July 03, 2008 09:05 am
—
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.
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