The Power of Branding: 756 Ball To Get Asterisk

Mark Ecko's publicity stunt worked, as the people voted to brand the 756th HR ball with an asterisk before it goes to Cooperstown:

Over 10 million people voted and were given the options of banishing it into space, bestowing it to the Hall of Fame or branding it with an asterisk, due to the popular thought that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs to accomplish the feat.

The decision was a landslide as 47 percent of voters put their support behind branding it while 34 percent voted to bestow it to the Hall of Fame.

"We're going to be working with the folks at the Hall of Fame. It is a historical museum. We want to treat this ball as such, as an artifact with respect," Ecko said on the Today Show.

"You bet we're happy to get it," Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey said. "This ball wouldn't be coming to Cooperstown without Mark Ecko buying it from the fan who caught it and then putting it up to the vote of the fans."

I don't know if I would have voted to brand the ball, but now that the decision has been made, I hope the HOF puts the ball in a prominent exhibit, such that it raises the specter of impropriety on Bonds for all who see the artifact. Or, they could put the ball in a basement closet.