You can decide the fate of 756

[Karlifornia]

Clothing designer Marc Ecko bought the 756 ball, and now is letting the public vote to decide the fate of the home run ball.

vote756.com


I voted to brand it with the asterisk!

[Neon_Chaos]

Sweet.

I voted to brand it, then send it over to the HoF. :)

[bosshogg23]

Needs to go to the HOF. Spite is lame.

[molson]

Clothing designer Marc Ecko bought the 756 ball, and now is letting the public vote to decide the fate of the home run ball.

vote756.com

I voted to brand it with the asterisk!

I wonder if Cooperstown would still accept/display it with the asterisk.

[MikeVic]

I wonder if Cooperstown would still accept/display it with the asterisk.

Only one way to find out! :D

[EagleFan]

Just say brand it...

[DaddyTorgo]

i voted blast it off into space

[Pumpy Tudors]

Is there an option for "post a video on YouTube of a dog chewing up the baseball"?

[DaddyTorgo]

"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said, according to the newspaper. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."

"All of those options don't weigh anything," he said, according to the report. "In baseball, that number [756] stands."

Ecko did not directly respond to Bonds' comments Wednesday, but said in a statement he would make Bonds a custom T-shirt that says, "Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this 'stupid' T-shirt.'"

ROTFLMAO

[Neon_Chaos]

Update:

Bonds ball to be branded with asterisk

By RICK FREEMAN, AP Sports Writer2 hours, 1 minute ago

The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-breaking 756th home run will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame, its owner said Wednesday.
Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought the ball in an online auction, set up a Web site for fans to vote on the ball's fate, and the decision to brand it won out over the other options, sending it to the museum unblemished or launching it into space.
"We're going to be working with the folks at the Hall of Fame," Ecko said on NBC's "Today" show.
Ecko, whom Bonds called "an idiot" last week, had the winning bid Sept. 15 in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit Aug. 7 to break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs. The final selling price was $752,467, well above most predictions that assumed Bonds' status as a lightning rod for the steroids debate in baseball would depress the value.
The asterisk suggests that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks on them to ballparks as he neared Aaron's hallowed mark.
Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey, also interviewed on the show, said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.
"We're happy to get it," he said. "We're a nonprofit history museum, so this ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown without Marc Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it."
The Giants announced Friday they will part with Bonds after this season, the seven-time NL MVP's 15th in San Francisco and 22nd in the majors.

[Surtt]

"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said, according to the newspaper. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."


Sadly, I agree with Bonds.

[miked]

What an ass. It's pretty disrespectful to the Hall seeing as how they have nothing to do with Barry's record, steroid use, or even voting him in. I think it's highly idiotic and they should just tell him to keep the ball. That way he can proudly display his 750k ruined memorabilia. I'm sure the Hall can get helmets, bats, jerseys, whatever.

[vex]

It's not like the Hall can't just turn the ball to where the asterisk doesn't show. That said, take that, Barry.

[rkmsuf]

Is is a big asterisk or some little dinky thing?

[Neon_Chaos]

What an ass. It's pretty disrespectful to the Hall seeing as how they have nothing to do with Barry's record, steroid use, or even voting him in. I think it's highly idiotic and they should just tell him to keep the ball. That way he can proudly display his 750k ruined memorabilia. I'm sure the Hall can get helmets, bats, jerseys, whatever.

He's not the ass. :) The asses are the thousands (millions? :) ) of voters who voted for the *. (I am one of them. MUHAHAHAH.)

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

Is is a big asterisk or some little dinky thing?

Judging from the website, it'll be about an inch in diameter.

[Atocep]

What an ass. It's pretty disrespectful to the Hall seeing as how they have nothing to do with Barry's record, steroid use, or even voting him in. I think it's highly idiotic and they should just tell him to keep the ball. That way he can proudly display his 750k ruined memorabilia. I'm sure the Hall can get helmets, bats, jerseys, whatever.

I guess you missed the big deal they made of Barry saying he was keeping all memorbilia from the event?

Its from last year, but I remember reading that the HoF was getting nervous because Bonds had stated he had no plans of sending anything to the hall.

[Mustang]

Whether or not the * is physically branded on to the ball or not, it would have always had an implied *. Goes a longer way historically to impart the feelings of people on this particular subject.

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I guess you missed the big deal they made of Barry saying he was keeping all memorbilia from the event?

Its from last year, but I remember reading that the HoF was getting nervous because Bonds had stated he had no plans of sending anything to the hall.

