Published: July 03, 2008 09:03 am         

Hall gets Bonds’ home run ball

Barry Bonds’ 756th home run ball landed in Cooperstown after all.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum took possession of the baseball hit by Barry Bonds for his 756th career home run Tuesday night, after the owner of the baseball, Marc Ecko, had the artifact delivered by private vehicle Tuesday night.

A letter from Ecko stating his intention to unconditionally donate the baseball to the Museum accompanied the baseball, which was hit by Barry Bonds for his 756th career home run on Aug. 7, 2007, at SBC Park in San Francisco. “As we previously stated today, we are very happy to receive the baseball as a donation, and not as a loan, as previously declared by Mr. Ecko. We look forward to adding this ball to our permanent collections here in Cooperstown,” said Brad Horn, senior director for communications and education, who personally accepted the ball. The baseball will be displayed in Cooperstown following the Museum’s documentation process, which takes several weeks. Mark Ecko bought the ball at auction in 2007 and agreed to donate the ball, with an asterisk, to the Hall of Fame.

The asterisk represents the suspicion that Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron’s career home run record of 755, used steroids during his career.

``Discussions between the Baseball Hall of Fame and the owner of the baseball hit by Barry Bonds for his 756th career home run have unfortunately reached an impasse,’’ a statement from the Hall of Fame said on Tuesday. ``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.’’ The release went on to explain that although the museum has accepted loans in the past when no other artifacts were available to tell a story, in this case, they already have several pieces in their collection that have been unconditionally donated by Bonds and others to reflect the home run record chase.

Bonds has criticized both Ecko for putting an asterisk on the ball, and the Hall of Fame for agreeing to accept the ball, even going so far as saying he would not come to Cooperstown should he be elected to the Hall in the future.