How much would you pay for a baseball? How much would you pay for a baseball that effectively iced the 2021 World Series for the Atlanta Braves?
Hank Aaron‘s 715th home run baseball would still probably be considered the most significant ball in the history of the Atlanta Braves. But Jorge Soler‘s World Series homer has to rank in the top …. maybe 3-to-5?
Even with events like a no-hitter, while there is a single ball that is involved with the final out, perhaps 50-60 balls are used by the victorious pitcher(s) in the course of a game, and none of these would necessarily be more noteworthy than the rest.
But a single moment like Soler’s home run… that’s one pitch, one swing, and one homer that represents a bookmark in time that — in one instant — changed the course of a game.
We already talked about how far that blast must have traveled: just in length alone, it rivaled the longest shots of the year by any player in any ballpark. But in being launched out of the stadium during that particular game, it made a statement that the Astros simply couldn’t mentally recover from.
Indeed, after that shot, Houston managed just 5 base-runners and none of them even reached second base as Braves pitching rose up and (again) held the home team at bay.
Soler’s homer was credited with a Win Probability Added of 28%… swinging the momentum from the Astros (50.7%) to the Braves (72.4%) on one pitch.
So with that, Manuel Ramos found this baseball resting on a sidewalk opposite the stadium and picked it up.
Like a good ‘old eBay snipe-bidding hunt, the bidding got interesting during the last few hours and minutes. Nine total bids were received and the momento’s reserve was met.
After the buyer’s premium was added, the final price was $70,745.
This is clearly a lot of money, but when comparing it to things like vintage baseball cards, it’s actually a relative bargain in many respects.
Even on eBay, several recent cards have sold for amounts well in excessive of $70,000.
A 1954 ticket stub for the first game Hank Aaron played for the Milwaukee Braves went for something close to $100,000 less than a month ago.
A Babe Ruth-signed baseball from the 1920’s was sold for something in the neighborhood of $50,000 just after Christmas… the highest-priced ball on eBay in the past 3 months. Another was purchased back on November 30th for a bit less than the $45K asking price… clearly there are a few of these in existence.
Not so, Soler’s homer. There’s only one. And now it’s part of someone’s collection.
The identity of the winning bidder was not made public. There’s a part of me that hopes someone in the Atlanta Braves organization stepped up and purchased it as an addition to the Truist Park memorabilia already in place.
But maybe we’ll never know.