Marc Ecko buys #756

Toaster Oven · 09-17-2007, 10:13 PM

SAN FRANCISCO -- The fate of
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' record-breaking home-run ball is now in the public's hands after its buyer announced Monday he was taking votes on whether to give the ball to the Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk or blast it into space.
Fashion designer Marc Ecko revealed himself as Saturday's winning bidder in the online auction for the ball that Bonds hit last month to break Hank Aaron's all-time home-run record of 755. The final selling price for No. 756 was $752,467, well above most predictions.
Ecko had not even taken possession of the ball before posting a
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that lets visitors vote on which of the three outcomes they think the ball most deserves. He said he plans to announce the final tally after voting ends Sept. 25.
"I bought this baseball to democratize the debate over what to do with it," Ecko wrote on the Web site. "The idea that some of the best athletes in the country are forced to decide between being competitive and staying natural is troubling."
Ecko, 35, is known for his pop culture pranks, including an infamous Internet video that showed him apparently infiltrating an airport tarmac and spray-painting graffiti on Air Force One. The incident turned out to be a hoax.
<table align="right" cellspacing="12" width="127"><tbody><tr><td><form method="post?" action="http://poll.espn.go.com/cgi/sz/poll.dll"><input name="goto" value="http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3024303" type="hidden"><input name="domain" value=".go.com" type="hidden"><input name="questions" value="1" type="hidden"><input name="id" value="78295" type="hidden"><input name="service" value="SZ" type="hidden"><table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" width="124"> <tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#dddddd"><center>
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</center></td></tr> <tr><td bgcolor="#dddddd"><input name="qid" value="48288" type="hidden"><input name="count_0" value="3" type="hidden"><input name="expected_0" value="1" type="hidden">What should Mark Ecko do with the 756th home run ball?
<table border="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top"><input name="vote_0" value="192000" type="radio"></td><td valign="top">Bestow it to the Hall of Fame</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><input name="vote_0" value="192001" type="radio"></td><td valign="top">Brand it with an asterisk</td></tr><tr><td valign="top"><input name="vote_0" value="192002" type="radio"></td><td valign="top">Banish it to space</td></tr></tbody></table><center><input value="Submit Vote" type="submit"></center></td></tr> </tbody></table> </form></td></tr></tbody></table> But the auction house which handled the sale confirmed that Ecko is indeed the ball's buyer.
"This transaction is happening and is going to be done by the end of the day," David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, said Monday.
Kohler called Ecko's decision "brilliant" and said he had already visited the Web site and voted to send the ball to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.
Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle with the ball on Aug. 7. He decided to sell it, he said, because he couldn't afford the tax bill that would result from holding onto the ball.
Some tax experts said Murphy would have owed hundreds of thousands of dollars in taxes based on a reasonable estimate of the ball's value even if he had never sold it. He may also have faced capital gains taxes as the ball gained value.
"This either makes him a lunatic or a genius, one of those two," Murphy said when told of Ecko's stunt. "I'm leaning toward genius."
Murphy said he planned to vote to send the ball to Cooperstown.
Ecko himself said he voted to brand the ball with an asterisk, a reference to the belief of some Bonds detractors that the Giants slugger's record is tainted by his alleged use of performance enhancing substances. Bonds has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
But Ecko said what really interests him is seeing what happens when an "American Idol" approach comes together with a serious public debate over drugs in sports.
"My vote really doesn't matter," said Ecko, who identifies himself as a
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fan. "The American public will tell us what to do with it."

Slim · 09-26-2007, 11:57 AM

Quote:

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.

Marc Ecko on Barry Bonds
On Tuesday, designer Marc Ecko stopped by SportsNation to chat about his purchase of Barry Bonds' 756th home run ball and his decision to let fans vote on the Internet on what he should do with it. Chat wrap

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.

We're happy to get it. We're a nonprofit history museum, so this ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown without Marc Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it.
Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey

The asterisk suggests that Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks on them to ballparks as he neared Aaron's hallowed mark.

Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey, also interviewed on the show, said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall endorses the viewpoint that Barry Bonds used drugs.

"We're happy to get it,'' he said. "We're a nonprofit history museum, so this ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown without Marc Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it.''

The Giants announced Friday they will part with Bonds after this season, the seven-time NL MVP's 15th in San Francisco and 22nd in the majors.

espn.com

Marc Ecko buys #756

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