So fashion designer Marc Ecko spent three quarters of a million bucks for Barry Bonds’ 756 home run ball. He held an online poll to see what he should do with it, and the votes are in: he’s going to mark it with an * and give it to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Link
I realize that what people think of this action will probably be linked to what they think of Bonds and his career and his home run total. Personally, i think that the HoF should have told him to shove his ball where the sun don’t shine. They claim that, by accepting it, they’re not making any statement about Bonds or his feat, but i don’t buy that. The statement is there, whether or not they intend to make it.
It would be different, i think, if the ball had an asterisk or some other defacement already, but to mark it specifically in order to hand it over to the HoF is just petty attention seeking, i think.
Also, from the story:
This suggests to me that, if the Hall had said “We won’t take it if you mark it with an asterisk,” then Ecko might have just given them the ball anyway. I think they should tell him to keep his $750,000 baseball.