A lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first home run for the team claims she was pressured into returning the $100,000 item.
Ohtani finally managed to score for the Dodgers on Wednesday night, with the $700 million draftee’s first home run in his ninth start in Los Angeles sealing a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
After dropping her bat at 105.6 mph and landing 430 feet away in the crowd, Dodgers fan Ambar Roman, 28, managed to retrieve it while her husband and many others searched for it on the ground.
There are few more prestigious items a baseball fan can get their hands on than Ohtani’s first home run in Los Angeles. The two-way sensation is now the sport’s biggest star by far after signing his record $700 million contract with the Dodgers in December.
However, in an interview with The AthleticRoman explained how his jackpot moment quickly turned sour.
A lifelong Los Angeles Dodgers fan who caught Shohei Ohtani’s first home run for the team claims she was pressured into returning the $100,000 item.
Ohtani finally managed to score for the Dodgers in their win over the Giants on Wednesday night.
Ambar Roman, 28, claims she was practically forced to hand the ball back to Los Angeles officials.
Immediately after Ohtani’s home run, Dodgers security personnel reportedly swarmed Roman and her husband Alexis Valenzuela, with other fans standing nearby urging them not to hand the ball over easily.
Security told the pair they would be “rewarded” for catching the ball, with give-and-take negotiations between fans and players seeking to recover meaningful objects personalized to the sport.
However, after being separated from Valenzuela, Roman says she was then pressured to hand over the ball after Los Angeles officials, who resorted to ruthless measures to return it to Ohtani.
One of those tactics included the threat of refusing to authenticate her, a move that would render the ball, valued at a minimum of $100,000, worthless if she decided to take it home and sell it.
They also hung two Dodgers caps signed by Ohtani in front of Roman, before she finally agreed to a trade that also included a signed bat and ball. The five items she took are understood to be worth a total of $5,000.
‘We are not trying to extort anyone. It’s not that we are hungry for money,’ Valenzuela said. “It’s a special moment, it’s a special dance. I just think it’s fair that it should be equally rewarded.
“I was disappointed that a team that I appreciate so much attacked us in quotes.”
After the game, Ohtani said through his interpreter that he had managed to recover his first Dodger home run after speaking with Roman himself.
Dodgers security allegedly threatened not to authenticate the ball, which is valued at $100,000.
Ohtani also claimed to have spoken to Roman before getting him back, which she denied.
“I was able to talk to the fan and I was able to get it back,” he said. “It’s obviously a very special ball, there are a lot of feelings about it, I’m very grateful it’s back.”
However, according to Roman, they never met L.A.’s new two-way sensation that night.
Instead, she was taken to a room without her husband and forced to make the trade after having no choice but to accept the Dodgers’ offer.
“They really took advantage of her,” Valenzuela said. ‘There was a group of (security) guys around her. They wouldn’t let me talk to her or give her any advice. There was no way we were leaving. They had her practically cornered behind her.
The Dodgers are said to be open to a “further conversation” with Roman about the transaction. Dailymail.com has contacted the team for comment.
In a souvenir shop at his stadium, a foul ball that Ohtani hit in 2021 is for sale for a whopping $15,000, which says a lot about the amount Roman could have generated by hitting his first home run.
According to Chris Ivey, director of sports auctions at Heritage Auctions, a fee of at least $100,000 would be charged.
Although without authentication or confirmation that Ohtani signed it, which Roman didn’t get, a sale of that size wouldn’t be possible.
Román and Valenzuela, who met in college and work together at an oil pipeline company, bought their tickets for the game at the pavilion, which is a regular spot for the couple.
Despite agreeing with fans who appreciated his selfless gesture to ensure Ohtani kept his souvenir ball, Valenzuela says they were more disappointed by his beloved team’s aggressive treatment before doing so.
“Where was the love of the Dodgers that we see every day, every time we go?” he added. ‘It just disappeared.
“We were left as if abandoned. It’s not necessarily that we wanted a million. Just something nice. Take care of your fans. Especially when they got something that is much more valuable.