Dropped Aaron Judge World Series ball sells for $43,510 at auction - Los Angeles Times

New York Yankees star Aaron Judge’s dropped ball from Game 5 of the World Series sold for $43,510 after the Los Angeles Dodgers auctioned off the item for charity.

Many Yankees fans hoped to forget the events of the fateful fifth inning in Game 5 of the Fall Classic, but the move by the Dodgers to auction off Judge’s dropped ball angered some in the Bombers’ fanbase. On WFAN Sports Radio, host Evan Roberts sounded off on the Dodgers.

“I think the Dodgers showed who they are. They’re a bunch of classless pigs,” Roberts said.

Judge’s dropped ball being auctioned is salt in the wound for a Yankees organization that fell apart in a matter of minutes. New York’s ace Gerrit Cole held the Dodgers lineup to four scoreless innings, signaling the series would be going back to Los Angeles.

Then came the fifth inning. The Yankees’ nightmare began with Kiké Hernández breaking Cole’s no-hit bid with a modest leadoff single. Just four pitches later, Tommy Edman hit a routine line drive to Judge in center field. Judge proceeded to commit his first error of the 2024 season by dropping the ball. It was the type of error that sent shockwaves through a fanbase that once had a team coined as Murderers’ Row.

But this wasn’t Murderers’ Row; it was everything but that. Five pitches after Judge dropped the ball, Will Smith hit a ground ball to shortstop Anthony Volpe. Volpe missed his throw to third baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr., loading the bases with no outs. Once the bases had filled up with Dodger blue uniforms, the Bronx went silent.

But Cole gave Yankees fans hope after striking out Gavin Lux and Shohei Ohtani. As Mookie Betts hit a squibber to first baseman Anthony Rizzo, it seemed as though the Yankees would escape the inning unscathed. And yet, Cole didn’t cover first base and Betts beat him to the bag.

The Dodgers scored their first run to mark the beginning of the end for the Bombers. It’s likely the Yankees won’t ever live down their defensive debacle in Game 5.

And it’s important to note that the Dodgers wouldn’t have been able to auction the dropped ball had Judge caught the routine line drive.