Buyer to let fans vote on ball’s fate
SAN FRANCISCO -- The Manhattan Beach man who submitted the winning bid on Barry Bonds’ record-tying 755th home-run ball said Tuesday that he also will let the public decide what to do with it.
Ben Padnos said he would follow the lead of Mark Ecko, who bought Bonds’ No. 756 ball, and let fans vote on whether he should give it to the Hall of Fame or destroy it. Padnos said he was surprised when he heard that he wasn’t the only one with a voting plan.
“What are the odds?” Padnos said. “I give him [Ecko] a lot of credit in all sincerity.”
But unlike Ecko, Padnos plans to make money by selling ads on his voting website, EndtheDebate.com.
“My vote is to save it,” he said. “I do believe records should be celebrated. I have my own suspicions about how Barry got there.”
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