- Shohei Ohtani hit three home runs in the NLCS game that sent the Dodgers to the World Series.
- A fan named David Flores says he caught the third home run ball and plans to sell it.
- Another fan, Carlo Mendoza, claims to have found the second home run ball and wants to give it to Ohtani.
A 98-mph fastball rocketed off Shohei Ohtani’s bat at 114 mph, sailed toward the left-center field pavilion at Dodger Stadium and, based on two videos, the home run ball fell into the hands of David Flores.
And so it appears Flores took possession of the third home run Ohtani hit Friday, Oct. 17 in a spectacular showing that propelled the Los Angeles Dodgers to a sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLCS and into the World Series.
‘It ricocheted to me and I just caught it like a baby and I squeezed it nice and tight,’ Flores told USA TODAY Sports, ‘and it just happened that I stayed calm and I remained calm.’
Now, Flores said, he hopes the baseball will prove to be a windfall. He said he has not heard from the Dodgers and has no plans to give the ball back.
‘I’m going to sell the ball,’ he said.
The whereabouts of the other two home run balls Ohtani hit in a 5-1 victory over the Brewers in Game 4 of the NLCS remains unclear.
Carlo Mendoza, a 26-year-old man from Los Angeles, said he retrieved Ohtani’s second home run ball, hit in the fourth inning, from inside bushes. He said he was eating nachos in a food court behind the pavilion at the time Ohtani belted the homer.
There is no video footage of Mendoza finding the ball, which sailed over the right-center field pavilion roof.
Steve Brener, who hands public relations for the Dodgers, expressed skepticism about Mendoza’s claim while Mendoza said he wants to give the ball to Ohtani. ‘It’ll have more sentimental value to him than me,’ Mendoza said.
Efforts by USA TODAY Sports to find the person who caught Ohtani’s first home run ball, hit in the bottom of the first, were unsuccessful.
What else do Dodgers say?
Lon Rosen, Executive Vice President of the Los Angeles Dodgers, said the team will address the matter on Monday, according to Brener.
As of Saturday night, Flores said he still had not authenticated the ball. It could be challenging because postseason balls are specially marked only for World Series games, Brener said the team’s equipment manager told him.
But Flores, who said he is a 35-year-old boxing coach from Sante Fe Springs, California – about 15 miles southeast of Dodger Stadium – told USA TODAY Sports he’s already gotten offers for the ball. He declined to disclose the amount of the offers but said he hoped to buy a house, car and pay for his son’s college tuition.
‘I have a 12-year-old son and his college is in his future,’ Flores told USA TODAY Sports.
When he caught the home run ball, Flores said, he was sitting in Section 313, Seat 11, Row J in the pavilion. That corresponds with the area in which Ohtani’s third home run of the game landed after the ball was pitched by Brewers reliever Trevor Megill in the bottom of the seventh inning.
More on video evidence
Video footage posted on Flores’ Instagram and elsewhere appears to verify it was Flores who caught the ball.
A homemade video taken from a spot near the bleachers where Flores said he sat shows the ball skipping across outstretched hands and into the midsection of the lucky fan. Footage of that fan match photos of Flores on social media and others he provided to USA TODAY Sports.
Footage of the home run aired by TBS during the broadcast shows the ball landing behind a woman who was sitting a row in front of the man who caught the ball. The woman can be seen in both videos.
‘It was a great October night and Dodger playoffs baseball,’ said Flores, who said he attended the game with a friend.
Mendoza, who said he caught Ohtani’s second home run ball, shared a photo in which he posed with Flores at Dodger Stadium and shared video footage of his holding a baseball and explaining how he says he found it.
This story was updated to add a photo.
