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The newest Shohei Ohtani controversy (and confusion) over his first Dodgers home run ball, explained

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For The Win (usatoday.com) 

What a few weeks it’s been for Shohei Ohtani.

First, there was the gambling scandal involving him and his now-former interpreter, which still hasn’t completely been resolved.

Then, after he hit his first home run as a Los Angeles Dodger, he gave a ball, two hats and a bat to the fan who grabbed it, and so many people thought he underpaid.

But here’s one part of it that’s become a controversy that’s come with some confusion: Ohtani said he met the fan, whose name is Ambar Roman, which must have been pretty cool.

Here’s reporting from The Athletic, who met up with Roman:

Within minutes, however, that storybook moment turned into a stressful and chaotic situation that left Roman and particularly her husband, Alexis Valenzuela, feeling pressured and possibly swindled by the Dodgers security staff.

As is customary with significant home run balls, there is a give-and-take negotiation between the team and the fan who catches it. The player will generally trade memorabilia and a meet-and-greet with the player in exchange for a ball that represents a meaningful personal achievement.

In this case, though, Roman and Valenzuela say the security staff separated them, pressured them, and left them little choice but to hand over the baseball for what they considered a low-ball offer. The Dodgers initially dangled two caps signed by Ohtani in exchange for a ball that an auction house representative told The Athletic would be worth at least $100,000.

Roman said the hardball tactics by team officials included the threat of refusing to authenticate the baseball if she decided to take it home. This was no trivial matter: A lack of authentication could significantly reduce the ball’s value, and place the onus on Roman to prove its authenticity.

The kicker here: she and her husband said that they never met Ohtani.

But per reporter Sam Blum as well as his Los Angeles Times counterpart Dylan Hernandez, something might have gotten lost in translation from Ohtani’s interpreter Will Ireton:

Perhaps the Dodgers will simply figure out how to get Ohtani and Roman together for a photo, and maybe give her a little more for that ball.