Judge 62nd HR Ball Holder Gave Up $1.5M In Selling Process

He had "the world's most valuable baseball" in his hands, and was offered a cool $3M by a private buyer, but ultimately, Cory Youmans, the man who caught Aaron Judge's historic 62nd home run, "settled" for $1.5M in a public auction last week. And doing it all above board, he's perfectly fine with it. 

As he recently told Richie Whitt of si.com's Fan Nation, “I’m at peace with the process.”

Youmans, it turns out, is far from the spoiled "ultra-rich" investment banker CEO that he was portrayed to be at the time after he caught Judge's blast. He is, in fact, only a regular employee of a big financial corporation, and, of note, is a cancer survivor from a diagnosis earlier in 2022. 

He does have some notoriety as the husband of a former Bachelor contestant. They live in the Dallas-Fort Worth area and he was at the Texas Rangers game at Globe Life Field that night on Oct. 4th, when Judge entered the history books, and Youmans ultimately would join him. 

But he says of eschewing the somewhat sketchy higher offers that he was receiving for the ball and instead going through an official public auction, “No matter what I did, not everyone would agree that it was the right strategy. If I gave it back I was stupid, and if I sold it I was greedy. I’m a private person that essentially won the lottery live on national TV. So, to say the least, it’s been an interesting experience."

All most fans knew about him was the quick clip of him walking out of the stadium after the game. 

"Good question, I haven’t thought about it."

–– Corey Youmans, when asked what he's going to do with the coveted Aaron Judge HR No. 62 ball #AllRise pic.twitter.com/tI53h9KoXu

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) October 5, 2022

"But at the end of the day, I feel lucky to have been in the stadium that night and lucky to have caught the ball."

He's lucky in another way as well—one that counts much more than a baseball. His melanoma, diagnosed in May, was caught early and the prognosis for a full recovery is good. 

And he has an extra $1.5M in the bank to help celebrate.