Asterisked 756th Ball Heading to the Hall

Alternate title: 756th ball to make it to Hall before Bonds (ever does …). Perhaps it’s fitting that it’s worked out this way, given the fact that, you know, Barry Bonds juiced to get the record. Bonds is right to say that Marc Ecko is an idiot — I’m not sure what other sane person would come up with the idea to try and brand a ball with an asterisk, much less pay $752,467 for it. Now Gilbert Arenas on the other hand, who wanted to buy the ball back from Ecko, would have been an even bigger idiot for spending serious bucks to rescue the ball. Anyway, after going back and forth with the Hall, Ecko has agreed to give the ball to Cooperstown for good, asterisk and all.

I’m not one for defacing baseball history, but like I’ve said, the asterisk on the ball is a perfect reflection of the mockery Barry made of the record. You don’t just go from being a 30 and 40 home run hitter to belting 60 and 70 like nothing, even if you have matured and developed as a hitter. Whatever. I think it’s pretty comical too that the Hall is accepting the ball in whatever condition they get it. About the only thing that would make this entire scenario perfect, would be for Bonds to be picked up by some team this year for a few games and be dropped at the end of the season. Then, both Bonds and Kent would retire from the game, and five years from now, Jeff Kent would get into the Hall while Bonds would be left out. As my buddy Casey suggested, that would be the ultimate, enjoyable irony.