Former San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds has heard enough of branding his record-breaking home run ball.
Bonds
In an interview on MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Bonds said he would boycott baseball's Hall of Fame if his 756th home run ball is displayed there with an asterisk.
"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk in their Hall of Fame," Bonds told Jim Gray. "You can't, you cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history, you can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."
In the interview with Gray, Bonds said he will never visit the Hall of Fame and that he would not be in the Hall of Fame if the record-setting ball has an asterisk on it.
"Like I said at this time I will not be there. That's my emotions now, that's how I feel now," Bonds told Gray. "When I decide to retire five years from now we'll see where they are at that moment. We'll see where they are at that time and maybe I'll reconsider."
Fashion designer Marc Ecko, who bought Bonds' ball in an online auction on Sept. 15 for $752,467, set up a Web site shortly thereafter to decide the ball's fate. On Sept. 26, Ecko announced the decision to brand it won out over the other options -- sending it to Cooperstown unblemished or launching it into space.
Ecko said he believed the vote to brand the ball showed people thought "this was shrouded in a chapter of baseball history that wasn't necessarily the clearest it could be."
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 said accepting the ball did not mean the Hall in Cooperstown, N.Y., endorses the viewpoint that Bonds used drugs.
"This ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown if Marc hadn't bought it from the fan who caught it and then let the fans have their say," Petroskey told The Associated Press. "We're delighted to have the ball. It's a historic piece of baseball history."
Hall of Fame officials and Ecko are discussing how to affix the asterisk on the ball. It's not yet known when the ball will go on display.
Ecko, known for his pop-culture pranks, said he bought the ball and arranged to let the public decide its future online as a way to hold a conversation about a classic American sport in the digital world.
"This is obviously something that struck a chord with fans," Ecko said Sept. 26 in a phone interview with the AP.
Bonds was told in September by Giants owner Peter Magowan that he would not be brought back for a 16th season in San Francisco.
Bonds told MSNBC he believes he can still contribute to a winner.
"I may hit two home runs so I can go home," he said. "I just think that I have a lot of game left. I think that I can help a team with a championship, and um, I also thought I was -- I'm a hell of a part-time player, too."
Information from The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Source: ESPN.com
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