Shohei Ohtani is literally feeding families.

Miami was in for a “Sho” when the MLB superstar launched a small, white ball, roughly 2.9 inches in diameter, made with a cork center and cowhide, 391 feet deep to right field for what would normally be a routine home run. But it wasn’t; it was history.

It didn’t matter that Ohtani’s Los Angeles Dodgers beat the home team Marlins 20-4, a typically dramatic final score but virtually meaningless in comparison to Ohtani’s achievement. During that Sept. 19 game, the rare pitcher-hitter hybrid and strong base runner became the first player in MLB history to hit 50 home runs and steal 50 bases in a season.

Somehow, the prestige of Ohtani’s achievement has been elapsed by the legal drama that has followed. The baseball has become more famous than the achievement, but to me, this particular baseball is just a baseball, and our focus should be on perhaps the greatest baseball player of all time.

When Max Matus allegedly caught Ohtani’s home run ball, he immediately possessed the potential to become one of the richest 18-year-olds on the planet, but his lawsuit claims Chris Belanski, the man who ultimately left the stadium ball in hand, “wrangled” the inanimate object out of Matus’s grasp.

But that’s not all. A third gentleman, Joseph Davidov, claims that when the ball was careening around the concrete ground below his feet, he grabbed it, “successfully obtaining possession of the 50/50 ball.” If this sounds just like an NFL referee’s ruling of a fumble, it’s because this isn’t just some civil dispute; it’s literally a court case.

Imagine you were Davidov. You had the ball for a split second, unmistakably feeling the cowhide in your left hand, until you lost it to a sea of hands. Would you sue?

Yes, you would. The true possessor of this baseball’s life is about to change. The auction for the baseball will proceed until Oct. 22, with the starting bid of $1.83 million factoring in a buyer’s premium. The amount will remain pending until the case is resolved, which could take months.

For Davidov, it’s a matter of what the court determines as possession of a baseball. The best legal precedent we have is Popov v. Hayashi in 2001, when Barry Bonds broke the single-season home run record. His 73rd homer was caught and possessed by Alex Popov before he lost it and it ended up in the hands of Patrick Hayashi.

The court determined Popov had legal possession because he attained the baseball with the intent to keep it, but that the possession was canceled and possessed by Hayashi. Ultimately, both parties had rights to the possession of the 73 ball and split the proceeds from its auction.

But what about when there’s a third party involved? If the ball did truly go from Davidov to Matus to Belanski, would it be split three ways?

Even if it is, what a payday. Remember, $1.83 million is the starting bid price.

I used to collect baseball cards, and I still have all of them. They hold special sentimental value to me, reminding me of the cards that served as my reward for going grocery shopping with my dad all those years ago. I’ve caught a home run ball or two as well, another reminder of my early sports fandom.

To the person buying this tiny cowhide ball that touched the bat that touched Shohei Ohtani for millions of dollars: at what point does buying sports memorabilia surpass nostalgia? Are you buying this ball because it reminds you of a key moment in your fandom, or do you just want to put it in a shiny box so people can look at it?

At the end of the day, it’s just a ball. It doesn’t have a name; it wasn’t singled out in its factory as “the chosen one.” It was just one of hundreds of thousands of baseballs the MLB uses in a single year.

I don’t believe this case does anything but distract us from the greatness of Shohei Ohtani, but I don’t blame the plaintiffs in this court case. They are just taking advantage of today’s market that went from memories and aura to mere monetary value. It’s just not the same.

Nevertheless, despite my resentment towards the auction of Ohtani’s 50/50 ball, I’d sell that thing if I “owned” it. It’s just a ball, after all.

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