John Bains has been a Blue Jays fan since their expansion season in 1977 and was at Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday, hoping Toronto would prevail against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
It was two home runs by the Dodgers — a Miguel Rojas 387-foot shot in the ninth inning to tie the game and Will Smith’s solo blast in the 11th — that doomed the Blue Jays in Los Angeles’ 5-4 victory.
While Bains didn’t get to see the Blue Jays hoist the championship trophy, he walked off with a good consolation prize: the Rojas home run ball.
That’s what he told cllct, a collectibles website.
But the story doesn’t stop there.
Bains, a 61-year-old from Brampton, Ontario, said his son, Matthew, came away with Smith’s game-winning homer.
They were sitting in the front row of the bleachers in left field at Rogers Centre.
Bains said he and his son each did what was expected of them and threw balls back onto the field. But they weren’t the actual home run balls. Bains told cllct he stuffed extra balls into his pocket and brought them into the stadium, just in case.
“I had a feeling I might have had to do it,” he said.
Those were just everyday balls. He and his son have the official World Series balls.
What is the plan for the historically significant baseballs? Bains told cllct the family intends to keep them, unless an offer they can’t refuse is on the table.
“I’d take $1 million for the Rojas ball and $1.5 million for the Smith ball,” he said. “They were both game-changing baseballs.”
That price would be far from the record haul for a home run ball.
In October 2024, a buyer paid $4.39 million Shohei Ohtani’s 50th home run ball from the superstar’s 50-homer, 50-steal season.
–Field Level Media
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