Ambar Roman has been to plenty of Dodger games in the past. The Whittier resident said she goes to 5 to 6 games every season, sometimes in the right pavilion, but not always. She had never had caught a ball before Wednesday.
Then, in a matter of seconds, one ball landed at her feet and changed her life.
In an exclusive interview with Dodgers Nation’s Doug McKain, Roman discussed the unusual evening that transpired after she wound up with Shohei Ohtani’s first regular season home run as a Dodger on Wednesday night.
“Friends and family of ours that were at home watching the game, they saw it all go down,” Roman said. “They saw us on TV. Right away we were getting texts, calls from everybody.”
The fun part was over almost as soon as it began.
“Security came up and hand-signaled me to go to them. At first I’m thinking I did something wrong,” Roman said. “They said ‘no, we want to reward you for catching the ball.’ … They took us down to right next to the bullpen, the gate, to go in there. That’s where they had us. At that point they didn’t allow my husband or the friend that we were with to go with me. They said they had to stay back.”
It’s standard procedure for Dodger Stadium security to ask any fan who catches a significant home run ball what they would want in exchange for the ball.
Roman said she asked the security guard at the scene if he could have Ohtani autograph the ball so she could keep it.
“And they were like no, if you’re going to keep it, he’s not willing to sign for it and we won’t authenticate it for you,” Roman said.
Typically Major League Baseball – not the home team – employs at least two authenticators on-site at every game for the purpose of authenticating game balls.
“That’s when I asked, ‘what is he willing to trade me for it?’ At first what they offered was two signed baseball caps,” Roman said. “I asked, ‘what else can I get?’ That’s when they threw in a bat and another ball.”
Roman asked if she could meet Ohtani. She was told that wasn’t possible, and the two never met.
Ohtani was later quoted in the English-language media as saying he met with Roman after the game. However, Japanese reporters on-site said Ohtani never specified whether he spoke to the fan personally or whether the team spoke to the fan.
Since less historic Ohtani memorabilia routinely auctions for four figures, some experts have speculated the ball Roman caught would have been worth six figures. Roman said she doesn’t regret the terms of her exchange.
“As far as regrets, I honestly don’t regret it,” she said. “Just the experience of it all, as a lifetime Dodger fan, that meant so much. I’m really grateful with what I got. … It makes you think damn, did I really miss out on those hundred thousand dollars but what’s done is done.
“As a Dodger fan, I expected maybe a little bit more warmth, I should say, from them,” Roman said. “But it was just really sad I needed to make a decision right then and there.”
Photo Credit: Rob Schumacher/The Republic / USA TODAY Netwo
