The record-setting Barry Bonds 762 home run ball was sold Saturday in an online auction at scpauctions.com for $376,612.00 to a buyer who elected to remain anonymous. Bonds’ record-setting 762 home run occurred Sept. 5, 2007 at Coors Field in Denver off a 99-mph fast ball thrown by Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez. Jameson Sutton, 24, Boulder, Colo., retrieved the ball in a three-man scuffle and placed 762 in a safety deposit box until coming forward on March 13. Sutton did not believe he had Bonds’ final home run ball, expecting Bonds to hit another home run in the last three weeks of the 2007 season and thinking Bonds might play in 2008. Due to a serious illness in the family, Sutton decided to sell the ball with SCP Auctions.
“I am happy with my decision to sell the 762 ball and wish the new owner the best,†said Jameson Sutton. “I’m especially proud to help my family pay some of the medical costs due to my father’s illness and thank SCP Auctions for all their help.â€
Sutton and his family have created an LLC to handle proceeds of the sale of the ball, 50-50 with his parents. Money his parents receive will help defray the costs of Sutton’s stepfather’s battle with cancer.
“We are honored to have offered one of the most hallowed records in sports with the sale of 762, the new Major League Baseball home run record,†said David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions. “We congratulate the new owner of the 762 ball, who now holds a coveted piece of baseball history.â€
SCP Auctions is no stranger to Bonds’ memorabilia, having sold home run balls No. 755 and 756 for 186,750 and $752,467, respectively, on Sept. 15, 2007. In August 2006, Bonds’ 715th home run ball, making him second on the all-time home run list surpassing Ruth, sold for $220,100 at auction. For more information, please visit www.scpauctions.com.
SCP Auctions, Inc. has been a leader in auctions and privates sales of important sports memorabilia and cards since 1979. The Southern California-based firm conducts regular auctions in partnership with Sotheby’s with an upcoming April 24 auction featuring items from the Bill Nowlin and Dr. Richard Angrist Collections. The Sotheby’s/SCP Auctions partnership has handled some of the most significant individual items and prominent collections in their field, such as the record-setting sale of Babe Ruth’s bat used to his the first home run in Yankee Stadium (sold for 1.265 million). The original 1919 Contract of Sale of Babe Ruth from the Red Sox to the Yankees (sold for $996,000), and the private collections of Hall of Famers such as Honus Wagner, Tony Lazzeri, Wilt Chamberlain, Bob Cousy, Casey Stengel, Pee Wee Reese, and Ernie Banks. For more information, please visit www.scpauctions.com
