in 2022.
The Dodgers won the series in five games and Freeman was named MVP, his second World Series title in four seasons.
“We are 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.
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Freeman’s hit “may be the greatest baseball moment” he has ever witnessed.
The fan who caught the ball was noteworthy: 10-year-old Zachary Ruderman 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 outburst – the second the grand slam in MLB postseason history – it rattled under the seat in front of Zachary, throwing it toward his father, who jumped on it.
In a statement provided by SCP Auctions, the Ruderman family said they hoped the baseball would one day be displayed at Dodger Stadium.
At the same auction, the only Lou Gehrig World Series jersey to ever surface, worn during several games of the 1937 season, including the World Series, went unsold. The price was expected to reach more than $4 million, but bidding fell short of the set reserve price, which an SCP Auctions spokesman told ESPN it could not disclose.
