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Bonds: Hall a no go if ball has asterisk (will boycott Cooperstown, maybe)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071102/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_bonds_hall_of_fame;_ylt=AjrxG0PLHcnyRlqjDJgPs ^ | 11/2/7 | MIKE FITZPATRICK, AP Baseball Writer

Posted on 11/02/2007 8:04:47 AM PDT by dead

NEW YORK - Barry Bonds would boycott Cooperstown if the Hall of Fame displays his record-breaking home run ball with an asterisk. That includes skipping his potential induction ceremony.

"I won't go. I won't be part of it," Bonds said in an interview with MSNBC that aired Thursday night. "You can call me, but I won't be there."

The ball Bonds hit for home run No. 756 this season will be branded with an asterisk and sent to the Hall. Fashion designer Marc Ecko bought the ball in an online auction and set up a Web site for fans to vote on its fate. In late September, he announced fans voted to send the ball to Cooperstown with an asterisk.

Of course, the asterisk suggests Bonds' record is tainted by alleged steroid use. The slugger has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. Fans brought signs with asterisks to ballparks this season as he neared Hank Aaron's career home run mark.

Bonds has called Ecko "an idiot."

"I don't think you can put an asterisk in the game of baseball, and I don't think that the Hall of Fame can accept an asterisk," Bonds said. "You cannot give people the freedom, the right to alter history. You can't do it. There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Hall of Fame vice president Jeff Idelson declined to comment Thursday night.

Hall president Dale Petroskey has said accepting the ball doesn't mean the museum endorses the viewpoint that Bonds used illegal substances. He said the museum would be "delighted" to have the ball.

"It's a historic piece of baseball history," Petroskey said in September.

So, if the Hall goes through with the asterisk display?

"I will never be in the Hall of Fame. Never," Bonds said. "Barry Bonds will not be there.

"That's my emotions now. That's how I feel now. When I decide to retire five years from now, we'll see where they are at that moment," he added. "We'll see where they are at that time, and maybe I'll reconsider. But it's their position and where their position will be will be the determination of what my decision will be at that time."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean reiterated Thursday that the team won't bring back Bonds next season. The seven-time NL MVP, who has spent 15 of his 22 major league seasons in San Francisco, was asked whether he will retire as a Giant.

"Yeah, it's my house. No matter what that's my house, no one's going to take that away, no one ever," Bonds answered. "No one's going to take the love of that city of me away, ever."

Bonds, who has 762 homers, broke Aaron's record with a shot into the right-center seats off Washington Nationals pitcher Mike Bacsik at San Francisco on Aug. 7.

Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it.

Bonds told MSNBC he hoped to reach 764 homers because he was born in July 1964. He said he's been working out and still is considering whether to play next season.

"I may hit two home runs so I can go home. I just think that I have a lot of game left. I think that I can help a team with a championship," Bonds said. "I'm a hell of a part-time player, too."

Bonds said he won't talk to George Mitchell's staff looking into steroids use in baseball while he is under investigation in the BALCO case. A grand jury has been investigating whether Bonds committed perjury when he testified he never knowingly took performance-enhancing drugs.

"I know it ends in January, so a couple more months. But I haven't been keeping up with it. Not at all," Bonds said. "I have nothing to hide. I have said that before and I will say it now and I will look you in the face. I have nothing to hide, nothing. So look all you want to."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: asterisk; baroid; barrybonds; baseball; baseballhalloffame; beefroids; cooperstown; halloffame; mlb
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To: Eric Blair 2084

I no more said that than Adam’s housecat
And I do not like those who assume the words I WROTE

how long has Bonds been suspected of illegal
drug use ?

days ? hours ? or years ?

years of course........did baseball do anything to stop his career ? No......why ?.....

if the Giants had made the World Series this year
would Bonds have played............YES

If the Giants had won the series and Bonds had hit two
homers would the WS have an asterick on it ? NO


81 posted on 11/02/2007 5:40:31 PM PDT by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: Long Island Pete

now that’s a FAT head.


82 posted on 11/02/2007 5:49:19 PM PDT by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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To: advertising guy

I sort of agree with you and was being sarcastic. Read what I wrote and get back to me.

