Man who caught Aaron Judge's 62nd home run set to cash in, auction house hoping for new record
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The man who caught New York Yankees slugger Aaron Judge's record-breaking 62nd home run is set to become a millionaire when the auction for the baseball comes to an end later this month.
Cory Youmans just happened to be in the right place at the right time.
"I heard the crack of his bat before I saw the ball and then as it sailed over the shortstop's finger I made eye contact with and my stomach kind of sank for a second because it was like this is going to be close enough where one of two things is either going to happen, I'm going to catch it or I'm going to drop it," Youmans said. "It hit right in the pocket. It made this loud pop sound. I can't really explain, like, surreal, exciting, just an overwhelming amount of joy and happiness and all of the fans around me were going crazy."
On October 4, with just two games remaining before the end of the regular season, Judge put to rest the notion that he might remain stuck on home run 61 by season's end.
Leading off the game, he smacked a first inning home run to left field off of Rangers pitcher Jesus Tinoco for his 62nd home run of the season, surpassing Roger Maris' American League single-season record set in 1961.
And now that piece of history is up for auction.
"I think for us part of the auction is just having a transparent process where folks that have the means and are interested in a piece of baseball and Yankees history," Youmans said.
The owner of Goldin, the sports memorabilia company hosting the auction, is hoping this ball breaks the record for the most expensive baseball sold at an auction.
"The all time record for any game used baseball selling was $3 million and that was the 70th home run ball by Mark McGwire and that was in 1998. Here we are 24 years later, memorabilia has skyrocketed. We certainly hope that his baseball will end as the most valuable game used baseball of all time," Ken Goldin said.
Youmans isn't the only one looking at a big chunk of cash, with a historic season under his belt, Judge's time with the Yankees will continue.
Judge has agreed to a 9-year $360 million contract, sources confirmed to ESPN.
As of Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., the ball had received five bids with the highest bid sitting at $1,200,000.
The auction is set to end December 17 at 10 p.m.
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