Barry Bonds’ home run No. 762 has been found. After searching for it for months, SCP Auctions, which has auctioned many home-run balls, says it will reveal the owner of the ball at a press conference today at the ESPNZone in Denver. The ball is significant because it could represent the final home run of Bonds’ record-setting career. Bonds hit the home run on Sept. 5 of last season off Rockies pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez at Coors Field in Denver. The home run attracted little attention at the time, but injuries limited Bonds’ playing time the remainder of the season, and he did not hit another home run. His contract with the Giants expired after last season, making him a free agent. But his federal indictment during the offseason connected to his alleged steroid use has likely been the reason he has yet to receive a contract offer from another team for the coming season.
The owner of the ball will not only be introduced at the press conference, but will also unveil his plans for the item. If he sells the ball, many experts believe it could approach the $1-million mark, since it would represent the ball that established the all-time home run mark.
To achieve that price, however, the owner of the ball will have to erase any doubt that the ball they own is actually the 762nd home run ball. When the ball was hit into the stands, three fans converged in an attempt to catch it. Video replays showed a fan with a glove reached over the wall to make the catch. But as the ball went into his glove, another ball popped out of his glove. At one point, both baseballs were clearly visible on the replay.
A scrum ensued for the ball that fell to the ground. The television footage showed a man emerging from the battle with the ball held over his head, but another fan who was near the scrum told Sports Collectors Digest in October that he believes the man who displayed the baseball actually had a batting practice ball that was knocked out of the glove by the home run ball. The fan believes the fan who brought the glove actually maintained possession of the home run baseball.
Stadium security made no immediate effort to verify who caught the ball, and a story about the ball in the Los Angeles Times stated that Major League Baseball had stopped marking Bonds’ home run baseballs to distinguish them from regular baseballs.
