Barry Bonds' home-run ball: Bestow it, brand it, or destroy it?

Posted Sep 19th 2007 8:00AM by Beth Gaston Moon
Filed under: Internet, Rants and Raves, Scandals, Rich in America, Business of Sports

On August 7, Barry Bonds - one of the most universally reviled professional athletes of our time - topped Hank Aaron's 33-year-old home-run record. For months or even years now, Bonds' breaking of this milestone has been a foregone conclusion, and even the mercenary angle surrounding the record-breaking ball was being discussed long before that fateful crack of the bat.

From the second Bonds' 756th home-run ball touched the ever-so-lucky palms of Queens, New York resident Matt Murphy, the debate began over what the ball would be worth. Many have pointed out that the truly valuable ball will be the last home run Bonds hits, as it will effectively represent the new record (until someone mercifully shatters that). Last month, our own Tom Barlow assigned a price tag of $0. But fashion mogul Marc Ecko shelled out $752,467 for the 5 ounces of cork and rubber, and it seems as though he may have dropped more than three-quarters of a million dollars out of spite alone.

While most sports collectors would encase the storied ball in plastic or save it for shipping to Cooperstown, Ecko is taking a democratic approach to his next move. Ecko has set up a website with three options:

A. Bestow It: Send it to the Baseball Hall of Fame.

B. Brand It: Stamp the ball with an asterisk (suggesting the record is tainted by steroid use). Then ship it to the Baseball Hall of Fame with a permanent footnote.

C. Destroy the relic by blasting it into space. (At $752,467, that's a mighty expensive piece of orbiting trash).

I've already voted three times (for option "B"), but unfortunately the site doesn't provide up-to-date voting results. Final results will reportedly be tabulated by an independent third-party auditor. Polling ends at 11:59 p.m. (Eastern time) on September 25th, so get clicking now if this is an issue you're passionate about (this means you, Tom).

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Tags: 756, 756*, Barry Bonds, BarryBonds, Baseball hall of fame, BaseballHallOfFame, Cooperstown, Hank Aaron, HankAaron, mark ecko, MarkEcko, Matt Murphy, MattMurphy

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

9-19-2007 @ 12:13PM

Elsie said...

-Queens, New York resident Matt Murphy SHOULD AUCTION THE BALL ON E-BAY

9-19-2007 @ 12:29PM

61857 said...

-KEEP IT! IT's WORTH A LOT OF MONEY, YOU JUST NEED TO AUCTION IT OFF, YOU HAVE MORE THAN 3 OPTIONS GET REAL, THE MINUTE YOU LET THE BALL GO, SOME OTHER BILLIONAIRE WILL GO ON A MAN HUNT TO GET IT A RIP YOU OFF.

THIS IS THE WEB SITE FOR BEST AUCTION COMPANIES LIST IN NY SO LOOK ALREADY
http://www.google.com/search?q=BEST+AUCTION+COMPANY+IN+NY