Updated on 12/17/22: Speaking in a previous interview with ComicBook.com at New York Comic Con, comic book icon and baseball fanatic Todd McFarlane previously made a prediction on how much Aaron Judge’s 62nd home run ball would go for at auction. At the time, though not giving a number, the creator of Spawn tease that someone would “overpay” for the ball, and now Goldin has confirmed that the final sale price for Judge’s ball was $1.5 million. Considering the man who caught the ball was offered $3 million, this is a bit of a let down but it doesn’t mean that Todd was wrong! Our original story follows:
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In addition to being the creator of Spawn and one of the founding partners of Image Comics, Todd McFarlane’s love for baseball is also very well documented. Previously the writer/artist paid top dollar for the Top Three home run balls out of Major League Baseball, paying over $2.6 million for Mark McGwire’s 70th home run, over $517k for Barry Bonds’ 73rd home run, and reportedly about $175k for Sammy Sosa’s 66th. Earlier this week however New York Yankees Center Fielder Aaron Judge hit his 62nd home run, breaking Roger Maris’ 61-year-old single-season home run record for the American League, bringing another potentially very valuable ball to market.
Speaking with ComicBook.com at New York Comic Con we asked Todd what he thinks that ball could bring in, and if he’s planning to be present if it makes its way to auction. “I’ll probably sniff around the edges,” McFarlane revealed. “It’s an American League record, right? So it’s not the Major League record, I have those. And so I kept saying, as long as he gets up to 65 what do I care? Because it still keeps my three balls good.”
He continued, “But it’s a Yankee player, right here in New York, somebody’s gonna overpay for that ball I think. Tthere are people who write the story saying, well it’s the clean ball and this is the real record and whatever else. But I just think there’s gonna be a law firm that’s gonna want that ball in their lobby and they’re gonna go, I don’t care. Go buy it, go get it from now.’ The gentleman who caught the ball in Texas, we don’t know whether he’s gonna sell it, how long he’s gonna wait, what he’s gonna do with it. So that would be interesting to see what his decision is. It’s a big news ball.”
As Todd pointed out to us however, there were no “million dollar balls” prior to when he “overspent” on McGuire’s home run ball. Ever since then however many speculators and would be collectors have often assumed that record-holding baseballs are almost immediately worth a million dollars
“It’s not really,” Todd adds. “So you have to have something really, you have to have almost a unicorn moment with what Judge did here and almost winning the triple crown.”
(Cover photo credit: STAN HONDA/AFP via Getty Images)
