baggio248
06-19-2003, 09:39 PM
This could be interesting, the two guys are splitting the profits after all this time it was that easy. It's crazy to think that one man could own all 3 balls, but at least he's willing to lend them out and his only listed selfishness about the balls that he wants to brag to his brothers.
Also from ESPN.com
"Spawn creator already owns McGwire, Sosa HR balls
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com
Comic book and sports figurine mogul Todd McFarlane is going for the trifecta.
McFarlane, who owns Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball and Sammy Sosa's No. 66, told ESPN.com on Thursday that he's bidding on Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball next week. All three balls were personal bests for the players, with Bonds hitting his record-breaking shot in October 2001.
McFarlane paid $3 million in February 1999 for the McGwire ball. Many sports memorabilia experts predict that the Bonds ball will sell for more than $1 million. But McFarlane doesn't expect the bidding to reach that high.
"I'd be surprised if it hit seven figures," McFarlane said. "I just don't think the sex appeal is there. The McGwire-Sosa bidding was about the story and the dot-com frenzy. This story is kind of a repeat and the economy is bad enough that there's not a whole lot of people willing to throw money around on foolish pleasures."
On June 25, auction house Leland's will conduct the auction through online and live bidding at the ESPN Zone in New York. The event will be carried live on SportsCenter at 6 p.m. ET.
Early online bidding for the ball on Leland's Web site thus far has reached $175,000.
McFarlane says he will be bidding that day while en route from Dallas to Bentonville, Ark., where he has a meeting with Wal-Mart officials the next morning. McFarlane created the comic book character Spawn, and his company produces many popular sports figurines.
Bonds set the single-season home run record on Oct. 7, 2001 during the Giants' final game of that season. Due to a legal battle between Alex Popov -- who said he had gloved the ball before it was stolen from him -- and Patrick Hayashi, who eventually emerged with the ball among the Pac Bell scrum, the ball was locked up in a California bank vault while the courts determined ownership of the ball.
In December 2002, after a 14-day trial that featured 17 witnesses, Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled that the ball must be sold and the proceeds divided equally. Popov and Hayashi were given 12 days to decide how they wanted to sell the ball, but it took nearly three more months to agree on the auction process.
McFarlane doesn't know the identity or the number of other bidders, but says he's learned not to be intimidated from all the pre-auction talk.
"For the McGwire auction, all these people who were representing the heavy hitters were around," McFarlane said. "This guy represents Donald Trump and this guy represents Ted Turner and this guy represents some governor. Then we hit a million bucks and all these guys are dead silent."
If McFarlane wins, he says he'll probably lend all three balls to the Hall of Fame.
"I can tell my story away from the balls," McFarlane said. "I don't have to be standing there next to them, saying, 'That's mine, that's mine, that's mine.' I don't even need a plaque with my name on it. As long as I know that they belong to me and I can rub it in to my brothers that these are mine, that's just fine with me.""
Also from ESPN.com
"Spawn creator already owns McGwire, Sosa HR balls
By Darren Rovell
ESPN.com
Comic book and sports figurine mogul Todd McFarlane is going for the trifecta.
McFarlane, who owns Mark McGwire's 70th home run ball and Sammy Sosa's No. 66, told ESPN.com on Thursday that he's bidding on Barry Bonds' 73rd home run ball next week. All three balls were personal bests for the players, with Bonds hitting his record-breaking shot in October 2001.
McFarlane paid $3 million in February 1999 for the McGwire ball. Many sports memorabilia experts predict that the Bonds ball will sell for more than $1 million. But McFarlane doesn't expect the bidding to reach that high.
"I'd be surprised if it hit seven figures," McFarlane said. "I just don't think the sex appeal is there. The McGwire-Sosa bidding was about the story and the dot-com frenzy. This story is kind of a repeat and the economy is bad enough that there's not a whole lot of people willing to throw money around on foolish pleasures."
On June 25, auction house Leland's will conduct the auction through online and live bidding at the ESPN Zone in New York. The event will be carried live on SportsCenter at 6 p.m. ET.
Early online bidding for the ball on Leland's Web site thus far has reached $175,000.
McFarlane says he will be bidding that day while en route from Dallas to Bentonville, Ark., where he has a meeting with Wal-Mart officials the next morning. McFarlane created the comic book character Spawn, and his company produces many popular sports figurines.
Bonds set the single-season home run record on Oct. 7, 2001 during the Giants' final game of that season. Due to a legal battle between Alex Popov -- who said he had gloved the ball before it was stolen from him -- and Patrick Hayashi, who eventually emerged with the ball among the Pac Bell scrum, the ball was locked up in a California bank vault while the courts determined ownership of the ball.
In December 2002, after a 14-day trial that featured 17 witnesses, Superior Court Judge Kevin McCarthy ruled that the ball must be sold and the proceeds divided equally. Popov and Hayashi were given 12 days to decide how they wanted to sell the ball, but it took nearly three more months to agree on the auction process.
McFarlane doesn't know the identity or the number of other bidders, but says he's learned not to be intimidated from all the pre-auction talk.
"For the McGwire auction, all these people who were representing the heavy hitters were around," McFarlane said. "This guy represents Donald Trump and this guy represents Ted Turner and this guy represents some governor. Then we hit a million bucks and all these guys are dead silent."
If McFarlane wins, he says he'll probably lend all three balls to the Hall of Fame.
"I can tell my story away from the balls," McFarlane said. "I don't have to be standing there next to them, saying, 'That's mine, that's mine, that's mine.' I don't even need a plaque with my name on it. As long as I know that they belong to me and I can rub it in to my brothers that these are mine, that's just fine with me.""