Fashion Designer Marc Ecko who shelled out $750K for the Barry Bonds baseball that broke Hank Aaron’s home run record has decided to let the public decide on the fate of this piece of baseball memorabilia. Marc has put up a website and is allowing visitors to vote on the fate of the baseball. The choices are :

A) Bestow It - Give it to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame with the full rights to the ball belonging to the Hall of Fame.

B) Brand It - Burn an asterisk onto the ball with a branding iron, adding a permanent footnote to the record and then send it to Cooperstown.

C) Banish It - Put the ball on a rocket ship and launch it into orbit, a moon shot for the ages, Out of sight, outof mind.

As of my vote today, there were 3,521,020 votes on the website. You have to submit and email address to get the results of the poll. All in all, for over 3 million visitors and all the publicity Marc Ecko has has on national television, I’d say the $750K price tag was on helluva a great viral marketing concept on hispart.

If you want to vote, visit http://www.vote756.com

or click on the banner below

Even more interesting is this piece of Bonds memorabilia for sale at MLB.com. Seems they need to update their sales pitch because it’s been a while since Barry was #2 on the list.

San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds Autographed Grey Jersey Barry Bonds, who is #2 on the career home runs lists, has autographed this grey jersey. Each jersey is certified by Bonds.

Barry Bonds didn’t waste any time adding to his home run record set yesterday. In fact, I didn’t even have a chance to blog about the record setting home run before Bonds has went and hit another one. This time it was a two-run shot into the water outside of AT&T Park for home run numer 757 of his career. The San Francisco fans were delighted as the Giants cruised to a 5-0 win over the Washington Nationals which assisted Giants’ skipper Bruce Bochy to his 1,000th managerial victory.

Barry Bonds was quoted as saying “I’m pretty locked in right now and the atmosphere is a lot easier today”. It must be a great relief to the powerhitting Giant having finally surpassed the milestone that was so controversial due to the issues of steroid abuse surrounding Bonds. As many former MLB players turned commentators have openly stated, regardless of the steroid issues, nobody has brought up the fact that possibly many of the pitchers Bonds has faced throughout his extraordinary carreer may have also been on “the juice”.

Barry Bonds drew praise from President Bush who once was a partial owner of the struggling Texas Rangers. Bush phoned the Giants star Wednesday, a day after Bonds hit his 756th home run to break Hank Aaron’s record. The president Bonds “you’ve always been a great hitter and you broke a great record,” White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.

The tabloids and newspapers papers were less kind.

The front page of the New York Post had a banner headline of “756″ that was formed out of syringes, which was an obviousa reference to allegations that Bonds used steroids. The front page of The Daily News page read: “King of Shame.” The Boston Herald’s back page headline was: “King Con”. Oh well, it’s not like petty jealousy and negative reactions are going to further the sport of Baseball which has had a decline in the sports market ever since the cancellation of the 1994 World Series due to ridiculous salary negotiations. Major League Baseball became the first professional sport ever to lose its entire postseason due to a league players labor dispute.

In other news, the AP wire reported Hank Aaron is still the home-run king when it comes to television ratings due to the fact that ESPN2’s broadcast of Barry Bonds’ record 756th homer received a 1.1 cable rating on ESPN2 Tuesday night, which translates to 995,000 households while Hank Aaron’s 715th home run on April 8, 1974, which broke Babe Ruth’s record received a 22.3 rating on NBC, the equivalent of 14.9 million homes. Times have changed a lot since 1974 due to cable programming. I personally have the MLB package on my cable system and I was upset the last two Giants games were blacked out on my provider due to them being televised on ESPN2. Instead I watched some reruns of Futurama and Family Guy while Bonds was setting his record. I’m certain that sort of confusion led to many households tuning out of that market broadcast due to believing that it wasn’t televised.

For any of you Bonds fans out there who want to relive the moment, here’s a great offering from MLB.com that shows how fast the big guns come out to start marketing

San Francisco Giants Barry Bonds 756 DVD 756. The most sacred record in all of sports. So big that HR or Home Run isn’t even needed as a qualifier. And now it has a new owner, Giants slugger Barry Bonds. With this Collector’s Replay Edition presentation of this momentous game, savor a spectacular moment in history as Barry Bonds - the one-time 5-tool rookie with loads of promise - fulfills all expectations and becomes number one on the greatest sports list ever.

Following the home run accomplishments of Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees and Frank Thomas of the Tornoto Blue Jays, Barry Bonds of the San Francisco Giants was not to be outdone. It had been eight days and 28 plate appearances since Bonds hit his last home run which was number 754 and put him one home run short of Hammerin Hank Aaron’s record for all time career home runs. Barry Bonds came out for early batting practice Saturday, hoping to break his slump and move into the record books. He accomplished it quickly, leading off the second inning, and slamming number 755 off San Deigo Padres starting pitcher Clay Hensley. Several fans held up asterisk signs and some particularly nasty fans booed the the San Francisco slugger when he headed to left field at the end of the inning. The Giants lost the game to the Padres in 12 innings with a score of 3-2, but Bonds’ accomplishment was a slam to baseball commissioner Bud Selig who sat high above the field in a private box and was a reluctant witness to history.

Bonds didn’t start today (Sunday), which would give him a chance to break the record at home in San Francisco beginning Monday night. I think that is is a great gesture on Barry’s part to try to bring a once in a lifetime experience to the loyal fans in San Francisco who have supported his quest regardless of the general nastiness directed towards Barry Bonds due the the steroid allegations. While steroids tinged Bonds’ chase, race was the predominant issue when Aaron took aim at Ruth’s mark of 714. Hank Aaron received death threats and feard for his safety when he was chasing the Babe’s record, so it’s no suprice that there are hordes of envious loser who are pissed off the Barry Bonds is as awesome as he is. I’m sure when A-Rod will be chasing Bond’s records there will be morons who boo him and make allegations to his unsportsmanlike conduct on and off the field, but my attitude is “tough shit”. These guys get paid to play, they endure physical injuries that will last them the rest of their lives, they sacrifice untold amounts of time to please the crowds so respect should be given where it is due.

Mariners hitting instructor Jeff Pentland coached Bonds at Arizona State was quoted as saying “I think he is probably the best hitter since Babe Ruth, but that’s my opinion. I think the things he’s done, the records he’s broken. He’s stood out amongst the players of today and been way above them, head and shoulders above them for his career.”

We’ll be watching for Barry to break the record sometime this week, hopefully it will be in front of the home crowd.