Thanks, Hall: Bonds' 756 Ball Not Accepted

"Three balls and two strikes. The over-shift is on, and Bacsik deals...and Bonds hits one high...hits it deep...It is out of here! 756! Bonds stands alone! He is on top of the all-time home run list. What a special moment for Barry Bonds, and what a special moment for these fans here in San Francisco."

—Duane Kuiper on Fox Sports Net Bay Area

Emerging from the pile was Matt Murphy—a Mets fan, no less—with Barry Bonds' record 756th home run ball.

"I won the lottery," Murphy later told The Daily News. "I'm scraped up but nothing serious."

Murphy said he would "be smart about what I do with [the ball]." He decided to sell the ball ... and he got more than $750,000 for it. The winner was fashion designer Mark Ecko, who put the ball's fate up to the public: Give it to the Hall, brand it with an asterisk before sending it to the Hall, or blast it into space. 

The winner with 47-percent of the more than 10 million votes was the option to brand it with an asterisk and send it to the Hall.

Except the Hall wouldn't accept the BWAA (ball with an asterisk). "The owner's previous commitment to unconditionally donate the baseball has changed to a loan. As a result, the Hall of Fame will not be able to accept the baseball."

Bonds said earlier he would boycott the hall if it displayed the BWAA. "I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said to MSNBC regarding his potential induction ceremony. "You can call me, but I won't be there."

If the Hall accepts and exhibits the BWAA, it would be illustrating its belief that Bonds cheated (for lack of a better word). To show its neutrality in the issue, the Hall would be better off not agreeing to display the BWAA.

"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Bonds is right, for once. Thirty-four-percent of the fans who voted in the aforementioned poll said the ball should be given to the Hall without an asterisk. Should the Hall display the BWAA, those 340,000-plus fans would not agree with its decision.

And that's 340,000 less fans Major League Baseball would have.