Yeah, I find it hard to believe that anyone would find some level of agreement with Bonds. He's a jerk and has personally stated that he agrees with that assessment. That's probably the only honest statement he's ever made.

[Atocep]

Found the article, its from May of this year. It contains this classic Bonds line;

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2884986

I’m not worried about the Hall. I take care of me.

But it does look like he agreed to send an item to the hall, after the backlash he got for his stupid comment above.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18909530/

[Brillig]

Apparently Limerick-Off is no longer just for Maximum Football, the SF Chronicle is inviting submissions of Barry Bonds limericks.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/detail?blogid=22&entry_id=20621

It's embarrassing how many people don't even know the proper structure of a limerick...

[Noop]

Sad. It should be put in the hall without the *.... Ecko is a smart marketing man though for doing this...

[Surtt]

Sad. It should be put in the hall without the *.... Ecko is a smart marketing man though for doing this...


Is it worth $750,000 to get your 15 min and be the answer to a trivia question?

I guess he spent the money, he can do what ever he wants to it. But it is a historical ball. If he vandalizes it because of his own personal agenda(even though a lot agree with him), I hope the HOF declines to display it.

[Atocep]

Is it worth $750,000 to get your 15 min and be the answer to a trivia question?

I guess he spent the money, he can do what ever he wants to it. But it is a historical ball. If he vandalizes it because of his own personal agenda(even though a lot agree with him), I hope the HOF declines to display it.

Not really a personal agenda when he let the fans decide what happened to it.

[Surtt]

Not really a personal agenda when he let the fans decide what happened to it.

It seems to me, the people who wanted the * we much more likely to go vote then the ones who just wanted it to go to the HOF.
I personally don't think it was a very scientific pole.
YMMV.

[sterlingice]

Is it worth $750,000 to get your 15 min and be the answer to a trivia question?

I guess he spent the money, he can do what ever he wants to it. But it is a historical ball. If he vandalizes it because of his own personal agenda(even though a lot agree with him), I hope the HOF declines to display it.

If you have more money than you know what to do with, I guess this is how you spend it

SI

[Neon_Chaos]

It seems to me, the people who wanted the * we much more likely to go vote then the ones who just wanted it to go to the HOF.
I personally don't think it was a very scientific pole.
YMMV.

Ahhh... the beauty of democracy. :)

[Klinglerware]

Not really a personal agenda when he let the fans decide what happened to it.

None of the above, I think. I don't think there was any personal agenda here, but this was not something done "for the fans" either.

As Noop alluded to, this is pure marketing. I would not put the genius tag on him just yet though, as these initiatives tend not to pay out on an ROI basis.

[EagleFan]

It was marketing plain and simple. He gets some name recognition in a market where he probably doesn't have much (I don't see sports fans in general being big on fashion designers).

[sterlingice]

I personally don't think it was a very scientific pole.

No, this is a scientific pole:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8b/Geographic_Southpole.jpg

Ok, I'll be quiet now. I know that was bad :)

SI

[EagleFan]

Any idea (or should I say guesses) what that is off in the distance? The dots on the horizon.

[sterlingice]

Blofeld's penguin armies for world domination? No idea, just grabbed it off of wiki

SI

[vex]

WASHINGTON - If Gilbert Arenas has his way, the baseball Barry Bonds (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21037664/#) hit for his record-breaking 756th career homer will never be branded with an asterisk.
Arenas’ solution? He wants to buy the ball.
Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction, then set up a Web site so people could vote to determine its fate. Ecko announced the winning choice this week: branding the ball with an asterisk before it’s sent to the Hall of Fame.

[/URL]“I don’t think he should mess up history like that,” Arenas said Friday.
“It’s history. It’s still history. I mean, the guy’s a man before he’s some big slugger,” he added. “I mean, how you just going to take what this man’s done for his career and ... say, ’Hey, you were accused of this. You allegedly did this. I want to take this away from you.’? I mean, what if we took away your Ecko company? I mean, why graffiti the ball?”
Later Friday, Arenas posted an entry on his blog making the same point.
“I’ll buy the ball from you Ecko for $800,000. If Barry Bonds is found guilty, I’ll give it back to you. I’m not going to let you go around like some little superhero,” the blog says. “I’ll put it in my hall of fame. The Gilbert Hall of Fame for Athletes no matter what you did.”


[URL]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21037664/ (http://www.operationsports.com/fofc/)

[Noop]

*Claps* for Gilbert Arenas.