The owner of a sports memorabilia auction house says he has offered $2 million to the fan who caught Aaron Judge's 62 nd home run.
JP Cohen, president of Memory Lane Inc. in Tustin, California, told The Associated Press he texted and emailed Cory Youmans, the man who caught Judge's milestone Tuesday night at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas. Cohen says Youmans has not yet replied.
Cohen said in a phone interview with the AP on Wednesday that the offer is way above fair, if he is inclined to sell it.
Youmans grabbed the historic souvenir on the fly as it sailed into the front row of section 31 in the left field. Judge was pushed past Roger Maris for the AL season record, a mark many consider baseball s clean standard because the only National League players who have been tarnished by ties to steroids.
Youmans, who is from Dallas, works in the financial world. He was asked what he planned to do with the prize Tuesday while security personnel whisked him away to have it authenticated.
He said that he hadn't thought about it.
The record price for a home run ball is $3 million, paid for Mark McGwire's record 70th season in 1998.
Cohen had previously pledged to give $2 million for Judge's 62nd homer. He said his company has a good relationship with the Yankees and that it would be willing to loan the ball to the team for an exhibit. He said the team has exhibited items owned by Memory Lane at Yankee Stadium.
Cohen said that we made an offer of $2 million and that offer is still valid.
After the Yankees lost 3 -- 2, Judge said he did not have possession of the home run ball.
He said he doesn't know where it is. It would be great to get it back, but it is a souvenir for a fan. He made a great catch and they got every right to it. Youmans was among the 38,832 crowd, the largest to watch a baseball game at the 3 year old ballpark.