Major League Baseball

Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball going to auction, $3 million offer declined

Published Nov. 17, 2022 4:36 p.m. ET

How valuable is the ball that broke the American League single-season home run record?

We're about to find out.

Ever since New York Yankees star Aaron Judge broke Yankees legend Roger Maris' AL single-season home run record with his 62nd of the season on Oct. 4, the ball he hit out has been in possession of Cory Youmans, who caught the ball in the left field bleachers of Globe Life Park in Arlington, Tex.

Youmans has recently decided to sell the ball via auction, according to a report by ESPN. Youmans has already turned down a $3 million offer for the ball, his attorney said.

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It is unknown how much the Judge home run ball will sell for at auction. Similar artifacts have varied in price over the years. Todd McFarlane, a well-known comic book creator, paid just over $3 million at auction in Jan. 1999 for Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball from the 1998 season.

However, the ball was reevaluated at somewhere between $250,000 and $400,000 in 2020 as McGwire's reputation since the original purchase has been tainted by his admitted steroid use.

McFarlane also bought Barry Bonds' MLB-record-setting 73rd home run ball from the 2001 season, paying $517,500 for it at auction in 2003. Fashion designer Marc Ecko paid $752,467.20 at auction for Bonds' all-time-record-breaking 756th home run ball in 2007. Both of Bonds' records are also muddied by his own admitted use of steroids during that period.

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Judge, meanwhile, will be making a significant amount of money in his own right this winter as he enters the offseason as the most coveted free agent available. The San Francisco Giants, Bonds' old team — and Judge's hometown team — have been long rumored to be interested in signing the superstar slugger.

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