Bonds Last HR Ball?????

[allstarsplus]

I keep reading that Barry Bonds wants to play somewhere in 2008. My guess is he will DH for some team and hit a few more HRs. Why would anyone take the chance of paying $1 million for his HR 762 ball if it isn't guaranteed to be Barry's last of his career?

Am I missing something?



BONDS' 762ND HR BALL GOING UP FOR BIDS
The owner of the baseball Barry Bonds hit for his last home run to set the all-time major league record announced recently that he has enlisted the services of SCP Auctions to present the ball in an online auction March 31-April 12. SCP Auctions officials have predicted that the selling price of the No. 762 ball could approach $1 million.

[David]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I was thinking the same thing. Why invest $1 million (or whatever) in the "last home run ball" when it may not be the last home run ball two months from now. Bonds says he wants to play this year, and if a team gives him a chance, it's likely he'll hit a home run.

[David]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I should add that if this ball sells for $1 million, it's the seller who's got the brains. He's asking for the money for "last home run" ball before becomes the "second to last."

[joelsabi]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I should add that if this ball sells for $1 million, it's the seller who's got the brains. He's asking for the money for "last home run" ball before becomes the "second to last."

agreed. wise move on the seller. it will soon just be last home run as a giant or last something else.

[joelsabi]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

this is kinda related. didnt know every game now has an mlb authenticator present.


MLB anticipated Bonds would keep hitting home runs and that the 762 ball wouldn't be significant. Because of the oversight, a ball that retails for less than 20 bucks and is priced at $1 million can't officially be proven to be the record-breaker.
Sutton hid for seven months before appearing at a news conference Thursday to show off a ball that may or may not be the one thrown 99 mph by Ubaldo Jimenez and smacked by Bonds over the wall in left-center.
MLB, which planned to return to authenticating balls thrown to Bonds in the ensuing homestand, actually had an authenticator at Coors Field that day. His name was Mark Lewis, and he sat behind me in the press box. But he wasn't told to authenticate anything thrown to Bonds. He was told to authenticate anything thrown to Bengie Molina - believe it.
Molina hit his 100th career homer that day, and he wanted it for a keepsake. So the ball was retrieved by Coors Field security (obtained for a signed Molina ball) and delivered to Lewis, who marked it with a hologram sticker.
If Molina could ask for balls pitched to him to be marked, why couldn't Bonds? I asked Lewis why he didn't try to authenticate the Bonds home run ball if he was on the job anyway to authenticate Molina's.
"Barry said he didn't want to have it done," Lewis said.
"That's a lie," Bonds said.
But what if this were Bonds' final home run ball?
"It's a risk," Lewis said.
Two days earlier, I ran a story that asked the question whether the Giants were looking ahead to the "post-Barry Bonds era." Bonds passed me in the clubhouse and asked, "The post-Barry Bonds era, huh?"

[joelsabi]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

four days left

BALL HIT BY BARRY BONDS FOR HIS 762ND AND LAST CAREER HOME RUN ESTABLISHING MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S ALL-TIME CAREER HOME RUN RECORD
Current High Bid: $259,375.00

[Vintagedeputy]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I'd wet myself if I was offered a cushy job working for Major League Baseball in their authentication department....

With that said, MLB pays a guy (at a player's request) to sit and watch a ballgame in the hopes that some 10 year catcher with a paltry 99 career home runs hits #100? Is your 100th home run after 10 years in the bigs that momentus of an occassion? Did he (or anyone at MLB with half a brain) realize that every homerun hit by Bonds after he broke the record is a potentially valuable collectible?

I want that guy's job. Maybe I can authenticate how many doo rags Manny wears this season.....and probably make $40,000 a year doing it.

Jim

[allstarsplus]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

four days left

BALL HIT BY BARRY BONDS FOR HIS 762ND AND LAST CAREER HOME RUN ESTABLISHING MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL’S ALL-TIME CAREER HOME RUN RECORD
Current High Bid: $259,375.00

Are these bids kind of a "hedge" bet that maybe this will be the last HR ball and if it is then $260,000 or where ever it ends up is a steal---or---is this a waste of several $100,000 because Barry returns to play another day and then this is simply the 762nd HR ball which then becomes his last HR as a SF Giant?

I still think Bonds will be DH'ing for some AL team this year and hit a few more HR's.

