The Bonds ball case was mishandled grossly and not by the wheels of justice. While judge Kevin McCarthy did his best to act like a modern day Solomon, the point of what truly happened was missed; the baseball should not have been awarded to either of the contestants.

Yes, you can argue that possession is 9/10ths of the law (where the hell did that saying come from anyway? and does it have any real legal backing?) and that Patrick Hayashi who ended up with the ball would be the whole and total owner.
Or you could argue that since Alex Popov initially caught the ball he instantly became the owner and then was promptly attacked by a group of goons who should all be charged with assault, and dropped his property in the fray. Then Hayashi by taking it was guilty of grand larceny.

You could even argue that Popov dropped the ball and it was free for anyone to grab, and Hasashi was well within his rights to grab it.

However what I think is that the ball just like on the sandlot belongs to the guy who brought it, and has his name on the ball. The owner should be Major League Baseball. While baseball has a precedent of not going into the stands to retrieve baseballs, certainly a strong argument can be made that all equipment owned by the organization is owned by the organization.

Only in sports can the person who first gets to a point be considered the sole winner of the prize. But in real life, getting to a place first does not guarantee you will get to keep what you have gotten. Be it in technology, business, or even love. Even in a race one doesn’t win what they get to first, it it the final ribbon, the gold ring, or even the moon. Like the moon somethings are bigger than being personal or even national property.

In other sports a ball can be retrieved from fans when it goes into the stands. Baseball has always chosen to not fight for a baseball which can be bought in any sporting goods store for under $10. However when the value of a baseball leads to violence and thuggery in the stands its time for baseball to take a strong stand. There are plenty of people who would kill for something valued at better than a million dollars. In not taking a stand, baseball invites open violence which certainly resulted in injury over his ball, and will in the future over other balls of historic importance.

Bond’s 73rd home run ball was not worth less than $10. It is a piece of baseball’s history and belongs in one of two places, either Barry Bonds’ mantelpiece or Cooperstown, in either place it would be kept as mark of accomplishment. Whoever caught a ball with significance like this could still be rewarded. MLB could easily have given both of these guys a replacement baseball, maybe even one signed, specially by Barry Bonds.

It would have saved taxpayer money spent in this trial, it would have prevented violence in stands, it would have protected a piece of baseball history, and it would have prevented baseball from being a sideshow in this carnival of law.

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