ELYSIAN PARK, LOS ANGELES (KABC) — Imagine being an owner of Dodgers history! One Santa Fe Springs man walked away from Game 4 of the National League Championship Series (NLCS) with Shohei Ohtani’s third home run ball of the game — in what was arguably the greatest MLB postseason performance of all time.
Longtime Los Angeles Dodgers fan David Flores was in the right place at the right time. Now, he could be a soon-to-be multi-millionaire.
“I knew it was going to ricochet off the people in front of me for some reason, my intuition told me that. When it did, I stayed nice and calm, and I caught the ball like a baby and just gripped it nice and tight,” Flores said. “I looked around me, and everybody was so happy and thrilled about what happened.”
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Ohtani launched the ball into the stands — his third home run of the game — during the same game where he started as a pitcher and struck out 10 batters.
The ball found its way to Flores, who is now looking to make some big bucks out of it.
“I had a just Dodger hat on and all camouflage, so maybe that’s why I caught the ball, because nobody could see me, and the ball came right to me,” Flores said with a laugh.
The catch has been life-changing for the sports fan, who is a professional boxing coach in Santa Fe Springs.
“My phone is going off. My phone is, ‘ding, ding, ding, ding’… nonstop,” he said. “I’m very happy that this happened to me in my life.”
Now, Flores has big plans for the lucrative piece of history.
“I’m going to say this in the most humble way possible… I’m looking to sell the ball,” Flores said. “You know, to the highest bidder or the highest offer. I want to sell the ball.”
Ohtani’s three home runs and 10 strikeouts for the second year in a row.
So, how much is the ball worth?
“The market will tell us, but my initial estimation on that ball, due to the historic relevance of what happened on Friday night. I think it’s three, four, five million dollars plus,” said Michael Keys, the COO at SCP Auctions. “It was the most historic, I think, single player performance in any baseball game, let alone an NCLS-clenching game.”
Keys says that before Flores can cash in, the images of him catching the ball will have to be reviewed and authenticated by a forensic firm that partners with an auction company. After that, he will have to take a lie detector test.
“And then we’ll put it up for auction, and our next auction is coming up in November, so the timing couldn’t be more perfect,” Keys said.
“It hasn’t hit me yet. It hasn’t hit me yet, to be honest,” Flores said.
Flores said he is hoping to build generational wealth for his family. He also wants to meet Ohtani and the rest of the team.
