While the feud over Barry Bonds' 73rd and final home-run ball of the 2001 season continues, the San Francisco Giants slugger's record-breaking 71st home-run ball is headed to the auction block.

	Barry Bonds homered in his first two at-bats Oct. 5 to shatter Mark McGwire's record.

Jerry Rose, 49, caught the ball that broke Mark McGwire's 3-year-old record of 70 home runs in a season, snaring the blast in the first inning of the Giants' Oct. 5 game against the Los Angeles Dodgers. On Friday, Rose told ESPN.com that he has agreed to consign the record-breaker to Guernsey's auction house in New York.

"I talked to my friends about keeping it, but you can't keep that around the house," said Rose, who has been a Giants season-ticket holder for 12 years. "It's impossible to just stick on the mantle and enjoy it. In order to keep that, I'd have to have a lifetime contract with Brinks."

In January 1999, Guernsey's auctioned off nine balls from the 1998 home-run race between Sammy Sosa and McGwire. Comic book mogul Todd McFarlane bought McGwire's record ball for $3,005,000, including commission, and paid another $400,000 for eight other balls, including six at the Jan. 12, 1999 auction.

Rose said he made a back-handed catch of Bonds' ball next to the 421-foot sign in center field at Pac Bell Park. He was escorted immediately from the stands by security into a room, and minutes later watched on television as Bonds launched No. 72. That ball bounced out of the stands and back onto the field; Dodgers outfielder Marquis Grissom picked it up and later returned it to Bonds. Two days later, Bonds launched No. 73.

	“	It's impossible to just stick on the mantle and enjoy it. In order to keep that, I'd have to have a lifetime contract with Brinks ”
		— Jerry Rose, who caught Bonds' record-breaking home run ball

Alex Popov, a Berkeley, Calif., restauranteur, claims he caught the 73rd homer, but Patrick Hayashi ended up with it after fans scuffled in the stands. The fight over the final home-run ball might ultimately spill into the legal system.

Guernsey president Arlen Ettinger said Bonds' No. 71 ball might be just the beginning to another large auction, which could take place early next year. Ettinger said he is trying to obtain other balls for consignment, as well as Bonds' game-used jerseys from the past season.

"The home-run record is still considered the most important record in all of sports," Ettinger said.

Rose, the director of employment and social services of Yolo (Calif.) County, said he has kept the ball locked up in a safety-deposit box. He doesn't have any idea how much the ball might be worth since there's no precedent from the 1998 homer race. McGwire's record-breaking No. 62 ball was returned to him and never made it to the memorabilia market.

"I'm still thinking how great it was that I was there," Rose said. "In all my years of going to the games, that's the first ball I've ever had a shot at."

Darren Rovell covers sports business for ESPN.com. He can be reached at darren.rovell@espn.com.