SEATTLE — Seven players in baseball history have hit 60 home runs in a single season. Only one player has reached 60 as a switch-hitting catcher with a nickname that pays homage to his prodigious posterior.
The legend of Cal Raleigh in Seattle reached epic proportions Wednesday night when the Big Dumper joined the exclusive 60 Home Run Club with a blast to right field in the eighth inning of the Mariners’ 9-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.
The win gave the Mariners their first AL West title since 2001 … and provided Raleigh with another milestone talking point in the intense AL MVP debate against the Yankees’ Aaron Judge.
While 60 isn’t quite the rare air it was before the famed home run chase of 1998, when Mark McGwire finished with 70 and Sammy Sosa went for 66, it remains one of baseball’s true magic numbers.
We found him!
— Seattle Mariners - y (@Mariners) September 26, 2025
Before today’s game, Cal met up with the Mariners fan who caught No. 60 and handed it off to another young fan... You love to see it ???? pic.twitter.com/iOjK7aGWFm
Only Raleigh, Judge (62), Babe Ruth (60) and Roger Maris (61) have hit 60 in the American League, and the record seasons of Barry Bonds (73), McGwire and Sosa are all clouded by rumors of the use of performance-enhancing drugs.
Raleigh, who hit No. 59 in the first inning Wednesday with a 422-foot moonshot to right, drove his 60th blast 388 feet, landing about eight rows into section 108.
The ball ricocheted off a few outstretched hands before disappearing into a pile of fans clamoring for the milestone souvenir.
A fan named Glenn, who was wearing an original light-blue Mariners trident hat, emerged with the ball … and then gave it to a 12-year-old boy named Marcus Ruelos, who told a Seattle TV station that ball had bounced off his mother's head.
In an age when fans are taking balls away from kids — we’re looking at you, Phillies fan — it was refreshing to see a valuable baseball given to the next generation.
The Mariners confirmed to cllct Thursday night that Ruelos had given the ball back to Raleigh in exchange for a signed bat and the chance to watch batting practice at at future game.
Glenn also got to meet Raleigh before Thursday's game and also received a signed bat as a reward for his generosity.
So, with the ball returned to Raleigh in exchange for some signed memorabilia, cllct pondered what No. 60 is worth.
Past milestone balls have generated big headlines and record prices: McGwire’s 70th sold for $3.05 million, Bonds’ 73rd went for $517,500 and Judge’s 62nd fetched $1.5 million.
Then there’s the most expensive baseball of all-time: Shohei Ohtani’s 50th, as part of his historic 50-homer, 50-steal season, sold for a record $4.392 million last October
Raleigh’s 60th likely is nowhere near that stratosphere, but it’s still probably easily a collectible worth six-digits.
While auction results are always a little tricky to predict, and all it takes is two passionate bidders to drive up a huge price, cllct went to a handful of industry experts to get their ballpark estimates.
“While the magic ’60’ home run number is not what it once was due to a number of things, it remains one of the biggest achievements in slugging,” David Hunt, CEO of Hunt Auctions, told cllct. “It would almost certainly be of more value in the Seattle region as one of the most important personal achievements in Mariners history.
“I would think the value is likely $100,000 to $200,000 with possible upside regionally.”
One other critical factor is where Raleigh finishes the season. The Mariners catcher has four games remaining, including another meeting Thursday night with the Rockies’ woeful pitching staff. Should he add to his total — especially tying or even surpassing Judge’s 62 — the value of No. 60 could drop a bit.
Ken Goldin, founder and CEO of Goldin Auctions, told cllct No. 60 is likely worth “a flat $250k” if Raleigh ends the year at 60.
"Keep in mind, this will be the all-time record for a catcher — one that would seem to be difficult to break in my lifetime, certainly considering durability and games played of most catchers,” Goldin said. "It also is interesting that this is a Seattle Mariner, not the traditional Yankees, Giants, Dodgers (and) even Cardinals and Cubs that we have seen ... So we will see how much support he has, and we have to remember there are a lot of wealthy people in the Seattle area.”
Memory Lane Auctions president JP Cohen believes the ball's value is difficult to estimate.
"Hard to say — $300,000 to $500,000, maybe," Cohen said.
Top eBay seller Rick Probstein of Probstein Auctions put Raleigh’s 60th in the ballpark of $100,000.
“Sixty is still a big deal for a catcher,” he said. “(But) I don’t think it’s a $200,000 ball."
David Kohler, president and CEO of SCP Auctions, said Raleigh is “probably going to hit another one or two,” so he placed a value on the ball of “$100,000 to $200,000.”
Kevin Jackson is the chief content officer for cllct. He attended Wednesday's game as a fan and was seated just a few rows behind where the ball landed in section 108 at T-Mobile Park.
Will Stern and Darren Rovell contributed to this report.