SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds thinks Marc Ecko, the man who purchased the ball from his 756th home run, is wasting his money, according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle.
Ecko, a fashion desiginer, purchased the baseball for $750,000 and is taking votes on the Internet on what he should do with it: Give the ball to the Baseball Hall of Fame, brand it with an asterisk or blast it into space.
Bonds says he doesn't care that the options include an asterisk -- implying that the home run record should be viewed with skepticism in light of his alleged use of performance-enhancing drugs. But he questioned why someone would spend $750,000 on a baseball and then propose ways to get rid of it, the Chronicle reported.
"He's stupid. He's an idiot," Bonds said, according to the newspaper. "He spent $750,000 on the ball and that's what he's doing with it? What he's doing is stupid."
"All of those options don't weigh anything," he said, according to the report. "In baseball, that number [756] stands."
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.'"
There are questions about whether Bonds will return to San Francisco next season, given his age and health and the last-place Giants' need to rebuild. Bonds says he wants to return, but does not know if that's going to happen, he said, according to the Chronicle.
"Ask [Giants owner] Peter Magowan. He hasn't told me anything. I don't know why you keep asking me. I don't own the team," Bonds said, according to the report.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.