A South Carolina baseball fan is suing the world-champion Los Angeles Dodgers over superstar Shohei Ohtani’s record-setting 51st stolen base, claiming he is the rightful owner of the priceless item — and wants a federal judge to force the team to hand it over.
“The facts are very simple,” attorney Richard Roth, who is representing the fan, told The Independent. “He’s entitled to that base, and we’re going to either get the base back, or we’ll get the value of the base. And the base now is very valuable.”
The dispute can be traced back to mid-September, when Ohtani was on the cusp of becoming the first-ever member of Major League Baseball’s 50/50 club, by hitting 50 home runs and stealing 50 bases in a single season. With Ohtani at that point having notched 48 homers and 49 stolen bases, Greenville, South Carolina medical office manager James Gossett knew it was highly likely that “Shotime” would soon make history.
Major League Baseball teams rotate out their bases a few times per game, replacing each with fresh white ones. The used bases, along with all manner of balls, bats, helmets, and beyond can then be sold as “game-used” collectibles. Everyday bases can sell for less than $100; Ohtani’s 50th stolen base, if it were to ever even appear on the market, could conceivably go for untold amounts.
Gossett knew that whenever Ohtani were to steal his 50th base, the priceless keepsake would be taken out of the game and given to him. But other bases to be used during the game were listed at $2,500.
On September 18, about a half-hour before the Dodgers were set to play the second of three away games against the Miami Marlins, Gossett’s lawsuit says he emailed the Marlins’ game-used memorabilia sales department about purchasing a piece to add to his personal collection.
He told the Marlins rep, “What I want is the base that Ohtani takes off from when he steal[s] number 50. I know he wants the base he stole... But I want the base he left from. This is for a special gift for someone, thanks. Please let me know we are good. If that’s tonight or tomorrow that’s the base I want and I will pay the $2500.”
After some back-and-forth, the sales rep replied, “Understood. If it happens today or tomorrow, yes.”
“Ok thank you. So it’s a done deal and mine if he does it today or tomorrow, correct?” Gossett wrote back, according to the suit.
“Yes sir!” the rep told Gossett. “The only reason I am not invoicing you now is because we would prefer it happens first. That way we don’t need to run a refund after the fact.”
The September 18 game went by without a stolen base for Ohtani. However, in the first inning of the September 19 game, Ohtani stole third — leaving from second base — for his 50th steal of the season.
An elated Gossett emailed the Marlins game-used memorabilia rep immediately, writing, “Yes He did it!!!! Ohhh my. 1st inning, 2nd base. Please email me right back to verify you will have your hands on that bag.”
“Second base at the time of #50 has been pulled and set aside for you,” the Marlins rep replied, according to the lawsuit. “Will invoice later tonight.”
Still, something apparently got lost in translation, and Gossett’s suit says second base, the one Ohtani vacated on his way to third, was inexplicably never pulled off the field for him. In the very next inning, Ohtani hit a single, then stole second base, immediately turning the previously “ordinary” base into Ohtani’s 51st stolen base.
Ohtani would go on to hit his 49th, 50th, and 51st home runs later in the same game, and turning in what has been called the best single-game performance since the sport was invented.
On September 20, Gossett, who remained unaware that his base hadn’t been removed after steal number 50, emailed the Marlins to find out why he hadn’t yet received an invoice for it.
“Good morning Kevin, I am very sorry to inform you that the base you were interested in purchasing, 2nd base at the time of Ohtani’s 50th steal, is not available for purchase,” the game-used sales rep wrote back. “The base went to the Los Angeles Dodgers. The reason for this was that base would subsequently become stolen base #51, one inning later. I had not been previously been made aware that the ball club would receive SB#51, nor of course that the vacated base in steal #50 would also be steal #51. Please let me know if there is anything else I can assist you with. Thank you.”
Gossett and the Marlins “had a contract for the sale of the base,” according to the lawsuit, which accuses the Marlins of breaching that contract, and the Dodgers of interfering with it.
“The base is wrongfully detained by the Los Angeles Dodgers who came into possession of the base from its original owner, the Marlins,” the lawsuit states, demanding the base be turned over to Gossett and noting that Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from the same game was sold at auction last month for an eyewatering $4.4 million. (His 51st home run ball went for “only” $427,000.)
If the Marlins had properly pulled second base from the game after Ohtani’s 50th stolen base, “it would’ve been a different base for number 51,” and this dispute would not exist, Roth told The Independent.
A Dodgers official said on Thursday that the team had no comment. The Marlins did not respond to a request for comment.
“The bottom line is, there was a contract,” Roth said. “The Marlins said, ‘We have a deal, we’ll invoice you,’ and the next thing [my client] knows, they say, ‘You know what, we’re giving [the base] to the Dodgers.’ That’s nonsense. You can’t do that.”
