Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

A Painful Piece of Yankees History Was Sold for $43K

That Aaron Judge fly ball...

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images

There are moments Yankees fans wish they could erase.

The ball that slipped off Aaron Judge’s glove during Game 5 of the 2024 World Series, helping the Dodgers seize momentum and eventually the championship, sold at auction for $43,510.00. The winning bidder remains anonymous, but the proceeds will go toward the Los Angeles Dodgers Foundation.

While it wasn’t the priciest Dodgers ball to hit the market in 2024, few had more meaning, at least from Los Angeles’ perspective. For New York, it marks one of the lowest points in recent memory.

Judge is not able to make the grab on that one, and the Dodgers have 2 on with nobody out!

📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/S8c5QGQljm
— FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) October 31, 2024

The misplay happened with the Yankees trailing 5-0 in the fifth inning. Dodgers shortstop Tommy Edman lifted a routine fly ball to center, but Judge, seemingly distracted by Kiké Hernández taking a big secondary lead off first, failed to make the catch cleanly. The ball bounced off his glove, setting in motion a disastrous chain of events for the Yankees.

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What followed was a meltdown few could have scripted. Anthony Volpe bounced a throw to third base on the very next play, loading the bases with nobody out. Even after recording two outs, the Yankees couldn’t stop the bleeding. Gerrit Cole, the team’s ace, failed to cover first on a ground ball by Mookie Betts, allowing a run to score. Freddie Freeman then singled home two more, and Teoscar Hernández roped a game-tying double.

By the end of the inning, the Yankees had coughed up their five-run lead. The Dodgers completed the comeback, winning the game 7-6 and clinching the series 4-1 to capture their eighth World Series title.

The Judge ball ended up being only the third-most expensive piece of Dodgers memorabilia sold in 2024. Shohei Ohtani’s historic 50th home run ball shattered records, fetching $4.4 million at auction in October. Meanwhile, the walk-off grand slam ball Freddie Freeman launched in Game 1 of the World Series sold for $1.56 million.

Aaron Judge

Yankees

Mohsin Baldiwala

mlb

Mohsin Baldiwala is a Master’s student in Journalism and freelance content producer who got hooked on baseball through Seinfeld’s hapless George Costanza. The same reason why he’s a Yankees fan. He writes about sports because he believes it can offer a brief escape from the world’s chaos. Even if that means enduring the heartbreak of the 2024 World Series.