83 posted on 11/02/2007 5:52:07 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: daviscupper
For eternity fathers will be explaining to their sons and daughters that Bonds was a cheater. Cool.

Sort of like kids asking "What's a Lewinski"?

84 posted on 11/02/2007 6:36:09 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: Eric Blair 2084

done............after supper....lol


85 posted on 11/02/2007 6:36:28 PM PDT by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: xp38
And this years Gary Hart Stupidity Award goes to...

He's also getting the Ty Cobb Personality Award...

86 posted on 11/02/2007 6:37:43 PM PDT by glorgau
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To: Eric Blair 2084

sittin here w/ my better three quarters...lol

Now I see the Bonds /ethiopean thing

also remember what owners / managers / and players saw YEARS before the problem was ever know to the public

we are reacting to the players, not the same quilty enablers


87 posted on 11/02/2007 6:45:19 PM PDT by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: advertising guy

But what about the chilruns?

These players are their role models.


88 posted on 11/02/2007 6:48:26 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: dead

I have a feeling that if Bonds manages to get inducted into the Hall of Fame that there will be a whole bunch of future inductees who will refuse the honor.


89 posted on 11/02/2007 6:51:05 PM PDT by wagglebee ("A political party cannot be all things to all people." -- Ronald Reagan, 3/1/75)
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To: dead
"There's no such thing as an asterisk in baseball."

Yeah, tell that to Roger (61*) Maris.

90 posted on 11/02/2007 6:52:17 PM PDT by ReignOfError
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To: Eric Blair 2084

still gotta play the game to appreciate her....kids I mean

once a kid gets over bein ascared at the plate or a line drive at 1000 mph.....heros change.

The next generations of boys become men of great baseball

The game it’self ain’t tainted


91 posted on 11/02/2007 6:53:45 PM PDT by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: glorgau

Exactly!


92 posted on 11/02/2007 7:58:48 PM PDT by daviscupper
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To: advertising guy

Is that a Casey Stengel quote?


93 posted on 11/02/2007 8:30:58 PM PDT by Eric Blair 2084 (Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms shouldn't be a federal agency...it should be a convenience store.)
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To: Eric Blair 2084

nah, I pulled it out my butt in all the passion


94 posted on 11/02/2007 8:32:35 PM PDT by advertising guy (If computer skills named us, I'd be back-space delete.)
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To: dead
"Matt Murphy, a 21-year-old student and construction supervisor from New York, emerged from a scuffle holding the ball. He said he decided to sell it because he couldn't afford to pay the taxes required to keep it."

Excuse my ignorance, but what the heck kinda taxes do you have to pay on a baseball that you catch in the stands?

95 posted on 11/02/2007 8:35:22 PM PDT by JustaDumbBlonde
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To: JustaDumbBlonde
what the heck kinda taxes do you have to pay on a baseball that you catch in the stands?

He would have to pay tax on its presumptive worth. Just as if you found a million dollars lying in the street and nobody claimed it, you'd have to pay taxes on that million.

Most of the time we don't hear about this because the people who catch record baseballs can't wait to sell them. This is the first one I can remember who would rather have kept the ball than cash out.

96 posted on 11/05/2007 6:28:02 AM PST by highball ("I never should have switched from scotch to martinis." -- the last words of Humphrey Bogart)
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To: dead

I don’t think this will be a problem now.........


97 posted on 11/16/2007 1:46:04 PM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
I don’t think this will be a problem now.........

Mr. Bonds is in some deep kimchi.

The only way he gets in the hall is if he buys a ticket.

98 posted on 11/16/2007 1:50:34 PM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat lead.)
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To: Doomonyou

From what I’ve read in the past, I get the idea that he was not a “people” person.................


99 posted on 11/16/2007 1:55:08 PM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Red Badger
I get the idea that he was not a “people” person.................

Being a long time Giants fan, I can say you're dead on! He's a surly moody bastard to the media after every game, unless he hit a couple homers, then he's a great interview.

100 posted on 11/16/2007 2:03:03 PM PST by Doomonyou (Let them eat lead.)
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