Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum to display Barry Bonds' ball

The baseball's Hall of Fame and Museum is going to acquire the ball Barry Bonds hit for his record-setting 756th home run.

The ball is actually owned by Marc Ecko, the hip-hop clothing mogul who bought it for $752,467.

The ball will have an asterisk reflecting the wishes of respondents to an Internet poll who wanted acknowledgement of the player’s steroid use. To make this situation more transparent the ball will be accompanied by text giving the full explanation to the facts and context of what happened to put the asterisk on it.

Actually it’s not the only thing that belongs to Bonds. There are displayed also the batting helmets he wore when he hit his 755th and 756th homers; plate umpire John Hirschbeck's ball/strike indicator from the Aug. 7 game in which Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record; balls signed by the Giants' starting lineup, the opposing Washington Nationals' lineup and the umpiring crew from that game; the cap worn by Mike Bacsik, the pitcher who allowed No. 756; and Giants broadcaster Duane Kuiper's scorecard from that night.

Photo: www.the700level.com