Going, Going, Gone ... For Only $450,000
By Corey Lyons
Contra Costa Newspapers
June 26, 2003
The historic baseball that spawned a tawdry tangle in a San Francisco courtroom last year sold Wednesday for $450,000 in an auction televised live on ESPN.
Todd McFarlane, the Spawn comic and toy tycoon, cast the winning bid for Barry Bonds' record 73rd home run ball, freeing the relic after 625 days of legal limbo.
With auction fees, the self-described "sports geek" paid $517,500 for the pearl.
Even so, the figure was likely not enough to satisfy the pair of feuding fans who agreed to sell the souvenir and split the proceeds. Experts had predicted the ball would fetch $1 million or more.
The fans, Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi, attended the lively auction at the ESPN Zone restaurant in New York, illuminated by hope and flashing cameras.
In the end, though, their steep legal bills, brokerage fees and auction costs left the pair a little wobbled.
"They were stoic, classy, probably disappointed. But it did not come across," said Marty Appel, a spokesman for the auctioneer, Lelands.com.
"It wasn't about money," Popov told the Associated Press. "It was about history. It's not about greed. Patrick and I have become friends. I've got 20 months of joy out of the experience. It was unpredictable. I had no expectations."
McFarlane, 42, said he expected the ball to sell for about $500,000, especially because Bonds is not a "media darling," and the economy swirled down the drain. In other words, a downer for Popov and Hayashi.
"I've been in court before. As a businessman -- I can't fathom that their total is less than $450,000 in lawyer bills," McFarlane said in a phone interview with the Times.
"Someone needs to check to see if these guys are in debt."
The bizarre custody fight over the tiny orb stirred up a national media furor, especially when it took a sharp turn into the legal system.
On Oct. 7, 2001, Bonds whacked his final home run of the year, No. 73, into the right field arcade at Pac Bell Park and into a dogpile of frothing fans. The slugger had set a single-season home run record.
Popov, a Berkeley restaurateur, got his glove on the ball, but lost it in a 60-second scrum. Hayashi, a shy engineer, ended up with the baseball. Then things got nasty. In a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit, Popov sued Hayashi, claiming that he had been robbed.
While the ball was locked up in a metal box in Milpitas, the men duked it out in court for 13 months. The two-week trial included testimony from a retired umpire and a legal roundtable about the laws of abandoned property.
In the end, Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled that both men had "equal equity" to the relic. Sell it and split the money, he said.
So they did. Amid a lively atmosphere in a crowded sports bar in Times Square, the auction started at $200,000 and lasted only a few minutes.
The sale unfolded in $25,000 increments, with operators furiously taking bids from tiny white phones.
When the bid paused at $325,000, an auctioneer in a bright green jacket stared into the flashing bulbs with disbelief. "Go on, you know you want it," she said.
McFarlane, whose toys are sold in 50 countries, cast the top bid over a phone from a studio in Dallas. He is the same freewheeler who forked over about $3 million for retired slugger Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball in 1999.
His new ball ranks as the second-highest paid baseball in a public auction in U.S. history.
Michael Barnes, the St. Louis consultant hired by the fans to arrange the sale of Bonds' ball, said the relic could have sold for more if it had been done earlier.
Barnes negotiated the record sale of McGwire's 70th homer three months after it was hit. "Unfortunately," he said of the Bonds ball in a phone interview, "we had to wait a year and a half."
Contra Costa Newspapers
June 26, 2003
The historic baseball that spawned a tawdry tangle in a San Francisco courtroom last year sold Wednesday for $450,000 in an auction televised live on ESPN.
Todd McFarlane, the Spawn comic and toy tycoon, cast the winning bid for Barry Bonds' record 73rd home run ball, freeing the relic after 625 days of legal limbo.
With auction fees, the self-described "sports geek" paid $517,500 for the pearl.
Even so, the figure was likely not enough to satisfy the pair of feuding fans who agreed to sell the souvenir and split the proceeds. Experts had predicted the ball would fetch $1 million or more.
The fans, Alex Popov and Patrick Hayashi, attended the lively auction at the ESPN Zone restaurant in New York, illuminated by hope and flashing cameras.
In the end, though, their steep legal bills, brokerage fees and auction costs left the pair a little wobbled.
"They were stoic, classy, probably disappointed. But it did not come across," said Marty Appel, a spokesman for the auctioneer, Lelands.com.
"It wasn't about money," Popov told the Associated Press. "It was about history. It's not about greed. Patrick and I have become friends. I've got 20 months of joy out of the experience. It was unpredictable. I had no expectations."
McFarlane, 42, said he expected the ball to sell for about $500,000, especially because Bonds is not a "media darling," and the economy swirled down the drain. In other words, a downer for Popov and Hayashi.
"I've been in court before. As a businessman -- I can't fathom that their total is less than $450,000 in lawyer bills," McFarlane said in a phone interview with the Times.
"Someone needs to check to see if these guys are in debt."
The bizarre custody fight over the tiny orb stirred up a national media furor, especially when it took a sharp turn into the legal system.
On Oct. 7, 2001, Bonds whacked his final home run of the year, No. 73, into the right field arcade at Pac Bell Park and into a dogpile of frothing fans. The slugger had set a single-season home run record.
Popov, a Berkeley restaurateur, got his glove on the ball, but lost it in a 60-second scrum. Hayashi, a shy engineer, ended up with the baseball. Then things got nasty. In a first-of-its-kind civil lawsuit, Popov sued Hayashi, claiming that he had been robbed.
While the ball was locked up in a metal box in Milpitas, the men duked it out in court for 13 months. The two-week trial included testimony from a retired umpire and a legal roundtable about the laws of abandoned property.
In the end, Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled that both men had "equal equity" to the relic. Sell it and split the money, he said.
So they did. Amid a lively atmosphere in a crowded sports bar in Times Square, the auction started at $200,000 and lasted only a few minutes.
The sale unfolded in $25,000 increments, with operators furiously taking bids from tiny white phones.
When the bid paused at $325,000, an auctioneer in a bright green jacket stared into the flashing bulbs with disbelief. "Go on, you know you want it," she said.
McFarlane, whose toys are sold in 50 countries, cast the top bid over a phone from a studio in Dallas. He is the same freewheeler who forked over about $3 million for retired slugger Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball in 1999.
His new ball ranks as the second-highest paid baseball in a public auction in U.S. history.
Michael Barnes, the St. Louis consultant hired by the fans to arrange the sale of Bonds' ball, said the relic could have sold for more if it had been done earlier.
Barnes negotiated the record sale of McGwire's 70th homer three months after it was hit. "Unfortunately," he said of the Bonds ball in a phone interview, "we had to wait a year and a half."
posted by Corey at 8:14 PM
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