Bonds’ No. 762 for sale
When 24-year-old Jameson Sutton went to Coors Field with his parents last September, glove in hand, they bought him a single seat in the front row in left-center field.
Who knows, they said, he might even catch a ball.
Before three outs had been recorded, Sutton made the catch of a lifetime.
The ball Barry Bonds hit for his record 762nd home run, the last home run hit by Bonds, was snared by Sutton after a struggle with another fan.
Estimated to be worth as much as $1 million by memorabilia experts, the ball will be put up for auction online for 13 days beginning March 31.
Although league officials had stopped marking balls pitched to Bonds after he broke Hank Aaron’s career home-run record of 755 in August, David Kohler of SCP Auctions says he has the genuine object. He has signed affidavits from Sutton, his parents and the other fan, Robert Harmon. Kohler even flew in a polygraph expert from North Carolina to test Sutton.
“There is no question we have 762,” Kohler said Thursday.
“At first, I thought it was just another piece of history,” said Sutton, who was offered $5,000 for the ball as he left the park. “I brought it home, put it in a plastic bag with my ticket stub and threw it in my closet under a pile of clothes.”
Sutton insisted he wasn’t rooting for Bonds to go homerless the rest of the season.
“I thought it would be cool if he continued,” Sutton said. “When the season ended and I realized I had Bonds’ last home run, I began to get worried that someone knew where I lived. So my parents put the ball in a safety-deposit box.”
The 43-year-old Bonds, dealing with indictments on perjury and obstruction of justice charges stemming from the BALCO steroid investigation, has not signed to play this season but also has not announced his retirement.
Whatever money Sutton, who lives in Boulder, Colo., receives from the auction, his first priority will be his family. His stepfather, Dave Arguijo, is critically ill with lung cancer. Sutton had been unloading trucks at a thrift shop until he quit to help his family.
Before the September game between the Colorado Rockies and the San Francisco Giants, Sutton, spotting a practice ball lying on the outfield grass, persuaded a groundskeeper to throw it up to him.
“I was still holding it in my right hand when Bonds hit the ball,” Sutton said. “As the home-run ball hit my glove, somebody pushed me hard, causing the ball to roll up into my chest. Fighting for it, I dropped the practice ball and got a grip on the home-run ball.”
Kohler said Sutton waited until now to come forward because he has been preoccupied with his stepfather’s condition, and also to better gauge the likelihood of Bonds signing with a team this spring.
Kohler, who also auctioned off Bonds home-run balls 700, 755 and 756, will accept bids for 762 at scpauctions.com.
Todd McFarlane, the collector who paid $3 million for Mark McGwire’s then-record 70th home run of the 1998 season, told The Times last week that he would go as high as $1 million for 762.
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