Copyright KABC-TV
SCP Auctions has collected two World Series home run baseballs that a father and son say they caught during Game 7 between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Toronto Blue Jays, a company executive told ESPN. SCP Auctions chief operations officer Mike Keys said the company's inventory manager flew to Ontario this week to retrieve the balls from John Bains and his son Matthew, who were sitting in the first row of Rogers Centre's Section 143 for the 2025 MLB Postseason. The balls need to go through the auction house's authentication process, which could take a couple of days, Keys said. Bains, a Blue Jays season ticket holder, said he caught the game-tying home run ball hit by Dodgers second baseman Miguel Rojas in the top of the ninth inning. Then, in the 11th inning, Matthew caught Dodgers catcher Will Smith's series-winning home run ball, which was hit to approximately the same spot in left field, Bains said. "I've had seats for the last 10 years and the main reason I picked these, after the [ Rogers Centre ] renovation, were for playoffs," Bains says. Bains, of Brampton, Ontario, and founder of MD Food Transport, had three seats and attended the game with Matthew and his other son, Daniel. Bains said he had baseballs on him from previous games, given to him by pitchers in the bullpen and caught during batting practice, in case he caught a Dodgers home run. After catching the Rojas home run, he said he threw one of those extra baseballs back onto the field, holding onto the home run ball itself. A source at Major League Baseball confirmed that the Rojas and Smith balls were not covertly marked and will not be authenticated by MLB, per the league policy with any ball that leaves the playing field or an authenticator doesn't witness. Keys said that SCP Auctions needs to collect sworn affidavits from and conduct a polygraph tests with John and Matthew before putting the balls up for sale. "With these balls that don't get MLB stickered, that's how we have to go about things," Keys said. The final-pitch ball for the 2024 World Series, authenticated by MLB and whose sale proceeds aided LA fire relief, sold for $414,000 in April. In December, SCP Auctions brokered the sale of Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman's 2024 World Series Game 1 walk-off home run, which sold for $1.56 million, the third-most expensive baseball ever sold. "I think these baseballs will be well into six figures," said Chris Ivy, Heritage Auctions' director of sports auctions. "Smith's home run is going to top the Rojas ball -- I wouldn't be surprised to see that approach seven figures -- but it's hard to say by how much."
