The ball from the moment the Yankees started to unravel in Game 5 of the World Series, which the Dodgers won to clinch their title, was available for purchase — until one bidder put down over $43,000 for it.
By the time Aaron Judge dropped Tommy Edman’s routine line drive in the top of the fifth inning, the Yankees had built a 5-0 lead and were seemingly positioned to win a second consecutive game in the series and shift it back to Los Angeles — a possibility which Dodgers manager Dave Roberts later admitted would have scared him — after initially falling behind 3-0.
But Edman’s ball bounced off Judge’s glove, the Dodgers erupted for five runs in the frame and later secured their championship with a 7-6 victory on Oct. 30 at Yankee Stadium.
Aaron Judge drops a ball during Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 30.
The official auction site of the Dodgers launched one for that ball on Dec. 2, and as the sale entered its final hours on Thursday evening, the bidding ballooned after opening at $100.
After 101 bids, the winner got the ball for a whopping $43,510.
Los Angeles listed the ball as “Dropped Fly Ball by Aaron Judge” and noted that Gerrit Cole was the pitcher during that at-bat.
Judge’s error occurred after Kiké Hernández led off the inning with a single, and the Dodgers eventually loaded the bases.
Cole nearly escaped the jam by striking out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani, but Mookie Betts reached on an infield single when Cole failed to cover first base, Freddie Freeman singled and Teoscar Hernandez doubled to erase the Yankees’ lead.
Aaron Judge reacts after dropping a ball in Game 5 of the World Series on Oct. 30.
“That doesn’t happen, I think we got a different story tonight,” Judge said at the time, while saying “I just didn’t make it” when asked what went wrong during the sequence.
That error eventually helped spoil a Yankees’ season that opened the playoffs as the American League’s top seed behind Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, and their attempt to run it back in 2025 will feature a different lineup after Soto bolted to the Mets for a 15-year, $765 million deal in free agency.
