Bonds Gets An Asterisk in the Hall of Fame

The 756th home run ball from Barry Bonds will go to the Baseball Hall of Fame, but will include an extra marking:

NEW YORK — 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.

I'm kind of surprised the Hall would accept the ball with the asterisk marking since that makes a statement that the Hall probably doesn't want to get in the middle of. Chance are Bonds will never be in the Hall otherwise, because given the suspicions of his steroid use, I can't imagine he'll be able to get the votes to be admitted.