BONDS' BALLS BRING IN CLOSE TO $1 MILLION

by DCScrap, Our Book of Scrap

So who here thought that the Bonds' 755 and 756 balls wouldn't bring in much dough? Who thought that the stigma attached to those record-tying and record-breaking baseballs would be enough to deflate the bids placed on those balls at auction? Show of hands ... Yeah, me too.

Barry Bonds' record-breaking 756th home run ball was auctioned Saturday for $752,467, well more than the estimates by memorabilia experts.

Home run No. 755, the ball that tied the record, went for $186,750, according to Sotheby's/SCP Auctions.

The owner of the 756 ball, Matt Murphy, thought long and hard about keeping the ball but it's my guess that a little thing called the IRS had something to do with his final decision to sell the ball, seeing as how they were going to tax him on its "perceived value."

"I had hoped to keep the ball, but when I determined that was not the best strategy at this stage of my life, this definitely was the right decision," Murphy said in a statement released after the sale.

Having to pay taxes on a ball valued in the $500,000 range as a student played a small role in that "strategy" to say the least.

Experts had predicted the ball that tied Hank Aaron's home run record would fetch about $200,000, and that the record-breaker would be sold for least $500,000.

Needless to say, "experts" overestimated the spine of the American collectibles market.

Neither buyer was identified by request. I know if I ponied up several hundred grr for a Barry Bonds ball I wouldn't want people to know it either.

So much for the McGwire ball that some guy paid close to $3 mill for, huh? Nice investment there.

Source: SI