Monetary value of #756 [baseball question]

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’m in the early stages of planning a trip to San Francisco this summer to watch my beloved Dodgers trounce the Giants on their home field. I’ve been poking around eBay and Craiglist to keep an eye on ticket prices, and the common theme I’ve seen in most of the ads I’ve run across is that the ticket buyer might be present on the historic day that Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s record.

Barring injury, it seems relatively certain that Bonds in going to accomplish that this season. I found myself wondering, what if I bought bleacher seats and just happened to catch that homerun? Of course, my first instinct as a Dodger fan would be to just throw the damn thing back on the field, but not even my deeply rooted loyalty would stop me from trying to make a small fortune off of Barry Bonds if I had the chance.

So my question is, how much do you think #756 will be worth to the lucky person who does come up with it, assuming they aren’t torn to shreds by grabby hands around them?

Note to mods: I put this in IMHO because, despite the fact that there’s probably some factual evidence to support answers here, I’d like to have some fun with this thread and let folks speculate as they will. Please feel free to move the thread if you see fit to do so.

2

I’d throw it back. The immortality would be worth the lack of monetary recompense. Plus, I’d be interviewed by every freaking news channel on the planet, which would give me plenty of chances to bad-mouth Bonds to the press, the steroidal bastard.

3

Um… I think you’d get that chance even if you kept the ball. Plus, you know, you’d get that million dollars on E-bay. It’s win-win.

4

It will be worth a ton. Steroids , human growth serum, bennies are all part of baseball lore. We are aboiut to enter into another steroid problem in Chicago.
Bonds has never flunked a drug test. For most of his career they were not even illegal. I believe he used and probably still does. He got big and strong at the end of his career when he should have been slowing down. But that is not proof. He gets to walk.

5

Yes, but throwing it back would be the ultimate show of contempt for Bonds. It would be worth it. Plus, selling it means you are at most a hidden footnote in baseball. Throw it back and they’ll be talking about me for centuries. :smiley:

6

That is brilliant. That’s what I’d do. Talk about an “F you!” with a capital F.

Then I’d write a book about my experience throwing the ball back. I’d call it "F You with a Capital ‘F’ " and I’d make trillions.

Or maybe not.

7

A quick and dirty, ghost-written tome of maybe a hundred pages. Sell it cheap. It’d make money, I bet! :smiley:

8

Then I suggest you take it a step further. Keep the ball, then blow it up, à la the Bartman Ball. Put a sign on the ball that reads: This is your body on steroids.

KABOOM!

9

C’mon, guys – no one wants to even take a guess? I don’t think $100k is out of the question, but I’m not sure it’ll get into seven digits.

Your opinions about the ball’s value will help me ultimately decide whether I want to be rich and famous or just famous. :slight_smile:

10

It’ll be worth a fair amount…WAG, at least a couple hundred thousand…but not a massive fortune. In Hank Aaron’s day, hitting anywhere near 755 home runs was a huge deal. Between diluted pitching staffs, more hitter-friendly ballparks, juiced balls, and, er, chemical enhancement, hitting one out of the park just isn’t that big an accomplishment anymore.

And yes, if it were me, I’d definitely go the destroy-it-in-a-spectacular-fashion route. No amount of money can buy everlasting infamy.