The Dodgers’ historic postseason home is fetching big bucks at auction

Talk about minimizing the blow. A Canadian father-son duo hit not one, but both home runs that destroyed the Toronto Blue Jays team that turned them into serious money in the United States in Game 7 of the World Series on Saturday night.

Dodgers fans will never forget the baseballs hit by Miguel Rosas in the ninth inning and Will Smith in the 11th that flew off the left field wall and into the first row of seats beyond the Blue Jays bullpen.

John and Matthew Bains – sitting side by side – will never forget the balls that ended up in their hands. John, 61, caught Rojas’ 387-foot home run in his glove in flight. Two innings later, Mathieu, sitting next to his father, saw Smith’s blast into the bullpen and threw it directly into his hands.

Newbies they were not. John has been a Blue Jays fan since the team’s inception in 1977 and intentionally sits where he hits home runs. In fact, he caught it a few weeks ago during the American League Division Series against the New York Yankees.

Both men brought baseballs to the stadium that they threw back onto the field, giving the Blue Jays faithful the impression that Baines had done something honorable when in fact they had done something smart for their bank accounts.

These balls were sold at auction on Saturday night. Smith’s homer, which gave the Dodgers the win, sold for $168,000, while Rosas’ blast that sent the game into extra innings fetched $156,000.

The third unforgettable Dodgers home run from the 2025 postseason took 7 balls in the game. Shohei Ohtani’s second homer in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series against the Milwaukee Brewers sold for $270,000 at the same SCP auction.

It was the longest of his three, landing 469 feet from home plate on the right field roof of Dodger Stadium. And it was a key element in what is considered perhaps the greatest single performance in baseball history. In addition to his offensive exploits, Ohtani struck out 10 in six innings on the mound, sending the Dodgers to the World Series.

Carlo Mendoza’s story of how he ended up with Ohtani’s ball is no less harrowing than Benes’s boys. The 26-year-old Los Angeles man said he was eating nachos in the food court behind the right field pavilion and watched Ohtani hit a home run on a TV monitor. He heard the ball hit the ceiling, ran towards the sound and took the ball under a bush.

All three balls were authenticated by SCP Auctions through notarized affidavits and lie detector tests. SCP owner David Koehler said Mendoza was so concerned about handing over the ball that he insisted on meeting Koehler in the Long Beach Police Department parking lot.

“We’ve verified through polygraphs and eyewitnesses,” Koehler said. There is no controversy.”

Baseballs got top billing in the sprawling auction that included 579 items, but Lou Gehrig’s game-worn jersey sold better than the three balls. The Hall of Fame Yankee first baseman hit his last World Series home run in 1937 wearing the jersey, for which collectors paid more than $2 million.