Bonds Ball Case Will Go to Trial

A jury will decide who gets the ball Barry Bonds hit for his record 73rd homer.

Two men have claimed ownership of the ball, which has an estimated value of $1 million, and each wants Judge James J. McBride to grant him possession without a trial.

But in a decision received by lawyers Thursday, McBride rejected the claims of both Alex Popov--who briefly got a glove on the ball before a mob tackled him in the bleachers of Pacific Bell Park--and Patrick Hayashi, who grabbed the ball amid the chaos.

McBride ruled there is a question whether Popov actually controlled the ball in his glove, and that a jury should determine the answer. The ball is now in a court-monitored safe.

The case will resume before another judge Oct. 7, exactly one year after the San Francisco Giants’ slugger hit the last homer of his record-setting season.

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Baltimore Oriole reliever Yorkis Perez had an appendectomy early Thursday and will miss the rest of the season.

Perez, who pitched against New York on Tuesday, felt ill during Wednesday night’s game at Yankee Stadium and left the ballpark. After tests at a hospital, he had the procedure.

Perez is expected to be released from the hospital by this weekend. The left-hander is 0-0 with one save and a 3.29 earned-run average in 23 games.

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John Wetteland, the Texas Rangers’ all-time saves leader, was hired by the team as a pitching instructor.

Wetteland’s first assignment will be to spend three weeks in the team’s instructional league program that begins next week in Surprise, Ariz.

The 36-year-old Wetteland, a former Dodger who last pitched in 2000, was 48-45 with a 2.93 ERA and 330 saves in 618 games.