Mark Ecko, if you were looking to get Barry Bonds’ attention, you go it.
The fashion designer, who had the winning bid Saturday in the online auction for Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home-run ball, also got a few choice words from the San Francisco Giants slugger.
Bonds has taken issue with Ecko’s Web site that lets visitors vote on three options for the ball: give it to the National Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk before sending it to Cooperstown or blast it into space on a rocket ship.
The asterisk would suggest that Bonds’ record is tainted by alleged steroid use. Bonds has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs.
Meanwhile, Ben Padnos, the California entrepreneur who submitted the $186,750 winning bid on Bonds’ record-tying 755th home run ball, said Tuesday he also plans to have the public vote on what to do with it.
What bonds said
“All of those options [on Ecko’s Web site] don’t weigh anything,” Bonds told the San Francisco Chronicle on Tuesday night in Phoenix. “In baseball, that number [756] stands.” Bonds said Ecko could have found a better way to spend three-quarters of a million dollars. “He’s stupid. He’s an idiot,” Bonds said. “He spent $750,000 on the ball and that’s what he’s doing with it? What he’s doing is stupid.”
What ecko said
Ecko did not directly respond to Bonds’ comments Wednesday, but said in a statement he would make Bonds a custom T-shirt that says, “Marc Ecko paid $752,467 for my ball, and all I got was this ‘stupid’ T-shirt.’ “
ON THE WEB
For 755
endthedebate.com
For 756
vote756.com
As of Wednesday night, the online poll to choose the fate of Barry Bonds’ baseball had received close to 2 million votes. Ecko plans to announce what he will do with No. 756 after voting ends Sept. 25.
