If Marc Ecko succeeds in blasting The Sultan of Surly’s historic HR no. 756 ball into outer space, can someone at least give Pedro Gomez’ eyebrows a free helicopter ride?  From the SF Chronicle’s Jonathan Curiel :

Marc Ecko, a clothing designer who lives in New York, didn’t say flat out that he thought Bonds had used performance-enhancing drugs in his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s home-run record. Instead, he portrayed the ball-branding idea as a kind of indictment of Major League Baseball’s attitude toward steroids over the past decade.“The notion that a system in Major League Baseball kind of knew that this was going on, and kind of played ostrich, and then indicts its players for wanting to achieve great things and earn big bucks – I more have a bugaboo with a system that fosters and actually rewards unnatural behavior,” Echo said in a phone interview.

In an online vote that ends Tuesday night, Ecko is letting people decide whether to send his new $752,467 possession to baseball’s Hall of Fame as is, send it with an asterisk, or send it to points unknown in outer space on a rocket ship.

On Tuesday, Bonds labeled Ecko as “stupid” and “an idiot” for his voting scheme.

Ecko laughed when told of Bonds’ remarks, calling them the kind of honesty he is soliciting at www.vote756.com.

“That’s awesome,” said Ecko, 35, who bought the record-breaker ball at an online auction that ended Saturday. “Here’s my thing: Did he vote? He has an opinion – that’s the beauty in all of this. Did he vote? Did he vote to banish it, brand it or bestow it?

“I’m not going to let him feel left out,” Ecko said. “You know what I’m going to do? I’m going to make (him) a custom T-shirt that says, ‘Marc Ecko paid $752,000 for my ball, and all I got was this stupid T-shirt.’ “

Bizzaro factoid of the week : of the 9 Cardinals on the field for the top of last night’s 14th inning against Philly, only Aaron Miles had not toiled in the minor leagues this season.