Home run ball from Shohei Ohtani’s historic NLCS performance coming to auction

While Shohei Ohtani was producing the greatest performance in baseball history, Carlo Mendoza was eating nachos outside Dodger Stadium.

Ohtani led the Dodgers to a sweep over the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS with a dominating performance that further enhanced comparisons to the legendary Babe Ruth. In the series-clinching Game 4, Ohtani hit three home runs, all while pitching six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts on the mound.

When Ohtani blasted his second of three home runs, Mendoz was standing in the centerfield plaza outside Dodger Stadium, eating nachos. Ohtani’s fourth-inning blast literally left Dodger Stadium, traveling an estimated 496 feet and clearing the right-field pavilion. The ball landed in the centerfield plaza and bounced into the bushes, where Mendoz retrieved it.

“As I was taking a bite of my nachos, I saw Ohtani hit his second homer,” said Mendoza, who jumped into the bushes to retrieve the ball. “Then I see a guy in front of me look up—and I think, ‘no way the ball comes out here.’ Next thing I know, it bounces off the roof and into the bushes.”

Mendoz has consigned the ball to SCP Auctions, where it will be up for bid its Fall Premier, which opens Nov. 5.

After striking out the side in the first inning, Ohtani led off the bottom of the inning with a 446-foot home run into the rightfield bleachers, marking the first time a starting pitcher has hit a leadoff homer in MLB history.

After his fourth-inning blast, Ohtani cruised on the mound, allowing just two hits through six innings in the 5-1 win.

In the seventh, he capped his historic performance with his third home run—a 427-foot shot into the left-center bleachers. Ohtani’s three home runs traveled a combined 1,342 feet, according to MLB.

His fourth-inning blast over the rightfield pavilion was one of the longest home runs in the history of Dodger Stadium. A special plaque has already been added to Dodger Stadium commemorating the homer.

“They said it went 469 feet,” said Dodgers third baseman Max Muncy, shaking his head. “That’s wrong. That ball was at least 500 feet. That’s the farthest ball I’ve ever seen hit.”

SCP Auctions sold Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand slam ball from the 2024 World Series for $1.56 million. It projects the Ohtani ball to also reach seven figures. The auction runs through Nov. 22.

For more information, visit www.SCPauctions.com or call (949) 831-3700.