Golden Palace Casino Misses Out on Barry Bonds Baseball

Saturday August 05, 2006

A fierce bidding war has been taking place over the last week on eBay for Barry Bonds' record-breaking 715th Home Run Baseball.

Baseball fan Andrew Morbitzer caught the history-making ball while waiting for beer and peanuts on May 28, 2006. AT&T Park security ushered him away into a private back room while Major League baseball officials identified and authenticated the record-breaking ball. With his mighty slug, Barry Bonds broke Babe Ruth's all-time record of 714 home runs and Andrew was the lucky fan to catch it in the stands.

"It's fun to have been the one to catch the ball," Morbitzer said, showing a bit of a trait for understatement. "It was a great once-in-a-lifetime moment."

Golden Palace Casino are well-known for love of historical items like this one, and bid fiercely for the ball when it was listed on eBay last week. The reserve price was set at $125,000 and Golden Palace Casino (eBay ID: goldenpalacecasino) was the first bidder to meet the reserve price, only 48 hours after the ball was listed for auction.

The auction ended a short time ago and, after 69 bids, the winning bidder was an eBay member only known by his eBay ID: 52817. The hammer came down at $220,100 for the Barry Bonds' 715th Home Run Ball ? with the final bid price of Golden Palace Casino at $137,400. In the end, there was a bidding skirmish between 52817 and 8656tom, with 52817 pipping his competitor at the post by only $100.

Andrew Morbitzer and his wife generously committed to donate 10% of the proceeds from the sale of the baseball to The Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, which will amount to over $22,000 being given to a wonderful charity. The Big Brothers Big Sisters Mission is to help children reach their potential through professionally supported, one-on-one relationships with caring adults. They aim to provide one million children with Big Brothers or Big Sisters.