While I’ve waited a long time to be able to write the above headline, I think I will be waiting much, much longer to read an Barry M. Bloom entry at MLB.com that paints Barry Bonds in anything other than a favorable light.
Padres left-hander David Wells is a baseball collector of sorts and one of his prize possessions just grew a lot more valuable.
Wells has an old, grainy, yellowing baseball that he purchased for $7,000 with a Babe Ruth signature scrawled across the sweet spot. Since the purchase, he had Hank Aaron sign the ball during a Padres trip to Atlanta, and on Sunday, he added the name of Barry Bonds in the left fielder’s unmistakable script.
That may give Wells the only ball that has the signatures of the top three all-time Major League home run hitters on it.
“Barry was very nice about it,” Wells said after the game, showing three reporters the ball sealed in a soft plastic case at his PETCO Park locker after his Padres defeated the Giants, 5-4, to cap a three-game weekend sweep. “We had a long conversation.”
Bonds, who hit his 755th homer Saturday night to tie Aaron and didn’t play Sunday, confirmed that he had given Wells his signature on the ball.
“Yes, I signed it,” Bonds said.
If anyone would like to question the credentials of The Anti-Pedro Gomez, just check out the evidence above. The two Barry’s have some kinda rapport.
This has nothing to do with my opinion of Bonds (I root for the big jerk), but Wells probably hurt the value of that ball by getting Barry’s signature on it. It doesn’t hurt as much as Wells signing his own ball, but collectors value team signed, and individual signed stuff more than mashups of signatures. Plus Bonds isn’t that hot of a name to put next to old-timey players who make Bob Costas pop wood. It’s still a cool ball, although it’s not as cool as my Ozzie Guillen/Joey Cora ball.
My Tim Wallach autographed ball — complete with my name misspelled — is the best signed ball out there.
My autographed June 26th, 1970 Fred Blassie NWA issue of “The Grappler” for the Sheik-Blassie grudge match (with full shot of him biting the Sheik’s face) kicks all your butts.
Also, note to Hot shit College Student, David Supersize Wells has been devaluing baseball for years.
Ben