On a damp evening in September at Denver's Coors Field, Barry Bonds, Major League Baseball's career home run leader, hit No. 762 into the seats in left-center field.
If he never hits another, that ball could be worth $1 million, according to memorabilia experts.
Once it turns up.
No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night. Presuming it resurfaces, it must be authenticated - no automatic feat because Major League Baseball had stopped marking balls pitched to Bonds after he passed the previous record holder, Hank Aaron, earlier last season.
And, of course, Bonds - who is currently out of baseball and under the cloud of federal indictments on perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the BALCO steroid investigation - must not add to his total. (The San Francisco Giants decided not to re-sign him after the season, and no other club has offered the 43-year-old outfielder a contract.)
Not much was made of it at the time.
It was only Sept. 5, more than three weeks before the end of the season and four weeks - and six homers - since Bonds had hit the all-time record-breaker.
No. 762 came on a 99-mph fastball from Colorado Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, the ball barely clearing an outfield barrier.
Colorado outfielder Matt Holliday contended the ball wouldn't have been a home run without the aid of an unidentified fan who leaned over the barrier, a baseball glove on his outstretched hand, and snared it.
Holliday lost that argument because he had pulled up short of the barrier, defeating his case for interference.
Who ultimately wound up with the prize souvenir is unclear because a video of the game shows another fan struggling with the person whose glove initially snared the ball.
Kohler, who predicts a $1-million selling price, is not just sitting around waiting for the ball to reappear.
“We are trying to find it,” he said, refusing to elaborate on his search operation.
Kohler sold Bonds' No. 700 ball for $102,000, No. 755 for $186,750, as well as No. 756. (Fashion designer Mark Ecko bought that ball at auction for $752,467, then conducted an Internet poll to decide its fate, drawing millions of votes. The public's command: Mark the ball with an asterisk, meant to suggest a steroids-tainted record, and ship it to the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. It has not been received, a Hall of Fame spokesman said.)
Todd McFarlane, an entertainment-industry figure who created the “Spawn” empire and a renowned collector, says he would spend up to $1 million to get No. 762.
Once it turns up.
No one has seen the historic ball since the unidentified fan who got it disappeared into the night. Presuming it resurfaces, it must be authenticated - no automatic feat because Major League Baseball had stopped marking balls pitched to Bonds after he passed the previous record holder, Hank Aaron, earlier last season.
And, of course, Bonds - who is currently out of baseball and under the cloud of federal indictments on perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the BALCO steroid investigation - must not add to his total. (The San Francisco Giants decided not to re-sign him after the season, and no other club has offered the 43-year-old outfielder a contract.)
Not much was made of it at the time.
It was only Sept. 5, more than three weeks before the end of the season and four weeks - and six homers - since Bonds had hit the all-time record-breaker.
No. 762 came on a 99-mph fastball from Colorado Rockies right-hander Ubaldo Jimenez, the ball barely clearing an outfield barrier.
Colorado outfielder Matt Holliday contended the ball wouldn't have been a home run without the aid of an unidentified fan who leaned over the barrier, a baseball glove on his outstretched hand, and snared it.
Holliday lost that argument because he had pulled up short of the barrier, defeating his case for interference.
Who ultimately wound up with the prize souvenir is unclear because a video of the game shows another fan struggling with the person whose glove initially snared the ball.
Kohler, who predicts a $1-million selling price, is not just sitting around waiting for the ball to reappear.
“We are trying to find it,” he said, refusing to elaborate on his search operation.
Kohler sold Bonds' No. 700 ball for $102,000, No. 755 for $186,750, as well as No. 756. (Fashion designer Mark Ecko bought that ball at auction for $752,467, then conducted an Internet poll to decide its fate, drawing millions of votes. The public's command: Mark the ball with an asterisk, meant to suggest a steroids-tainted record, and ship it to the Hall of Fame at Cooperstown, N.Y. It has not been received, a Hall of Fame spokesman said.)
Todd McFarlane, an entertainment-industry figure who created the “Spawn” empire and a renowned collector, says he would spend up to $1 million to get No. 762.
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