Barry Bonds was indicted Thursday for perjury and obstruction of justice. It may very well be that the all-time home run record holder will be spending a lot more time in court rooms and with attorneys than playing baseball next season.

• "A federal grand jury slaps the San Francisco Giants' slugger with perjury and obstruction of justice charges. The charges come after a four-year investigation into whether the home run king lied under oath to authorities investigating the abuse of performance enhancing drugs in professional sports."

Late in the season the Giants let it be known that they were not interested in having him in the line-up next year. As a free agent Bonds certainly would have plenty of value to an American League team looking for a Designated Hitter (DH) and he would like to put the record far out of reach, I'm sure. This saga looks likely to continue for years. However, this indictment alone may cost him the opportunity to build on his record and may very well put the proverbial asterisk next to it.

I'm sure there will be those that will say his record is not legitimate; that has already been the case. I say the record is the record. The rest of the story is, and will continue to be well documented.

When Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's all-time record for home runs, it ignited a debate: How much was the historic baseball worth, and how much would it sell for? BloggingStocks writer Tom Barlow asked the question, "What is it really worth?"

To Barlow, it's worth nothing. Bonds is a cheater. But I have another take on it, and one that ties into the way I look at stocks. When investing, I want to buy a company with some kind of moat: If the moat surrounding the value of the Bonds ball is however many homers Bonds will finish his career with, how wide is that moat? Not too wide. Here are some people who have a shot at breaking the record:

• Alex Rodriguez
• Albert Pujols
• Ken Griffey, Jr. (This is a long shot but would be the feel-good story of all-time)

I am willing to make a bet: Whoever pays $400K+ for the Bonds ball will, in 10 years at the most, own a home run ball hit by a steroid-tainted baseball player who, in addition to being among the most hated people in all of sports, is also number two on the all-time list for home runs.

Whether you're buying a baseball or a stock, you want to look for a durable moat. I don't think the Bonds ball has that, and I'd be shorting it here.

Yesterday Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants broke baseball's most hallowed record, the career home run mark held for the last 80+ years by only two people; Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron. When the dust cleared from the scramble for the ball, Matt Murphy, a 22-year-old from Queens, New York, was holding the prize. The value of Bonds' home run ball is estimated at $400,000 and up.

The value to me: $0. He, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and the other steroid sluggers have given the grand old game a black eye that taints every player's accomplishments.

If someone is dumb enough to fork over big bucks for this tainted trophy, I'd like to offer them a selection of other treasures, such as --

• Ken Lay's Bible
• Floyd Landis' pee cup
• Rosie Ruiz's running shoes
• Uri Geller's spoon
• Frank Abagnale's pilot wings
• Milli Vanilli's musical charts
• Jayson Blair's chair from the NYT

And a share in a surefire scheme I have cooking with this guy in Nigeria who has to move some money out of the country discretely.

On second thought, perhaps the ball should be given back to Mr. Steroid. Then he'd at least have one larger than a peanut.

Baseball is all about numbers, just like the stock market. Wall Street got all excited when the Dow Jones Industrial Average broke 14,000. Any day now Barry Bonds will be breaking the career home-run record set by Hank Aaron of 755. He only needs three more to reach 756.

Barry Bonds' last few years have been surrounded by controversy, from mistresses to steroids to anti-social behavior, as he has chased his destiny in pursuit of the home-run record. I will not dwell on any of these issues here as they have all been discussed in far greater detail than need be in every form of media.

I just got back from lunch at O'Brien's Pub where the subject came up (how could it not) and I was thinking about how I would end the story in grandeur if I was writing it. More importantly Hank and I (the bartender, not Aaron) were discussing what Bonds could do to create the perfect ending to this story and his career. Then it came to me -- Bonds should hit No. 755, shake hands with the umpire, his teammates and manager, wave to the fans, and simply walk off the field -- The Ultimate Walk-off Home Run.