Andrew

[allstarsplus]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

The auction ended.:

The baseball believed to be the last one hit out of the park by Barry Bonds sold for $376,612 on Saturday, the winning bid coming from a buyer who wanted to remain anonymous.


There were a total of 13 bids on the baseball that was caught by Jameson Sutton last Sept. 5 during a Colorado Rockies game at Coors Field.

Home run ball No. 762 is a bargain considering that SCP Auctions handled the sale of Bonds' record-breaking No. 756, which fetched $752,467.
"I was hoping that it would be higher than that," said David Kohler, president of the auction house.

"If Barry Bonds never plays again, whoever bought this ball has a valuable piece that's worth seven figures."

Kohler said the uncertainty of whether Bonds will return to the field played a factor in the lower price. The San Francisco Giants did not bring back Bonds this season and he's found no takers on the free-agent market.
"I think that some people thought he could come back and might have backed off," Kohler said. "But someone ended up with a nice heirloom."

Sutton, a 24-year-old from Boulder, Colo., kept the ball in a safe deposit box before deciding to put it up for the highest bid this year after it appeared Bonds' career might be finished.

At the time, Sutton said he would use some of the proceeds from the sale to help defray medical expenses of his stepfather, David Arguijo, who had lung cancer. Arguijo died Wednesday.

"I am happy with my decision to sell the (762nd) ball and wish the new owner the best," Sutton said in a release. "I'm especially proud to help my family pay some of the medical costs due to my father's illness."
Bonds hit No. 762 over the left-field fence on a 99 mph fastball by Ubaldo Jimenez.
SCP said it authenticated Sutton's ball by studying game films and interviewing fans, including Robert Harmon, who was scrambling for the historic ball along with Sutton. SCP also had Sutton take a polygraph test, and he passed.

[4cuda9er]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I would like to share this with you guys...I have a good friend that I believe has one of the most valuable Bonds HR balls to date..It probably wouldn't have been until the 756 HR ball was destroyed when they decided to put an asterisk on it. Here are the details of my friends ball...It is Bonds' HR #757, which broke the 756 record. It was a splash hit into McCovey Cove. It was marked, and authenticated by MLB. Then to top it off, I was present when Bonds signed it before a game in Sept., with the inscription, "God Bless" Now if I had the money, this would be the ball to have, if it was every put up for sale....

Gary

[joelsabi]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I would like to share this with you guys...I have a good friend that I believe has one of the most valuable Bonds HR balls to date..It probably wouldn't have been until the 756 HR ball was destroyed when they decided to put an asterisk on it. Here are the details of my friends ball...It is Bonds' HR #757, which broke the 756 record. It was a splash hit into McCovey Cove. It was marked, and authenticated by MLB. Then to top it off, I was present when Bonds signed it before a game in Sept., with the inscription, "God Bless" Now if I had the money, this would be the ball to have, if it was every put up for sale....

Gary

very interesting. i think most people would rather have the ball that set the new record than the ball that sets the new ceiling. is it the anticipation and the historical significance that make its more valuable. people remember the first and last of things too. anyone have a reason to support my theory.

[bondsfan]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I was at the 757 game and I am 99% sure it wasn't a splash hit. i know this because 757 landed where i was standing for 756

regardless, it's a nice ball. i am just saying i don't think it was a splash hit

[allstarsplus]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2008/baseball/mlb/10/07/bonds.freedom.ap/index.html

Good Article about Barry Bonds giving back. Doesn't sound like he wants to return to baseball.

[4cuda9er]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

I was at the 757 game and I am 99% sure it wasn't a splash hit. i know this because 757 landed where i was standing for 756

regardless, it's a nice ball. i am just saying i don't think it was a splash hit

Hi bondsfan

Just for your information, go to the below listed link..I think this will clear up where 757 landed.. I was one of the kayakers who had a chance at it...

http://sanfrancisco.giants.mlb.com/media/player/mp_tpl_3_1.jsp?w=2007/open/tp/archive08/080807_wassfn_bonds_hr_757_tp_350.wmv&pid=mlb_tp&gid=2007/08/08/wasmlb-sfnmlb-1&vid=7758&mid=200708092138719&cid=mlb&fid=mlb_tp400&v=2&id=590950

[kingjammy24]

Re: Bonds Last HR Ball?????

Doesn't sound like he wants to return to baseball.

kind of like saying "i quit!" after the boss fires you.

good to see that after spending the year trying in vain to get signed, barry chose to go out on his own terms.

rudy.