He got it and gave it right back

David Kohler, president of SCP Auctions, which along with Sotheby’s will auction off Barry Bonds’ record-tying 755th home-run ball, figures it will go for $200,000 to $300,000. And if the ball Bonds hit for No. 756 is auctioned off, it should bring from $400,000 to $500,000, Kohler said.

Hank Aaron’s record-setting 715th home run against the Dodgers in 1974 went into the Atlanta Braves bullpen and was retrieved by reliever Tom House, who recently took a job as an assistant baseball coach at USC.

After House retrieved the ball, he immediately returned it to Aaron at home plate. He said he thought it ended up on the American Bicentennial Freedom Train that toured the continental U.S. in 1975-76 and that it is now in Aaron’s possession.

“I heard recently the ball might be worth $650,000,” said House, who pitched for the Trojans in 1967.

Oh well, easy come, easy go.

Trivia time

When Aaron hit his 755th home run, he was playing for what team?

Always a gamble

At the same 1999 auction in Connecticut where a fan named Andrew Knuth paid $650,000 for Aaron’s 755th home-run ball, producer-director Mark MacFarlane paid $3 million for the ball Mark McGwire hit for his then-record-setting 70th home run in a season in 1998.

Since that record fell in 2001, the ball, according to SCP’s Kohler, is now worth in the low six figures.

Wonders never cease

Merv Griffin, who died Sunday at 82 of prostate cancer, loved horse racing and was a successful owner. His Stevie Wonderboy won a 2005 Eclipse Award. Horseman Gary Dimkich recalled that when Griffin accepted the award, he said, “I think I’ll name my next horse Stevie Wonder Bread.”

Picture this

David Beckham, in a taped interview with Jim Watson that aired on FSN West on Sunday before the Galaxy’s game at New England, said he wished he would have taken a camera to the star-studded “Welcome to L.A.” party that was thrown July 23 for him and his wife by Tom Cruise and Will Smith.

Beckham, looking earnestly into the camera, said: “If any of the photographers are listening, send me some pictures.”

Match game

Reggie Hayes of the Fort Wayne (Ind.) News-Sentinel, after Manchester United signed a 9-year-old soccer prodigy: “Team officials are now searching for a preteen Spice Girl to accompany him to after-school day care.”

One benefit

TNT golf analyst Bill Kratzert apparently isn’t a fan of golf technology. “When I receive [high-tech] golf clubs in the mail in a box, I just use the box,” he said during the PGA Championship.

A Daly dose

Also from Kratzert: “John Daly is on about every nonperformance-enhancing drug imaginable.”

In deep rough

TNT’s Ernie Johnson may not be able to give Tiger Woods any golf tips, but he can tell him a thing or two about fatherhood.

“After changing diapers for a month or two, he’ll have a whole new definition of hazard,” Johnson told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Available on eight-track

Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times, noting that Virginia Commonwealth’s freshman track recruits include a distance runner named Jimmy Hendrix, wrote: “But don’t look for any Purple Haze ad campaign: VCU’s colors are black and gold.”

Trivia answer

The Milwaukee Brewers.

And finally

From NBC’s Jay Leno, who has been having fun with the rat problem at Angel Stadium: “They say the whole thing started right after they had Lawyer Night.”

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larry.stewart@latimes.com